Probably THE moment of our holiday to Canada and the US was the moment - at almost 3 o'clock in the morning on our second full day - I opened the door to the house we'd been given in New Jersey.
Picture the scene. The previous night we'd only had 3 hours sleep, but we weren't able to leave London, ON until lunch time that day. (We had an elderly relative there we wanted to visit.)
And now, at long, long last, after 13 hours of almost constant driving, we had reached the coast of NJ and the house that had been so kindly lent to us.
We parked the car. All I could think of was flopping into a bed.
Any bed would have done. In fact, any floor would have done. Any horizontal space would have been bliss at that moment.
I climbed the stairs, put the key in the lock and opened the door to a scene that was beyond anything I could have hoped for. Apart from the fact that the house was beautifully furnished and decorated.....and it really was.....apart from that: It was all lit up. It was gorgeously warm. It was probably the most inviting scene you could have imagined in that situation.
I almost cried.
I could hardly believe how good God had been to us. Why do we find it hard to believe that our Heavenly Father is going to shower blessings on us??
The following morning, we opened the blinds to this scene.
I almost cried again! It was SO beautiful. I wanted to Praise God with my whole heart.
While I was musing on God's amazing love and goodness to undeserving sinners like us, I saw this posted on the fridge door in the house.
This spoke the words I couldn't articulate. I couldn't find the words to thank the family who offered us their holiday home. All I could do was pray that God would richly bless them for their kindness to us. We can truly say that for us it was, 'a place of peace, a desired haven'.
What a Heavenly Loving Father we serve.
I pray that whatever God gives us in this life, we will be just as willing to share it with brothers and sisters in Christ.
I love reading about your trip, and this post is such a wonderful picture for my heart. I can completely see you all so tired (we experienced something similar when we went to Russia to get our 3 "adopted" children ( Although, the offerings were not quite so sweet;Russia is a whole other world). But when you are so exhausted from so much traveling, it is very hard. I think we can never realize the mercies of our precious Heavenly Father so much as when we feel that way and the Lord intervenes with a marvelous blessing. What a treasure the quote by Elizabeth Elliot was.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pam. Yes, the quote, and the sentiments behind it, are real treasures. I'm going to print it out here and have it up on our office wall. I hope it'll always remind me both of my Heavenly Father's love and care of me, and of these wonderful days on our holiday.
ReplyDeleteOh, what a blessing this must have been! Our God is so good!
ReplyDeleteI haven't told you...we would call that a "vacation house" and ever since Calum called it "holiday house" my mother liked that so much it has been renamed. She wants to have a little sign made up to put by the door. We speak the same language, but use the words differently!
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