The God Of All Comfort

Some if you might remember my post earlier this year about a tremendous financial blessing that came our way many years ago, which enabled us to get out of debt and eventually obtain the financing needed to purchase a wheelchair accessible van for Jeffrey (OK, My Cup’s Brimming Over).

Well I was reminded the other day of a second wild and crazy blessing that came tumbling into our laps years later; but this time Gary and I were clueless as to what it was supposed to be for.

This blessing actually happened shortly after we got back from our not-the-best-fun-but-interesting Christmas trip up to Seattle that I wrote about in my last post, A Taste of Divine Intervention.

We were sitting in church one morning in our regular spot (yes, we were creatures of habit), and in front of us was a couple that had started attending our church a few months prior.  We had gotten to know them a little bit, but not very well.

Right after the praise and worship songs we headed into our greeting time, and as I was chatting with my new female friend in front of us, all of a sudden she takes off one of her diamond rings (not her wedding ring), and slips it onto one of my fingers, saying:  “The Lord told me to give this to you.”

Whoa!

When I asked her “why” she said she didn’t know, but just felt she was supposed to.

Every fiber of my being screamed inside that I couldn’t accept it, yet at the same time I remembered the lessons I learned back when our friends gave us the stocks for the van (OK, My Cup’s Brimming Over).  I remembered my friend scolding me at that time (lovingly, of course), rebuking me for trying to take away their blessing of being obedient to what God had asked them to do.

So as my new friend said similar words to me about God telling her to do it, I accepted the ring with tears in my eyes.  But quite frankly I was totally confused – what we were supposed to use it for?

And unfortunately after that, I found it difficult to concentrate on the sermon, as all sorts of questions were flying through my head:

Were financial difficulties coming our way where we might need the extra money?

Are we supposed to use it to help fund Jeffrey’s college tuition?

Was Gary going to lose his job soon?

Gary had not noticed the ring-exchange during service, so after we got home from church that day I showed it to him and told him what my new friend had said.

The skeptic in him came out immediately – things like that don’t just happen, there’s got to be a reason.  Was it perhaps to be a friendship ring?

Unlikely – I’d never heard of someone you hardly know handing another person a diamond friendship ring!

But then Gary said perhaps God wanted me to hold onto it and give it back to her at a future date.  Wow – hadn’t thought of that!  Maybe something was to happen in their lives in the future where she might need it back to help them financially.

I prayed a lot during the weeks that followed, asking the Lord to break through my hard-head if I was missing something; and to please show me what we were supposed to do.

As I waited I tucked the ring away in a safe place, as I certainly didn’t feel comfortable wearing it.

And you know what?  It’s been many years now, and I still have it.  As a matter of fact, the friend who gave this to me is a friend of mine on Facebook.  Neither one of us have mentioned this ring since that time, but is there a reason why this is coming to my mind at this time?

Don’t know – but it will be interesting if my friend gets back to me after she reads this post!

Ah, the mysteries of our God.