U-Room, D-Day

 The year was 1981 and now, more than thirty years later I am recalling the sweet words of my husband to be, for it was the date of our wedding. Just turned fifty, I had thought marriage had passed me by. How thankful I was that I had not had to wait to be married to find contentment. But now, after a good and fruitful first marriage with his Betty while I fulfilled my calling as ‘the Little Children’s Mother’  first in the highlands of New Guinea and then in Ghana, after

Betty’s sudden and totally unexpected death, Joel and I had been led very clearly to this very different D Day.

‘D for Delight.’ It was. For eight years I was privileged to minister with Joel as a pastor’s wife, then after we settled into retirement in Porthcawl gradually opportunities opened for me in the schools. It was then that God called me to write and Joel and I worked together  to organise the annual South Wales Christian Writers Days.

Joel was great at suggestions and happy for me to do the organising. But now I was learning that special gift of delegating. ‘Godliness with contentment’ was no problem, for I had learned   that lesson after a broken heart When Joel did not recover from the viral infection which had attacked us both it left me bereft but with a full diary of commitments.

The day he died I had taken an early assembly and happily booked in for another in a month’s time. I knew this was a commitment I must keep. Then wonderfully a door opened for  me to train to teach ‘Walk through the Bible.’ While God never told me not to cry, as tears are all part of the healing but now, all too soon it seemed, I was coming up to ninety. By I could no longer drive but God was not speaking to me about retiring. Then very gently, for me, came LOCK DOWN. The decision was made for me

Long, quiet days shut in my Eagle’s Nest for uninterrupted writing. Yes, of course I missed my wonderful husband but it was when I was living above the clouds in the mountains of New Guinea that my heart was broken by my Prince Charming that I had been challenged to speak out the promises of God. I dared to speak out – ‘I am delighting myself in the Lord and he is giving me the desires of my heart.’

 God cannot deny his own word. How I needed to speak this out now – and yes, I still do, and still he is giving me the desires of my heart.

A totally unexpected heart attack and cardiac arrest had prepared me, so I thought for heaven, and I was happy to move from my independent living in my ‘Eagle’s Nest,’ and I was welcomed into Pinehurst, where Joel and I used to go in to take a service many years before and then the Ladies of ‘Grace’ had carried on to visit regularly.

I no longer have the privilege of being an invited visitor and have to earn the right to speak into situations. I find now God is giving me the privilege to write someone a special birthday blessing, and though it is sometimes a struggle to tackle the computer again and it would be easier to join the ‘nodders’ who sit in the lounge and doze, I am so very thankful for those who refuse to let me rust away and who are always available, making sure that I have a lift to church or the help I need to sort out my problems on the computer.

Well, we may not have special dates to help us remember or may even waiting for those longed for dates to recall, but we have the same wonderful God who loves us and is planning for us in love. Let’s say with King David, ‘This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.’(Psalm 118:24)