(Part 2)The gift our real father ushered in when he walked out on us was a gift that in the beginning, we may have never seen coming had my mom chose to focus on only the anger, hurt, and resentment of our father leaving. Instead, she chose to find the strength to find hope and to believe that God still had blessings ahead for us. Together as a family with our God-given dad we built a lifetime of wonderful memories, especially at Christmas time when our dad always made sure the tree was put up and the house was completely decorated inside and out by the weekend right after Thanksgiving, and he planned, with our mom, fun Christmas adventures for us to embark on each weekend leading up to Christmas. One of my favorite being the year he and mom created a Christmas scavenger hunt. They had created a list of Christmas sights throughout our small town and handed the list to us then we piled into the car when the sun just started going down, with our list, to see who could find all of the items on the list first as we also enjoyed seeing all of the festive Christmas lights around town. (To be continued…)
He didn’t have to step in and take the place of our father who walked out of our lives only three months after my little sister was born, but he did. He didn’t have to say kind things about our own absent father who we never saw again so that we wouldn’t grow up bitter, angry, and resentful of him, but he did. He even went so far as to include our dad in our evening supper time prayers as we sat around the table as a family. He was a rugged and burly man in his demeanor, at first often reminding people of Grizzly Adam’s in his youthful years and as he grew older he developed more of a Santa Claus appearance making many of our friends insist on having our dad dress up as Santa for our small towns annual Christmas parade and holiday events. He swooped into our lives and fell in love with our mom and with us (as he always recounted it) when I was only 4 and my sister was just barely two and he drifted out of our lives just last year only a month before Christmas. Our hearts were shattered and our world, as we so lovingly knew it, was forever changed when we lost our dad, but for the lifetime of amazing memories and invaluable lessons he gave us, our lives were also forever made more beautiful and exponentially better. (To be continued…)
(Part 7)”This is a good sign.” The nurse announced, “This is truly nothing short of a miracle. Let me go tell the doctors on her care team.” She held tightly to her daughter’s hand and took Graham’s hand into her other hand as she wasted no time to tell God thank you for once more battling for his daughter’s life and bringing her through to endure victoriously. By that Christmas eve her daughter was home holding her sweet, healthy baby girl in her arms, sitting next to her adoring husband who was doting over both of them, as she handed out Christmas gifts to each of them. The fireplace gently rolled with warm flames as soft Christmas music filled their tiny, but comforting little log cabin. She couldn’t have been more thankful for a Christmas celebration than she was this year and she couldn’t be more proud of her daughter her once again found the strength and faith to face a heroing battle for her life and with that faith and determination she knew only God could provide her, she had delivered her baby with an epidural so she could be awake to hear her baby’s first cry, she endured surgery on her jaw and arm that lasted nearly 6 hours and she refused heavy narcotics to control the pain opting instead only for extra strength Tylenol and Ibuprofen. As she took in the view of her daughter, her son-in-law, and her first grandbaby sharing their first Christmas memories together, she thanked God for the blessings He had given her today, for the promises He never failed to keep, and for the stranger who cared enough to stop to help her daughter, and make sure that her daughter got to the hospital to get the care she needed in time to save her life. She hadn’t forgotten that part of her daughter’s story and she made sure to thank God for whoever that good Samaritan was, every day. By the time she had gotten home from Alaska in the new year she was able to finally find out the name of the person who stopped to help her daughter along with that person’s address. She carefully framed and wrapped a black and white photo she had captured of her daughter, her son-in-law, holding their new baby girl sitting on the couch, next to to Christmas tree, talking to their baby. She shipped the framed picture, that matched exactly the framed photo she had hanging on her living room wall, to that stranger in the hopes that that picture would always be a reminder to whoever that person was, of the miraculous and amazing difference he had made by caring enough to stop and take care of a stranger who laid beaten, broken, and near death on the cold, hard ground that Christmas season. Luke 10:33 “But the Samaritan, as he traveled by, came by where the man was; and when he saw the man he took pity on him. [and helped the man]” Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the assurance of what we do not see and the confidence of those things we hope for.” Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I Am God.” Matthew 19: 26 “All things are possible with God.”
(Part 6) “Katie,” she began speaking with determination and strength in her voice even though she was exhausted and frightened, “Don’t you dare give up this fight. God has brought you through tougher battles than this and you have won. Now your sweet baby needs you to fight hard for her. It’s time to wake up and see the miracles of Christmas that God wants to shower upon you, my sweet daughter. God is here! He is with you! Jesus was born in a cold and lowly manger, He lived a humble, service-filled life, and He died a criminals death so that you and I, your husband and your sweet baby could live hopeful, joyful, and abundant lives. Don’t give up now, don’t doubt the healing God can once more bring to you. Our Father, who dwells in Heaven, worshipped, praised, and glorified always be your name. Your Kingdom come and Your will be done here on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and forevermore. Amen!” She spent the next hour beside her daughter praying, singing hymns, and keeping God close to her daughter. When the nurse came into the room and announced to Graham and her that the time had come for the doctors to prep her daughter for surgery to deliver the baby, she kissed her daughter’s hand and began to walk out of the room when the three of them heard the faint voice say, “Mama?” She whipped back around and went back to her daughter’s bedside to see her daughter’s eyes weakly fluttering, trying to stay open. “Mama?” She said again. Her eyes flooded with tears as she answered her back. “Yes, baby, it’s mama. I’m here, Graham is here, and soon your sweet baby girl is going to be here to meet you so you have to rest up and be strong to meet your baby.” “OK mom. I will!” She answered her mom and she squeezed her mother’s hand as she drifted back to sleep. (To be continued)….
