Good morning…

I had journaled profusely since I was twenty-five years old, but I had never shared my writing with others until after our uprooting move in 2003. Being hired at Northside Church in the spring of 2006, for ten straight years I wrote a new manuscript, we self-published a book, and each Mother’s Day morning we handed out a complimentary devotional book to women in our community. I was reminded of this blessed ritual as I recently received a meaningful email.

“I wanted to share a very special story with you,” a friend from church wrote. “My mom (89) passed away on April 21, after a fall and subsequent brain injury. My brother and his family were in town, and we were having to clear out her apartment for month-end. Obviously, going through her belongings so quickly after her passing and being forced to make some quick decisions was painful.”

She continued: “In all of the disorganization, I found your book, Being Reborn, in my mom’s belongings. I must have either passed it to her to enjoy or she picked it up while at church with us (perhaps it was a Mother’s Day gift at services one year). In my moment of needing inspiration, I picked it up, closed my eyes and told myself I was going to randomly pick a page and see how it spoke to me. And ‘Wow! Did it speak!'”

She explained: “I found myself on page 77 reading to my sister-in-law and niece a passage from Colossians where it talked about being done with your old life, having ill fitting clothes that have been stripped off, and being dressed in a new wardrobe, given by God, of compassion, kindness, humility, strength, and discipline. I sensed my mom all decked out in her free flowing, heavenly clothes.”

My friend shared gratitude for this beautifully bonding moment: “I knew you’d enjoy hearing this. Thank you for so tirelessly working to always inspire. You touch so many at so many levels!”

You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it… So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline (Colossians 3:9b-12, MSG).

…Sue…