In the fall of 2013 we had a dear friend come speak at our church. After service, I was visiting with Dick and I had asked why his sweet wife couldn't come. He shared with me that she was home getting ready for their annual trip to speak on the East Coast. I whispered in my heart, "Jesus, I want to speak on the East Coast." Then I kind of forgot about it for a while not telling anyone what I had just told Jesus.
Fast forward a few months and a pw friend of mine, posted on our pw site, sharing that God had laid on her heart that she was to do a women's conference and one of her deaconesses was excited to help but they just needed a speaker and she asked us to pray about it. I kind of got excited about it because she lives on the East Coast and I thought to myself, "I will just pray about it but if I am to say something have her mention it again." Sure enough another week goes by and she mentions it again. I saw the post and responded, " I would come and speak for expenses." And then I left it in the hands of the Lord. All of a sudden I got a phone call from Marg!
"Are you serious?" She asks as soon as I picked up the phone. I laughed and told her yes. She then goes on to say that when she was planning the conference, my name came to mind but she asked the Lord if I was the one to speak, then let me volunteer to do so. Isn't God good? Of course, I was excited!
We had a grand time in New Jersey. A few of the pws from our pw site all met at Marg's house. We connected like we had been personal friends for years. Now we were personal friends, but we had just never met each other in the flesh! It was wonderful to put names on faces! First of all I met Marg and Ken because they picked me up at the airport. I got to hug my friend, Marg's neck in person! I also had the honor of meeting Rev. Ken Scovell. Please do not let the Reverend title fool you, he is an absolute hoot to hang with. I met Carolyn and Larissa (what a joy!), then the bonuses happened! I met Violet, Larissa's mom and I got to meet Johannah, Carolyn's daughter! I was also blessed with a little one on one time with Larissa to share and pray for her a miracle, which God answered and that miracle will be coming soon at a hospital near her;) God is good.
While preparing for the conference I was studying the story of Joseph in Genesis. The scripture talks of being six dreams total, and they appeared in increments of two. Joseph had two dreams, The Baker and Butler had two dreams between them and then Pharaoh had two dreams. I was talking to the Lord about that there were two dreams at a time. I found that interesting. When Pharaoh had two dreams, the bible said that, "And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass." Now this really excited me! I had seen something that I never saw before but just decided to ponder it for a while.
The conference was wonderful! I spoke on Healthy Boundaries and God moved. I met so many new friends. After the conference I got to stay a week with Marg and Ken and they treated me like a queen. We drove to see Chris and Liz in Pennsylvania (YAY!) and we drove to Philadelphia one day and saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. And on another day they took me to Cape May in search of sea glass.
I had a friend in Oregon, who designs jewelry, tell me that if I found East Coast sea glass that she would make me a necklace. So I was on a mission to find sea glass. We first went to the ocean and nearly froze our fingers off but was unsuccessful in finding sea glass. We then went shopping in the beach stores going store to store asking for sea glass and finally someone pointed me to this beautiful beach shop. When we entered, you could tell it was a store of quality just not a tourist trap. I asked about sea glass and the woman at the counter told me that it was hard to find and very expensive. I said, "Okay, do you have any for sale?" She replied no. She then took out two small pieces of sea glass and showed them to me a long with some rough Cape May Diamonds. She told me that I could find some Cape May Diamonds at the point of Cape May. She then asked me if I wanted the sea glass and I asked her how much as I was watching her put the glass and a few Cape May Diamonds in a plastic pouch. She told me that it would cost nothing, she was giving me the precious pieces of glass and stones! I was so blessed and excited! God had given me favor. Marg just laughed and shook her head in amazement. We were both giggling!
The next stop was the tip of Cape May Beach! It was a beautiful pebble beach. Everywhere you step your foot would sink deep into the pebbles. I was standing alone on the beach (Because of the freezing temperatures Marg opted to stay in the car. Ken was standing a ways back but graciously taking me touring!) and I looked down at my feet (yes I was barefoot) and saw a shiny dime sitting on top of the pebbles. I smiled and said, "God, I don't know why you are giving me this dime but thank You for having it stay on the surface for me!" I picked it up and looked at it for a minute or two and then safely placed it in my pocket. I grabbed a bag of Cape May Diamonds and off we went in search of lunch, having a grand day of memory making together.
The time seemed to have passed by quickly and before I knew it, it was departure day. I had a 3 hour layover in Minneapolis. When I landed in Minneapolis I looked for a charging station for my electronics. I found an totally empty terminal which seemed strange but very nice because I didn't have to constantly watch who was near by me. I sat down by the charging station and looked down and sitting on the floor, all shiny was a bright dime, right by my foot. I felt in my pocket for the beach dime to make sure that I didn't drop it but it was still safe in my pocket! I picked it up and said, "Thanks God! That makes two dimes that You have gifted me!" Remembering the increments of two dreams. I knew that this was God's way of blessing me.
I finally arrived to Boise and my sweet husband was waiting to pick me up. We had planned to spend one night in a hotel and then one night with friends before returning to Boise. The next night while we were with our friends, I was telling my friend Darla, all about the conference and what God had spoken to me. We had to run to the store before dinner to pick up a few items and while we were shopping I told her about my dimes. We both talked about it being cool and I thought that it was more than a coincidence but it was God blessing me. As soon as we walked outside I went to get in on my side of the SUV and looked down and what was there? A bright shiny dime! I felt in my pocket and my two dimes were still safe inside. I called to Darla to come and look at what I found and we both laughed! I picked up my new dime and we hurried home. When we got back to the house I shared with Jason and Rick about the dimes and my new found dime. Darla then asked, "What do you think that it means?"
I told her that I thought it was God confirming a few things to me. Jason then said, "I know what it means." I looked at him and asked him what? He replied, "It means that God is going to bring about what He has promised you!" I smiled because I had never shared with him what God had told me the year before. I had shared with him my ponderings about Joseph and the dreams while studying. This excited me!
Come back tomorrow for Shiny Blessings Part Three:)
Until then,
Shanin
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