The Prayer Cloth

Over the past 17+ months I've done many things to help my heart understand and adapt to the reality that Rod won't come home again. The past six weeks have been involved with new flooring, removal of a wall unit, new paint, and overall redecorating of my living  space. While being housebound by snow and ice today I opened the old wicker picnic basket we had when I was a child. Inside I found a plastic bag with a tightly folded cloth with rainbow edges. The prayer cloth! I hadn't looked at it for ten years. Rod and I had draped it over our dining room table in Tacoma, 2006, when we were seeking a new call. On it we wrote the names of places with churches eager to talk with Rod. As the Lord's leading became clear, one by one they were each crossed off until Brigham City, Utah emerged on December 3, 2006. 

At the beginning of the search, we started with specific verses at the top and bottom in the rainbow with the question in the middle, "Where to, Lord?" Rod's prayer is at the top ~

Today the creased cloth flooded my heart with memories of our hope to follow God's leading and our dream of future adventures. My eyes were totally surprised to see one specific place written and then crossed off: Eugene, Oregon. A church here matched with him and they talked, but it wasn't God's call. It wasn't the right place. It wasn't the right time. 

Now, it is the right place and the right time. Rod made sure we got here for my work. And, the scripture from Mark, written on the cloth in 2006, speaks deeply to me tonight.

As Jesus was getting into the boat,the demon-delivered man begged

him to go along, but he wouldn't let him.

Jesus said,

"Go home to your own people.

Tell them your story,

what the Master did,

how he had mercy on you."

Through this time, Lord, give me imagination,faith, and hope to be here now, to tell my story of the great, great mercy You have shown me. Great mercy, indeed.