TURKEY AND HIVES

“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. . .” from Psalm 23.

“Do I smell turkey cooking?” my husband Dennis asked me as he walked into the kitchen this morning.

“No. Rice. I’m making rice pudding for breakfast.”

“I smell turkey cooking,” he insisted. “I’m serious. Turkey.”

Sometimes I wonder about that guy; especially lately since he’s been plagued by torturous outbreaks of hives. Yesterday the doctor gave him an antihistamine. Today there isn’t a finger’s width between the awful welts that cover him from head to toe.

Historically, hives means that my dearest one is stressed out, so we started talking about what might be causing the stress. We soon realized that most of our concerns are for our adult children who are facing so many challenges of their own. Almost immediately the conversation turned to memories of how God has met all of our needs throughout the years.

For most of our married life, we have been self-employed. In the midst of the years that our first three children were born, Dennis suffered from several episodes of collapsed lungs culminating in lung surgery just two weeks after our second son, Nathaniel, was born and died 11 days later. We’ve started over again more times than I care to count. Sometimes we were broke. But in our darkest hours, we were most aware of God’s incredible love: "For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.' Isaiah 41:13 NASB.
We agreed that God will bring our kids through their trials just as He’s faithfully done for us. So with a reassuring hug and a smile, Dennis left for work.

Within a few minutes I heard his truck pull back into our driveway. When I met him at the door, he handed me a whole deli turkey breast and laughed, “You won’t believe this. Remember the man from Chicago who’s truck I fixed last week and he didn’t have money for his bill? He stopped in this morning to pay me, and gave me this turkey as a thank you for helping him.”

Don’t you just love God! His goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life and I’m still dumb-struck by His perfect timing and brilliant sense of humor.

As we celebrate the gift of eternal salvation through Jesus' death and resurrection, let’s also remember that He promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us. He is with us right here and right now, giving us constant little reminders of his love and faithfulness. We just have to learn to see (or maybe smell) them!

Cindy Gray – Leaning Toward Home