Oh My GOODNESS!: On Being Used by the Spirit

So, I have an incredible story for you.

Today I was at home with my two sisters, just havin fun and chillin together after they finished their school work.  And I got a big urge to just go out into this small wooded alleyway/gutter thing and make it more beautiful.  I donno, I've just been thinking a lot lately about how poor, rundown places in the city could be given more hope through art and beauty (like a beautiful, creative public park on an abandoned lot or something), and I just decided to try it here in my own neighborhood. (Still not sure what the home owners association will think of it, but I'm taking it down in a few days anyway so it should be alright :) ).

So anywho, I just grabbed all the sheets and curtains and scarves and empty picture frames that I could find and some of these cute little paper chains that my sister Sarah had left over from her party decorations and we headed down to the little alleyways a few blocks down.

We had a blast.  We decorated it to look like a magical little wonderland and thus named it "Wishful Meadows" with the creative genius of my sister Lizzy.  It was so beautiful.

Now, a lot of people may think this was a silly thing to do with a perfectly good Thursday afternoon, but I don't care.  It was silly and wonderful and beautiful and it brought joy to me and my sisters just by doing it.  It was beautiful.

So we went and got our mom who gladly followed us back down to our little wonderland where we shared a watermelon, apples and cucumber picnic together. It was so delightful and we all got to just rest and enjoy God's beauty and the company of each other for a few moments.

It was like time stood still for a little while and we could just breathe.  And if that had been all that God used it for, it would have been more than enough for us.  But, He did even more.

So, a few hours later my dad and brother decide to go on a run and I, for reasons I still don't understand, decided to go with them, even though I haven't exercised (let alone run) in far too long.  So I pant along behind them as they run down a rocky wilderness trail with leaps and bounds and I finally make it to the end where my dad and brother run on ahead to the house and I walk by myself trying to catch my breath.

Oh, did I mention I decorated the alleyway right over where my dad and brother run through to get to the main road.

And so I'm just walking along the far end of the alleyway (I wish there was a better word for it because it's not really an alleyway.  It has trees and flowers and a little stream that runs through the middle when there's a heavy rain.  The main purpose of it is to let runoff water from the road outside our neighborhood run into the gutter system, so.. yeah..anyways...) towards the little area that I had decorated, and I round the corner and see three people standing in the middle of our wonderland just looking up at the paper chains hanging down from the trees and talking to each other.

When I get close enough to talk to them, notice there's another man talking to them - he was leaning over the fence from his backyard which was directly behind the area that I had decorated.

Well, I wasn't sure whether or not they liked it or they were mad that someone had "bombed" the place and my fears began to be realized when I hear the first words out the the man with the dog's mouth; "crochet bombs".

The man with the dog on my side of the fence apparently was talking to the man who lived in the house behind my wonderland and was saying that this could be like something he'd heard of called crochet bombing (which I later googled and it's pretty cool, it's like graffiti but with crocheting and people use it to make a temporary form of personalized art in cities that need a little bit of life added to them.  You should check it out, it's pretty cool)./

So when I walked up, I stood and listened to them for a minute before the man with the dog turned to me and said, "Isn't this cool? We're trying to figure out who did this and why?".

And I just said, "Oh, my and my sisters did this." And when they all turned and stared at me blankly for a moment, I continued a little awkwardly, "Yah, I just really love it back here and we decided we wanted to try to make it a little more beautiful so we could have a picnic out here with our mom."

At this point I still wasn't sure if I was about to have to apologize and take everything down as fast as I could, or if they were going to love it, and so I was so relieved when they all broke into smiles and said different things all at once like, "Really? It's so beautiful!" and "Wow, that's so cool that you decided to do that, we love it!".

And then the man across the fence said something that I will never forget.

He said, "Wow, because my wife passed away 10 days ago and I thought that someone had done it for her.  It's right behind my property, you know.  And so I asked my friend here (pointing to the man with the dog) if he knew of any Mexican traditions like that."

The man with the dog turned to me and said, "Yah, so I brought my parents down here to see it! Isn't that crazy that you were running by right as we were talking about it? That's so crazy!"


Let me pause the story for a moment to say, "WHATTT?!?!?! HOW COOL IS GOD, OR WHAT?!?!?! Not only did He have me get this random urge this morning to go out and decorate an alleyways, just for the fun of it, but He also had me do it RIGHT BEHIND THE HOUSE OF A MAN WHO'S WIFE HAD JUST PASSED AWAY. And if that wasn't enough, He had me get another random urge to go on a run with my brother and father later that day, even though I have been sick for the past week and it was a terrible idea, and then I ran by the very man who God wanted me to do all of this for.  DO WE, OR DO WE NOT, SERVE AN AMAZING, POWERFUL, BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL GOD???  I MEAN HOW MUCH MORE GOOD CAN HE GET???  Oh yeah, and then He filled me with words to speak to this captive audience about His love and goodness.... Back to the story...


"Oh my goodness!" I said with a look of complete and utter disbelief and amazement on my face.  "That is so crazy.  Well, I'm a Christian and I believe that God shows His love to us through beauty.  And I know that He had me make this today to show you that He loved you" I said to the man across the fence with a huge smile spreading across my face.

He sat there for a second before saying, "You're so right.  And all those empty picture frames that you used to decorate with, they just really touched me and comforted me."

And all I could say was, "Oh my goodness, I can't believe God had me do all of this just for you! He is SO GOOD!" 

And the man across the fence slowly nodded and said, "You're right, He really is..."

And the man with the dog said, "Wow, God really is good all the time.  What's your name?"  And when I told him, he said, "Rock on Rebekah!", and gave me a big hi-five. "Great job!  I really think that everything should be a little more beautiful. It's all about Love and Beauty, you know??"

And I just smiled and nodded and kept saying, "Wow, God is just so good!"

Then I turned to the man over the fence and asked him what his name was. 

"I'm Paul", he said.  And I said, "It's so good to meet you Paul!" 

And all we could do was smile.

And I don't even think these people were Christians.  None of them said they were.  But there they were, agreeing with me about the goodness of God, all because of Beauty and an event that just couldn't be a coincidence.  It just couldn't.  It was all too good and too beautiful and too God-filled not to be a work of His good and beautiful hand.

He. Is. So. Good.


Praise you God!
Praise you that you used my body and mind and heart for your glory today.
Praise you that you love Paul and you used me to comfort Him through your language of Beauty!
Praise you that this life is so wonderfully, beautifully, perfectly all a part of your wonderful plan.
And praise you that you let me be a part of it.

All the glory to God; the author of Beauty and Life and all things Good.

All the glory to Him.


And pray for a man named Paul tonight.  He has a broken heart but he is being incredibly comforted by God tonight and he just might be talking to Him right now about all this.  :) AMEN!  And maybe I'll go pay Paul a visit tomorrow.  We'll see what the Spirit does next.


Blessing and the Grace of God be with you. May He romance your heart like He is romancing mine and Paul's.