Jewells of Thought

This story came about during Preacher Winders time in the pulpit at Fellowship. Which means sometime more than 6 years ago not quite 10 years ago. Last year when I first began writing this blog I had a topic of interest I write about. It was from this intense series I absolutely fell for right about this time I am talking about.

The plot of the series was amazingly complex and dealt with time-travel, medicine in the 3rd Century and the 21st and Christianity. It was created based upon a real historic man actually there were three men. Two of them were Bishops of Carthage. I had bought the first book on a whim for a cheap find. It was the time-travel and the culture clash that grabbed my attention. I hesitated at first though… not all books are created equal I wasn’t sure how well it would be written. My hesitancy was unfounded this time. This set of books allowed me to think outside of reality for a bit and really gave me poignant moments of reflection.

There are books I think everyone should read the Bible included, Eve by Jill Smith the book I am currently reading and definitely this series ‘The Carthage Chronicles’ by Lynne Gentry. They have rocked my world literally from taking the time to read them. I nearly bypassed the first book of the ‘Carthage Chronicles’ it was like God was bringing me back to the book over and over again until I made my final decision to get it. I kept walking away and then God would walk me back over to it.

A couple of weeks before this specific Valentines Day Event at the Church the Preacher asked me to be the babysitter. In order to have the turnout they wanted childcare would be needed. Either he had noticed I had no boyfriend at that time or my parents told him I would be free to help out for that night. I was the designated single woman who everyone knew and i worked in the Children’s Ministries so it was a win-win for everyone.

Isn’t it nice to be the known single woman in the congregation who would always be free for certain jobs?

Yes and No

So that was maybe two weeks before the event that I had signed up for being the childcare supervisor for the evening. Then I found out I was going to have a teenager help me out so that was good. The preacher had the whole thing planned out maybe Carmen was part of that too. They were going to order Pizza Hut for us and have drinks for us in the entrance of the Church upstairs while the adults were in the basement. Actually it was kind of surreal. I was taught not to eat in Church in the Sanctuary which also included the lobby, or den whatever you call the entrance.

The setup is still in my mind the look was so wow to me. They brought a television set with a VCR to show something I think the preachers girls took care of all that. I mainly had to say ‘don’t do that’, and ‘No’ most of the evening. It was a truly unique experience for me for certain. My helper didn’t come until halfway through the night. One baby all the way up to tweens. Most of them did good. There was one boy who kept going downstairs but I couldn’t very well go after him. Telling him to stop didn’t seem to slow him down.

I really wasn’t sure I wanted to do this when I finished my last of the Carthage Series either the night before or that Friday morning. I don’t remember when it was exactly only that I was affected by that entire series, but that last book especially put my mind into disarray. The idea of not settling in your life and going outside of your comfort zones to be your best self and be used by God to show that it is God and not you alone doing the work. This is what I had been grappling with just before I became the babysitter to maybe a baker’s dozen of kids.

This was before I met Bryan it put a new perspective on my future relationship in my mind. Loving is easy, putting love into action takes courage. That evening I hope I took the burden off of some couples who needed some couples time with their spouses at this Church Valentine’s Day Party. Otherwise I would have been sitting at home doing nothing productive eating comfort food and probably watching a classic old World War II movie.

I still find myself wondering if I could have stood as strongly to face what the characters faced with martyrdom. Could I stand with my husband as he has been wrongly convicted even as God has already shown him he would die this way and just be there for him? How does a wife do that when our instincts are to get him away from that executioner and yet your husband surrendered to God’s will, you will be a widow and you have known this for a while but reconciling it is impossible! When does God give you peace?

These were all questions I had before Bryan came into my life then I read this series again last year. This series get even more nitty grittier in my heart. Seeing my life as a part of a couple now changes my perspective once again. It has been a decade or more since this series came into my life like it came into my life to prepare me for my pairing with Bryan specifically. Maybe I just analyze too much.

Has any book made you analyze your relationship or given you ideas before you meet your match? The Bible really is key to showing you how to navigate the fools from Mr. Right. Proverbs really is a good book of the Old Testament peruse as well.