Extraordinary Oil of Joy

Post 13

Good day to you and thank you for joining me! I have been filled tonight with something I cannot contain. My last post was talking about Mercury in retrograde and how the last sentence grabbed on to me. “Coincidences can be extraordinary”. Just reading that still perplexes me if you want to know the truth. I know how I am reading it but am I understanding what I am reading? Does this mean that during this time “there should be no coincidences?” That whatever happens is meant to happen? That is how I am understanding it… correct me if you read it differently, please. So what I am about to share with you is a string of “extraordinary coincidences”. Hang in there with me because I believe the end is phenomenal.

It has been six months as I said. Six months longing for my husband. Dreaming of him. Trying to find a way in the pitch black while wearing a blindfold. I feel that everywhere I go… which if you know me lately~ is no where 🙄 But I feel like I am always supposed to be learning something. That I am always supposed to be looking for something. Something to hold on to? Something that God has given me to take away? It does seem that if I am looking, I likely do find something. But in the past several weeks while being in my Tennessee home where my soul finds a particular solace I have found myself in the stills feeling the undertow of the spirit. In six months I have absolutely NO IDEAS or DIRECTION in which it is that I am to go. Zero. None. Nada. Nothing. But on my very humble porch covered in puppy footprints and half chewed sticks overlooking the pastures my father tended for so many years, I have begun to feel something new. I have begun to hear the voice of my Lord in my heart telling me that this is the time. My Lord is granting me this time to learn more. He is asking me to listen to Him. Not just talk to Him. A few weeks ago I said out loud to myself… and Gauge and Lexie, of course, my faithful companions that always lend an ear, that I need to be PRAYING more. That this void of the one who had become the center of my life is asking to be filled by the only thing that CAN fill it but I am not listening properly. These are very clear and direct thoughts. Not passers by. A dear friend gave me a devotional book during this time called Seeing Beautiful Again by Lysa Terkheurst. It was only recently that I picked it up to read. I have tried to be faithful in daily readings. But the need for deeper conversations with my Father has been growing and growing. Deliberate conversations. So I began to try. I cleared my mind and spoke to Him with intention. With conviction. With desperation. Because what I am being called toward is that at this time in my life… these conversations are the most important thing. That no matter where I look for answers, I am only going to find them … IN PRAYER. I believe this with all my heart. No human on Earth here has the answer. Yes, I have talked about my faith. My world is standing still right now for a reason. No, time will wait for no one. ……But my God is. `

Now. Here is where the extraordinary coincidences begin. I vividly recall doing a Marco Polo (a video kinda messenger app) a week or so ago and telling my friend that “I feel JOY in my heart today”. I did not say I was happy. I said “I feel Joy”. I cannot recall another time in my life that I have verbalized those particular words. I believe I have felt Joy many times over. I have recognized it when I have felt it. It is different than happiness. It is from within and not from the moment or the world. It is Joy. Children have joy. Children ARE joy.

Yesterday, I was taking a break from actually being productive in my household tasks and was resting on my bed, scrolling through The “spacebooks” and happened upon a very familiar face just popping on to do a live video. I rarely stop for lives but just having seen him recently I wanted to hear what he was going to talk about. It was our friend Randy Hensley with Coalition for Kids. He came on to invite us to join him in a new bible study he was starting tomorrow night at his church. You know what he said? “We’re going to study on how to pray.”……………………………….. I stopped in my tracks. He wants to teach us How… to pray. That is just what I was saying the other day! I thought to myself that I would like to go and I had hoped I would remember. Thank goodness he was also going to let us join by video again and so this evening I was again taking a break and had just watched a super mind challenging episode of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. 🤔 I muted the sound on the tv afterward and again started scrolling. Is it a happy coincidence that at that very moment Randy was just welcoming people to the bible study and I happened to be devoid of any other sound in my room but the hum of a fan? I had forgotten. I felt very excited to have been on at just the right time. I devoted all of my attention to his words. His lesson this evening? Finding the Oil… Of… JOY. The oil being the spirit. I hope that if Randy were to happen to read this he will forgive me if I have things out of order or misconstrued in any way! But I’m not finished with the extraordinary coincidences and must give you what I gained. One of the first things he said was – I don’t want to try and quote- but he was wanting us to ask ourselves if we are being CALLED to be the light for someone else in our own darkness. Coincidence? Extraordinary. He said so many things that I would definitely recommend looking up that video for yourself but I want to just quickly share a couple of things that unequivocally pierced my heart. The quote I shared with you about the Legend Dale #3 Earnhardt was “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe”–Proverbs 18:10. Many times in the study Randy talked about how our Father has directed us to hate wickedness and love righteousness. “He who practices righteousness IS righteous, just as He is righteous.” Coincidence? Extraordinary. But I have to tell you that one of the most comforting things that I took away tonight was the way he talked about our Dad. Our Dad. For many of us “Dad” or “Daddy” is such an endearing name. We instantly have a sensation attached to that word- for some of us it may not be a great memory- for others of us it brings a sense of warmth and comfort and protection beyond measure. Father is so reverent. I have never imagined calling God – Dad. But, I loved it. I loved the overwhelming context it put Him in that I had not actually felt before. Changing that one word from my Father to my Dad made Him a person I know. A person I can feel. A person who gave His son for me. His dad. Remarkable to me that I learned something new about how to pray. I have to focus and finish my string of coincidences.

During the study, I got many texts, phone calls and messages. I turned the ringer off on my phone so not to be distracted because I felt very called to HEAR this entire message. I had a refrigerator unexpectedly delivered to my house but I did not pause. I knew I could not interrupt this THING that was happening. As soon as Randy ended the video, my phone lit up with a call. I stared at my phone~ again if you know me I have not been the best about answering calls in six months. (Longer if you ask my Uncle Gordon). It was a precious, precious person to me. I still stared. Did I want to divert my mind from where it was just then? “Be the light for someone else” I heard Randy say. I answered.

It’s like God just gave me a cherry to place on top of a great lesson I had just received. Upon respecting the privacy of my friend as I am not sure what is proper for me to share— but I was asked to be involved in their lives in an incredibly special way. Touched does not begin to convey the emotion in my heart. But… JOY does. There is a difference. But you know what else? She is asking me to be a light in her darkness as she is being a light in mine. ……………………………….. oh friends. Coincidence? EXTRAORDINARY!!!

Could I be a widow grasping? Would that be a wordly easy explanation? Faith. Belief. Hope. Listening. Could it be Coincidences are extraordinary at this time? I believe.

I am going to “walk with my Father” tomorrow and “practice righteous things”, like Randy said. I hope you will do righteous too. Then let’s do it again the next day. May the peace of the Lord that surpasses all understading be with you. Thank you for coming! JHW