(Photo courtesy of Sue New) (Part 4) By Thanksgiving that year her daughter and her husband were safely and joyfully settled in Alaska and her daughter called often to tell her just how much she loved her new job as an Alaskan park ranger. She explained how just being out in nature every day helped her feel closer to God and reminded her of the greatness of God’s hands at work. Just hearing the joy and excitement in her daughter’s voice every time she talked to her reminded her of just how far God had brought her daughter from drug addiction to happily married and living her dream every day. By spring the following year she got the wonderful and exciting news that her daughter was pregnant. They were expecting their first child in December, right around Christmas time. She couldn’t have imagined a more appropriate and wonderful due date especially since this was, after all, their favorite time of the year. (To be continued)…
(Part 3) With the help of her mother and the care and support of her high school sweetheart, she entered a drug rehab program and she faced detoxing off of the drugs and alcohol, and she even decided to start college at the local community college. Two years later she’d worked hard and earned a degree in horticulture studies and she decided that she wanted to be a park ranger. Also, at the end of that two years her high school sweetheart returned home and proposed to her. It was the joyful and beautiful outcome she had prayed for her daughter so many sleepless nights. Then came the sudden shock of learning that her daughter had finally gotten her dream job offer to be a park ranger, only the job was clear across the country from where their small town in Connecticut was, in Alaska. At first, she prayed for her daughter to turn down the opportunity in favor of another one closer to home, but as she laid in bed one night praying this very same prayer a shock of reality hit her hard as she learned that her dear friend and neighbor’s son had committed suicide because of his own drug addiction. This heartbreaking news opened her eyes to her own situation and the battle her daughter had fought and, by the grace of God, won. She shifted her perspective that night and changed her prayers. “My God! My God! She is your child first and by your Grace and your Strength she was able to turn her life around from the very dark and dangerous path she was on to a new and healthy path. I am eternally thankful and grateful for my daughter and for the amazing ways you have blessed her, helped her, and brought her through her battles. I commit my daughter and her sweet husband to you tonight and I trust that wherever your plans send them and whatever outcomes your story has written for them, you will always be with them to guide them, protect them, strengthen them, and keep them safe always along their journey. Thank you, God, for the blessings you have given me in my daughter and her husband, and for the many blessings you still have in store for me with each new day. I’m Jesus name I pray, Amen!” (To be continued)…
(Part 2) The two of them, mom and daughter, were always close and they loved always celebrating their favorite time of the year, Christmas, together, baking cookies, watching Christmas movies, riding around looking at the many lit up houses and buildings, going to the Christmas parade, and decorating the house and tree for the holiday. It was when she noticed during the Christmas when her daughter had just turned 19 that she wasn’t acting quite the same. Her excitement for the time of the year she so loved was gone and she began to worry about her daughter. She knew that she’d just gone through a difficult break-up with her high school sweetheart, who left to go to college, so she thought perhaps this was what was wrong with her daughter, but when she began not coming home at night, not calling to let her mom know she was safe, and she began dressing differently and bringing home some new guy who didn’t speak much and who usually walked through the house with barely a sideways glance in her direction, she began to understand that her daughter had fallen into the grips of a very bad crowd and an extremely dangerous habit. She began to pray harder and harder every day and every night as her daughter spent the better part of the next two years battling drug addiction. She cried herself to sleep most nights and woke most mornings exhausted from her endless crying and hours spent praying until finally, one Christmas holiday two years after it all began her daughter ran into her high school sweetheart who was home visiting for the holidays. She was embarrassed and convicted, and she immediately came home and confessed everything to her mother. (To be continued)
She didn’t care what the cost would be, she only knew that she had to purchase a ticket to get to her daughter in Alaska who was “on her death bed” according to her husband. She couldn’t believe her ears as her new son-in-law was explaining to her what had happened. According to him, she had been out for an early morning walk- a walk along a route she typically took every day- when a man appeared out of nowhere and he insisted on her giving him all of her money. She apparently tried to calmly explain to him that she had no money since she was merely out taking a walk, but this only enraged the man more and he attacked her. He beat her to the point of unconsciousness and left her there on the freezing pavement to die. Another person came along shortly after the attack to find her lying there moaning and mumbling the words, “My baby! My baby! My baby!” At that time the person who found her noticed that she was indeed, pregnant. The person who found her daughter quickly got the police on the phone and stayed with her daughter until the police got there. That person made sure that her daughter was covered by taking off his own jacket and wrapping her in it and also holding her close to him to get as much of his own body heat as possible. As she boarded her first flight bound for her destination in Alaska, which she knew was going to take her nearly all day to get to, she thought about what had taken her daughter so far away from her in the first place. For all of her