My grandmother was quite a lady. She always reminded me of the verses in I Corinthians 13, "Love is patient, love is kind…" She was pure sweetness to everyone she came in contact with. When she was young, she dreamed of having enough sons to form a baseball team. She ended up having two daughters instead. Then, when the first grandchild came along, it was me! Another girl. But after that… she had four grandsons, and 5 great-grandsons. She used to say, "Sheila did you know you are my favorite granddaughter?" And I would roll my eyes and say, "Grandma, I am your only granddaughter!!!"

In her later years, Grandma hand appliqued each of her grandchildren a quilt, even though she had severe arthritis in her hands. We each received our quilt after her death.

The other day, I came across my quilt, where I had it safely packed away in storage. I did not want anything to happen to it, damage it or destroy it. An then I began to wonder, how many gifts or abilities has God given me that I have packed away "in storage"? What good is something if I never use it or enjoy it? I am going to get my quilt out, and put it on my bed-to see and to use it every day. If it gets dirty I will just wash it. If it gets my sons’ fingerprints on it, that is just fine. I hope the Son’s fingerprints show on my life, as well.

Cut Hand, Saved Heart
By Sheila Kable

      Okay, I admit it.  I coveted those cobalt blue drinking glasses.  I had my eye on them for two whole years.  I really did.  After I got a small income tax refund, I went shopping, which was something I hardly ever do.  I was weary of using old fast food restaurant cups.  I wanted something nicer for when I had company… and for when it was just me, too!  The glasses I had years ago had all broken or fallen by the wayside.  So, I did it.  I bought three sets of those pretty blue glasses that kept calling my name.  They were so pretty!

     My kids immediately forsook the plastic cups in favor of the blue glasses.  You would think I had twelve sons instead of three by the number of dirty glasses awaiting me beside the sink every night.  As time went by, it was apparent there was a problem.  About every third time I did dishes, another glass would simply break in my hand!  Finally, one broke, leaving a three-inch gash in my right hand.  It was so deep I could see the muscle, and it took over an hour of applying direct pressure to stop the bleeding.  And, yes, I just happen to be right handed.  Such a wound did not make my status as a student any easier.  Just try keeping up with a university professor by asking notes with a bound up hand, let alone one that is in pain!

     While I was sitting there pressing an old ratty towel to my hand, I wondered how we all so often have our eyes focused on something attractive, even pretty to us.  We can justify it away, list all the pros of why we should have it, and doesn’t God want us to be happy, anyway!  A lot of times when we get it, we finally see that it was not as pretty as we thought; we realize it was less than God’s best for us.  We have to let go of what we are fretting over; we have to empty our hands of what we are clinging to in order to be able to receive the best things He actually has planned for us, and wants to give us.  If we fix our eyes on Jesus and His perfect plan, He will bring us things and circumstances that will bring us far more lasting joy, lasting blessings, and eternal significance.  I now count myself lucky that I only had a cut to my hand and not a cut on my heart or my witness.

“’For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future’.” Jeremiah 29:11

God’s Plan For My “Failure”
By Sheila Kable 

     I had been going back to school for three very long, hard years.  We had done without a lot of things for so long.  I survived a mountain of reading and writing, a greatly curtailed social life, and even more curtailed finances.  I had struggled with algebra for so long without success.  I knew after taking Fundamentals of Algebra twice, Intermediate Algebra once, and College Algebra, and having the assistance of three different tutors, that I was at the point where the rubber meets the road.  Two schools of the college I attend told me that I would not be admitted until I had College Algebra under my belt with nothing less than a sparkling C average.  Hey, I would have praised God for a C. 

     I was at a standstill.  I knew how hard I had tried, how many hours I spent every night on just my algebra, alone, neglecting my other course work, only to fail every single problem, over and over again.  I even had trouble working that scientific calculator.  I am convinced Satan invented algebra, no kidding.  I underwent 14 hours of IQ and personality testing, only to be told that I would be able to get my college degree in anything I wanted, including physics!! There was no reason at all I could not pass algebra.  Who are the people that make up those tests anyway??  How in the world did they get that, I will never know. 

     I knew I would spend the rest of my life taking algebra over and over again.  I had wondered many times if all this hard work had been for absolutely nothing.  I wondered if I was destined to live forever in dead-end, low paying jobs, and never have even a chance at a better life for my kids and myself.  I would pray, “Okay God, I know You have a plan and a purpose for me, even if I never get my college degree.  I do trust You.  Please just show me what You want me to do.  If You want me to quit or what.” 

     A woman I know on campus suggested that I try one more option, a different degree program.  I made an appointment with the advisor of that school, printed up a copy of my transcripts and carried them up the many steps to his office.  He called me in, and I sat down, and together we went over my transcripts.  He told me I definitely had to have the algebra, that was a given.  He looked at the rest of my transcripts and was very pleased. 

“You are well on your way!! But there is not much else you can do until you have the algebra.”  I sat there; it was pretty much what I expected.  “Wait a minute,” he said.  “You already had College Algebra.”  “Well, yeah, but I only got a D in it.”  “No, it doesn’t matter,” he said.  “If you had it before 1993, you do not have to take it again, as long as you passed.  You made a D and that is good enough for us.”  I had taken College Algebra in 1984.  I was right out of high school, and I was working graveyard shift full time trying to support myself…and it was not working well at all, I could not sleep and was walking around like a zombie.  None of my grades were all that good, although I loved my job.  But it was good enough for NOW?  It was actually acceptable??? I was flabbergasted!  Of COURSE I cried.

     God, You are incredibly faithful!  To use what I considered a FAILURE…to craft that into something that could actually be used to HELP me 18 years and a whole lifetime later…it just amazes me beyond words.  For two days all I could say was, “Thank You, God!  Thank You God!”  Who would have thought?  He continually shows me more and more ways that He provides for us. And He gives us the incredible gift of being able to SEE what He does!!!

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?

Hebrews 13:5b-6

“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen

Hebrews 13:20-21