Did you know that people don’t wallpaper anymore? The
wallpaper in my downstairs was partially destroyed when a pipe broke in the
commode. I checked out the insurance allowance. To my shock I learned that removing the remaining wallpaper would cost one thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars! ...so I went on a search in the storeroom to see if I could find leftover wallpaper, and there it was. ..several rolls for the bedroom and one for the bathroom! Then began the search for a wallpaper- er. Oh boy! Nobody! When I was about to admit defeat Charlene, the lady who comes to clean my house once a month said, “I don’t know how but let’s DO it!” I
couldn’t keep my fingers out of the pie and that night my back hurt so badly I crawled up
the stairs and into bed. Awaking at 3:30 A.M. as I often do ( ...the reason being that the Holy Spirit doesn't get a busy signal at that hour), I heard a whisper about calling in the Cavalry. ...so later that morning I called Julie. Her response? "I don't know how, but let's DO it!" (Always keep people around who are gutsy enough to do things they don't know how to do.) In the bathroom the seams don't exactly come together perfectly because Julie and I had to devise crafty ways to make that one roll work. We figured that when people are being preoccupied with other matters they won't notice. We had enough paper except for behind the door. I have a wall-hanging thingie I bought in some country that perfectly fits in that space. Jesus and we women are experts at making do with what we've got. I know a Bakersfield mom who made a soup bone work for three days in a row for her family of six.
How am I processing the fact that my back is announcing its limits? ...pretty much the same way I always do: First, denial, then slow acceptance, then
cautious praise for the “situation”, then O.K., God's got a purpose in this so let's watch and see what it is! Dee, Brent and Jeff will come today and we will switch my upstairs office to the middle floor and make that beautiful office into a bedroom. For two days in that upstairs room I have been sorting through papers that represent Ted's and my life/ministry together: client records, Ted's notes, my notes, Ted's jokes, business papers, day timers, yellow pads by the dozen that Ted used as he was counseling, articles, this and that and hundreds of Emails from many of you who read this. In order to guard your privacy I threw away anything that might be read by someone after I have been taken to Heaven. I have not even started to go through thousands of letters from many of you; those are on the main floor, waiting for a wintry day when I need your loving words to cheer my heart. If you ever want to write a book about your life I’ve got your whole story in those letters that many of you write every month with your contribution You are such an on-going blessing to me. Many of these communications are from loved ones who are now in Heaven with Jesus, my Ted and my Doug. You and I are a God-work in progress, and the fat lady hasn't come out to sing. ...yet.
Many years ago, Billy Graham brought 90-year-old Daddy Byus from the North Carolina Hills to speak for us in chapel. By the time he reached the pulpit and students helped him up the stairs, the entire student body was in tears. As a very new Christian for whom everything was wondrous (and still is) that dear old man who loved Jesus so much made an impact on my life that continues to this day. As Daddy Byus hobbled down the aisle to the pulpit, he came singing this song and we students joined in:
MY WONDERFUL LORD; MY WONDERFUL LORD
BY ANGELS AND SERAPHS IN HEAVEN ADORED!
I BOW AT THY SHRINE, MY SAVIOUR DIVINE
MY WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL LORD.
Love, Jo