daughter’s life it had been only the two of them. Her fiancé, her daughter’s father, had been killed in a car accident when her daughter was only four months old and after losing the love of her life, she’d put her entire focus on being there for her daughter while working two jobs and putting herself through college to get her masters degree in education. Thankfully, she had the support and help of her own parents, who watched her daughter when she worked and attended her college classes. It had been a long, trying venture, but with determination and no doubt, the strength and peace that God gave her, she finished college and got her degree by the time her daughter was five, just in time for her daughter to start school. She was able to get a job at her daughter’s school as a school guidance counselor, and by the time her daughter was moving into middle school, she had moved up to the assistant principal at the elementary school. (To be continued)…
(Part 5)…For the first time in more than 10 years he decided to go home for Christmas. Just as he remembered from his childhood, his parents home was decorated just as festive as it had always been and as soon as he pulled into the driveway he felt warm and safe, as if he’d walked right into the arms of a welcoming and comforting embrace. He unloaded his trunk which was filled with gifts and walked up to the door. He didn’t even need to ring the doorbell or knock on the door. His mother was right there with her arms excitedly extended to welcome her son home. His eyes welled with tears at the overwhelming joy of seeing his parents again and also at the sight of how much they had aged. He didn’t want to miss any more time with them. He also didn’t want to miss any more time with his little brother who was now married and had two small boys of his own. Most of all, he didn’t want to miss one more day with the love of his life. He’d called her on his drive into town and after explaining his harrowing experience to her she agreed to meet with him when he got back to town. Now, as he dropped his bags on the front porch and embraced his mother and also his father in the most heartfelt hug he’d given anyone in years tears ran freely down his face and he silently prayed, thanking God for his rebirth and for his new awakening. The rugged, harsh, standoffish, stubborn man he’d been all those years in an effort to protect the vulnerable little boy who simply needed to face his past and conquer his fears was gone. Replaced with a man who had many years of laughter, love, joy, and giving to catch up on, and he looked forward to every single moment of it. A few days later, on Christmas eve, in front of his whole family, he got down on one knee and with the sincerest of hearts and with tears of true joy and hope, he told the love of his life just how very much he loved her and how he always had, and he confessed to her own stubborn and hard-hearted he knew he had been for far too long. “I know I have no right to ask you this and if you said ‘no’ I’m sure that’s exactly what I’d deserve, but Kelsey DeBeres, if you would do me the most beautiful honor of saying yes to spending the rest of your life with me, I promise you I will love you, cherish you, honor you, and adore you every single moment of your life.” She said yes, and he kept his promise. Fifty-three years later, four children, 16 great-grandchildren, and a lifetime of beautiful memories later he kept his promise to her and he never forgot the day that he and God spent quality time together in the woods. All thanks to an angry, hungry bear and a cellphone that finally found its signal, much the same way he finally found his Heavenly Father. Ezekiel 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Luke 11:20 “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him, he ran to his son and threw his arms around him…”
(Part 4)…just thinking about the list of things he wanted to do once he got himself back to the walking path, rescued, and healed gave him the energy to pull himself back up the mountainside another 50 feet nearly to the top. He was so close he could see the trail, but this part was the steepest part of the mountain and he knew that this was going to be the hardest part of his climb. He again stopped to rest and catch his breath. He was so tired and in so much pain, but yet also so focused on the things he wanted to do and say to Kelsey, his parents, and his brother, to start making things right that he forgot to check to see if his cellphone now had reception until suddenly it started to ring in his pocket. That ringing caught not only his attention, but the attention of two men who happened to also be hiking the trail just above him. “Hello! Is someone there?” One of the men hollered down the mountainside. He couldn’t believe his luck. What were the chances? He quickly answered back. “Yes! Yes! Please help me. I fell down the mountain about 5 hours ago and broke my right leg. Please don’t leave and please call for help.” “Don’t worry. My friend is already on the phone with the park rangers and they are calling the rescue squad. We won’t leave you.” “Oh thank you. Thank you so much. Thank God!” He cried openly now as he felt a sense of peace, healing, relief, release, and a new kind of joy like he had never known before. Not since he was a kid playing and hanging out laughing with his best friend, Kelsey. Suddenly remembering that it was his ringing cellphone that caught the attention of the two men who were now working to get him help, he pulled his cellphone from his pocket to see who had called at just the right time. It was none other than Kelsey. She must have gotten his text message and tried to call him. Once again God had sent him his guardian angel right here on earth and he had no intention of ever letting her go again. “Sir!” He called out to the men, “Sir! Hello? Would you guys please pray with me? I need God to know just how much I love Him and how thankful I am that He has once again not only saved my life, but He has made my life better.” “Absolutely we can!” Together the three men prayed on the mountain as they waited for the rescue personnel and park rangers to get there…(to be continued)
Only Heaven Knows 