God spoke to me in a powerful way this past Sunday morning! I know He spoke to many of us this past Sunday, and you may think you know how He spoke to me, but only 2 others know how He spoke to me and one of them is Joe, my sweet husband, and the other is "Nana" Elaine. Many of you know her and you know that she is not really “my” Nana. I have always called her Elaine, but her family and precious grandchildren call her Nana Elaine. But, I think, after this past Sunday, I am going to call her Nana Elaine and adopt her as our second Nana as well!!
You see, this past Sunday morning, during an amazing worship service, I had to go out to wash the ink off of my hands from a pen that leaked while I was taking notes. I was highly upset that I had to leave the service for a moment to go do this irritating task. But, God used those moments in a powerful way! I ran into Nana Elaine in the restroom, of all places. Joe and I met Nana Elaine back in 1996 when we joined EMC. She was so kind and wonderful to us and she reminded me Sunday morning that we even chaperoned a youth trip together way back before Joe and I had even thought about starting a family. We talked about those days and how we have gotten to know each other so well since then. But Nana Elaine said something to me, that stopped me in my tracks. Let me explain…
She was one of the many friends and family in our lives who prayed so very diligently for us to start a family and to have a healthy, successful pregnancy. She, and many of you reading this post right now (and you KNOW who you are without my having to name names), prayed and prayed and prayed for healthy children for me and Joe. You prayed for a family for us. You were our prayer warriors and our friends & family, who some visited our home to pray with us, some cried with me in person or on the phone, some laughed with me when I didn’t want to think about starting a family, and some just sat silently with me and held me while I cried (thanks Mom for doing that SO many times) because we were so weary from the journey and our journey seemed at times, to me anyway, to be coming to the end, with no children in sight- only ashes, no beauty!
Well, Nana Elaine says to me on Sunday, ‘Cyndi, I truly noticed Anna Grace and Austin this morning and they are beautiful!! They are truly beautiful, handsome children! God really blessed you and Joe with beautiful children!’ Well, I was so grateful and thankful for her comment, but the next one is what got me…. Nana Elaine says, ‘You know all of those times I prayed, we prayed, for you and Joe to have children, we just prayed for healthy babies, but we NEVER prayed for beauty and look what He gave us! Look what He gave you in those 2 children! He gave you health AND beauty!’ Well, (Shana is not surprised at this one) the tears started to rise to the surface at that point! I was overwhelmed because she was right and God is OH so GOOD! We didn’t pray for anything but healthy children and in His time! But, He, in His amazing grace, blessed us with beauty that we don’t deserve in our children, both inside and out. He took the ashes of our pain, our struggles in our marriage, our anger at why it was so difficult, and our sadness over losing so many times, and He restored it with beauty!! He restored our marriage and gave us a family that we do not deserve!! He even blessed us TWICE within 12 months!! Beauty for Ashes is RIGHT!!
Nana Elaine, thank you so much for opening our eyes to show us that He goes over, above, and beyond what we can think, ask for, or even imagine when it comes to answering our prayers!! Our minds are so finite & imperfect and His is so INFINITE & PERFECT!! This post is most certainly NOT about having beautiful children, though I think all of us DO have that! This is about how God restores what we have lost, mends what we have broken, and gives us so much beauty for our ugly ashes!! I hope He shows you this week what He has restored to beauty in your life that would most certainly have been ashes if left up to you!!!
So, this week, the week just before Mother’s Day, I want to say THANK YOU and WE LOVE YOU to Nana Elaine, Grandma Sissy (my mom), our Nana (Joe’s mom), Chelle Regal (who was my prayer warrior during my pregnancies and encouraged me with cards and phone calls and MUCH prayer), and all of my dear girlfriends (you know who you are) who prayed so faithfully for our ashes to become His beauty!! Your prayers, and ours, have been answered and I am so grateful that He has shown me that this week!! He gives us more than we can ever fathom, think, or imagine and we don’t deserve it, but I am so glad that He is a God of grace!! He truly gives Beauty for Ashes, Strength for Fear, and Gladness for Mourning!!
