The Lord did a wonderful thing for me today. After 40 + years I re-united with the wonderful woman who raised me for the first few years of my life. Her name is Arlene. When I was born in the 1950's in San Diego CA, my Mom had to work from right after my birth. Arlene was our next door neighbor, and she volunteered for the job of caring for me during the day.
Arlene is 93 years old now. I found her on the internet today, phone number and all! She is in a nursing facility, and when I called I had no idea if she would recognize me, but she did! She is in a Baptist Senior Living Community, and at 93 she is still as sharp as a tack and full of life! She has her own 2 bedroom apartment in the "independant" living area. Her daughter added a new bedroom on to her home to entice her to come live with them, but Arlene would have none of it...she says she knows too many other situations where the family was burdened with an older family member and she never wants to be a burden for anyone. She is very much like the actress who played the main character in the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes", Jessica Tandy ... even looked like her in her younger years too.
She has a zest for life and only thinks of others and what she can do to help them. She has a brand new sewing machine and sews clothes for the children whose parents are in the local jail, she has about 5 other regular projects she is heavily involved in all to help others and spread the gospel...Yes, Arlene is a born again Christian. She is busier now than ever! And loving every minute of her life.
Arlene is the one who introduced me to Jesus Christ when I was so very young. She would take me to the Baptist Church in San Diego, and taught my Sunday School Class. She would make me refrigerator Sugar Cookies, and the smell of fresh hot coffee was always in the air. She had a drawer full of brightly colored buttons of all shapes and sizes and that was one of my favorite places to play. She would take me the few blocks it took to walk downtown San Diego to the local butcher store and the butcher always gave me a raw hot dog as a treat! There is nothing like it now, the taste was out of this world! She would take me to the San Diego zoo, and we would have lazy days in the warm San Diego sun, lying in the grass and talking about all the beauty the Lord has made for us to enjoy. The whole family loved me like I was their own.
The saddest day I can remember is when we had to move due to my Dad's job promotion. You see, Arlene didn't believe in anyone drinking. And Mom drank beer in front of me. She smoked too, and although that was not abnormal in the '50's by any means, she didn't like me to be exposed to it. She loved me so much, and was so terribly worried about what would happen to me that she actually confronted my folks and asked if she could adopt me. This shocked my parents, as they loved me too ofcourse! I think they never realized how deep and strong the attachment between Arlene and I had grown. My folks were wonderful parents, and I being an only child was the apple of their eye, as I was told so often. Even though there was some tension in our home ( I was too young to understand it all ), they lived a freer lifestyle than Arlene and her family did. But there was no shortage of love and laughter in our home. My Dad saw to that! My Mom was much more serious and had medical problems that led to her drinking...Yes, it became a problem later, but Praise God, she quit drinking completely by the time I was 15. Arlene told me how she always prayed for me all these years.
I had to tell her about the death of my Mom and Dad, and that was hard to do because whenever I think of them I get all choked up. She told me about her beloved husband George. I loved George so much. He was a soft spoken Christian man, but had a wonderful sense of humor! Arlene said he had lived with her 1 year in the Senior apartment before passing away from Altzheinmers. She said " Never a day goes by that I don't miss him. He was the easiest man to live with, and I thank God for the priviledge of being his wife".
I would go back for 2 weeks every summer to visit up until I was 13 years old. Then as life progressed, moving a lot from promotion to promotion with Dad, then overseas with my own husband for a while...we lost track of each other. Until today. We cried as we recounted the years and what had happened to each of us. She told me she wants me to come and visit her, she has another bedroom and plenty of room! But I don't have the money to travel to San Diego. I am praying for the funds...time is short? She is 93... But who knows, Arlene could very well out live me! LOL!!! Praise the Lord!
All this leads me to the title of this post....Forever Stamps. You see, I don't have enough money for a Christmas card. So I wrote her a letter, and put scriptures in it, and a poem. Then I went to look for any photos I could send to her. What I found shocked me. When my Dad died I went to Phoenix and retrieved alot of old photographs. I went through them today and saw baby pictures of myself I never saw...some of me right after birth! I even had long gangly limbs then too! I was premature but never saw how small I was until today. Even my long hands and fingers were evident as an infant. Then I found duplicate photos of Arlene, her two daughters, and my Mom all holding me in the photo! From 1955 and duplicates! I never knew they existed! Then I found more, so I collected all those precious memories and included them in the letter I wrote her and sealed the envelope.
I found some old postage stamps I didn't know I had. I had no idea how much they were for so I put all 11 of them on the front of the envelope. I figured they were worth about 32 cents a piece. Then I went to the Post Office to be absolutely sure they covered the postage because with the photos the envelope was rather heavy. I went up to the counter and told the lady to please be sure there were enough stamps on the envelope to send it. She looked at me funny. She said, "well, did you know these are "Forever Stamps", and they are good for Forever. You have put more than needed on this, but you'll be fine." The other clerks perked up when they heard her say Forever Stamps, like they knew of them and were curious. I felt like an idiot! I just put 11 Forever Stamps on an envelope. The postage is good through any changes or rate hike forever, and put 11 of them on there!!! LOL!
However.... the Lord spoke to my heart, and told me I had a testimony here. Because of Him I was raised by a God fearing Christian woman, who was and is full of His love and cares more about others than herself her whole life. Because of Him I was introduced to the love of Christ from birth by her, and accepted Jesus at a very early age. I will live with Him FOREVER and He used Arlene to be the person here on earth to expose me to the knowledge of Him that I needed to be saved. And she prayed for me all these years. And we cried together on the phone today when she heard me tell her I accepted Jesus as my Savior years ago, thanks to her.
Who knows how many lives that one woman has touched? I told her that we will see each other again in heaven, if I can't get out to see her here on earth....and that she will be surprised I am sure at all the others who come up to her to shake her hand and give her a hug, and tell her that she helped them come to a decision for Christ.
What a time that will be! I thank God for the blessing today of the FOREVER STAMPS I found tucked away, hidden for awhile, then brought into service at just the right time.
May God Bless You All Who Read This
zeetz
) lol
