Gifts from unexpected places.....

I got a gift today.  Actually, I've gotten lots of gifts lately cuz it was just Christmas after all, but this was a gift from my heavenly Father and it was just the right gift at just the right time.

An elderly lady from our church called the office today - I don't really know her, don't talk to her much but I've always thought of her as a somewhat grumpy person.  I was alone in the office and she said she needed to share a story with someone and asked if I had a few minutes.  Her husband has been ill for a very long time and she stays home to care for him but recently her brother was critically ill and in the hospital.  He was unconscious much of the time but on December 12th (Alex's birthday, by the way) her brother woke up and asked if he was in heaven.  His wife was by his side, holding his hand, along with a few other family members.  They all agreed he wasn't in heaven and they asked him why he thought he was?
    "Well, because Jesus is sitting at the foot of my bed."
But Jesus had told him, "Son, I'm not quite ready to take you yet."
He remained in the hospital, gradually getting worse.  The time came when the end was very near and he wanted to go home to die (all this was sounding so desperately familiar).  They brought him home and within the hour he was gone.  It was time.

She said you just don't hear very many stories like that and she just wanted to share it with someone.  I told her, she may not be aware, but my youngest son had died 6 months ago and we had a story of our own, very similar to hers.  She said the very first time she came to Grace they were praying for Ian and she had been praying for him and our family the last two years.  She then went on to relate her own experience when her son died 6 years ago and she was at his bedside when he asked Jesus to forgive him and when he passed away.

This was a reminder to me of the gift of Ian's last words in the days before he died.  I knew this was God's timing because I have wondered where God is in all this.  In all this grief and pain and questioning ~ and He was there today, in that empty office, sending a 'grumpy' woman to minister to a grieving mom.

Eric got his own gift this week in the form of a red robin, standing on the lawn in front of his parking space at work like he was waiting for him to get there.  We haven't seen a red robin in months (probably because Ian's cat, Emmett, has made it his mission in life to hunt down and kill every living creature in our back yard) and we didn't realize how much we missed them.  God's blessings are there and usually when we need them the most.