This is a season of restoration for me that has been phenomenal! I could never have predicted nor planned all the folks who have come back to me after all these years! It just keeps happening & every day I am flabbergasted over it. Seriously!!
This evening at the "Celebrate Recovery" meeting I met a guy who grew up in the neighborhood where I lived when I first moved to Charleston. We actually lived on the same exact street! We both lived on Constitution Avenue in North Charleston. He was one of the leaders tonite.
I was reminded that my oldest son was 2 when we lived there & I was
teaching him our address. When I asked Paul what street he lived on, he enthusiastically shouted, "Constipation Avenue"!! The leader also shared that with the group. It's so good to laugh!! What a gift!
The other thing he told me about was most remarkable. There was a big Baptist church right at the entrance of that neighborhood. It was once quite a hub of activity in the area & had a pretty large campus. But they sadly had a policy of "No Blacks" allowed. Since he grew up there, he watched this process take place. He said that numerous times the congregation had meetings to vote on reversing this regrettable rule. Each time, it was voted down & more & more folks left the congregation. Until eventually the church was closed & sold. Recently he said he was driving by it & saw a sign inviting everyone to attend their upcoming "Kwaanza" celebrations!! So I guess we can see that God will have His way with or without our consent!!
What an irony!!
Yesterday, I ran into a girl who used to volunteer where I worked. She is the sweetest young girl whose mom died from breast cancer recently. She is preparing to be a missionary. Then I sent her a friend request on facebook & she replied.
This morning at mass I saw a gentleman who was a shipmate with my ex-husband on his very first assignment back in '81. We lived in Virginia Beach, VA at the time. And when we moved to James Island in '94, his wife was a teacher at the elementary school where my kids attended for 14 years!! When Natalie was a little girl, she had a cute little lisp. She called her "Mith Winda", which translates to "Miss Linda". How cute!
This season of restoration is so cool to sit back & watch as it unfolds. Every single day it seems someone from my past re-enters in one fashion or another. I wonder who I am going to run into next! It is a good reason to behave myself!
***This I know!
