Glenda’s NACC Blog

I think that since it is Sunday that it’s only befitting to write a devotional. I’m certainly not trying to preach to anyone, because I’m the least person to do that, but I would like to share something with you that happened to me several years ago. Just for the sake of privacy, I have changed the name.

Several years ago I worked a second shift job, and one day while cleaning the house before leaving to go to work, I began to think about Mary. Mary was a little girl that I had gone to school with some twenty years ago at that time. Every day I would see her on the school bus and I always felt so sorry for her. My heart would break at the run-down house that she had to live in, and the worn out hand- me -down clothes that she had to wear. Most of all, I could tell that it bothered her, and for that reason alone, it broke my heart.

Now there I was that day, with every dish I washed, and every bed I made, all I could think about was Mary, a sweet little girl that I had gone to school with. To be honest, I had not seen her, nor even thought of her in over twenty years, and now, all of a sudden I couldn’t keep my mind off of her.

As I left to go to work, it began to rain, and of course I was running late. As I approached Hwy 40, I say a woman walking on the side of the road gathering cans. She had one child on her hip, and several smaller ones following behind her. Since it was beginning to rain, I looked back in my rear view mirror, and as I looked, my heart leaped in my chest. I began to say out loud, “Lord that was Mary!” I wanted to stop, but I was running late for work, and for those of you that know me, I’m never late. In fact, it’s just the opposite. I’m always way too early. I felt that I didn’t have time to stop so I continued on to work.

All night long all I could think about was Mary and how she had been on my mind and then placed right in front of me and I didn’t even stop. It would take too much time to tell you the whole story, so I’m going to fast forward.

I promised God that if he would help me make it home, that the next day that I would not give up until I found her and that was exactly what I did. I went to see her and oh how my heart broke. Here she was a woman in her thirties and the weight of the world that she carried aged her well beyond her years.

Her husband had left her, and it was getting close to Christmas and there she was with all those children. I asked her if she would be offended if I put her name on our Church’s list of families to help out at Christmas.  We were just starting the process of gathering names, and she seemed to be pleased at the offer.

She agreed, and it was amazing at the response that we had. I wish you could have seen the look on those children’s faces as they received the clothes, toys and money. Most of all, I wish you could have seen the look on Mary’s face.  She cried as she began to share how she felt that God had forgotten her. Though she personally didn’t get a lot, she seemed to have received the most as she watched her children bask in the joy of the day. Just in those few short minutes, she looked twenty years younger. You could just see the look of a woman who now knew that God had not forgotten her.

As I left her home that night, I thought I had it all figured out! God had put her on my heart because he knew that her children needed Christmas, but that wasn’t it at all. I guess it was part of it, but little did I know that two weeks later that Mary would be killed in an automobile accident.

God knew that her time was drawing near and I believe that He wanted to show her how much she was loved and that she was NOT forgotten.

 I don’t understand why she had to die, nor do we ever understand why anyone has too; but this we do know. The bible says, “It is appointed that all men must die, and after that the judgment.”

We know that at some point we are all going to leave this world, and I feel that some have to leave way too early. I guess it is just not meant for us to understand why bad things have to happen to good people.

But the amazing thing about this is the Grace of God and how He prepares us for each step of the way, and how that even in the midst, of what seems to be the worst of times, that God can do the greatest of things.

So this was written for all the Mary’s in the world, for all those that may be feeling that they have been forgotten.  Just remember, God knows where you are, and most of all, He knows exactly what you stand in need of.

Wishing you all the best,

Glenda