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Little Wooden Cross I have this wooden cross that hangs from a chain of wooden beads in the windshield of my car. My best friend hung it there the first time we took a long trip together. When she first hung it from the rear view mirror I didn’t think much about it, but that little wooden cross at times has been the most precious gift any woman has ever given. The beads use to be two colors, but the sun has faded them so that they are all almost the same color now, and the little wooden cross is very worn from me rubbing it between my fingers when I am sitting in my car thinking about her. I don’t get to see her very often, we live over 250miles apart, and sometimes we have to go days and weeks without being able to talk to each other, and there was a time not too long ago that I wondered if I would ever talk to her again. We were both hurting from a lose that we shared, and it nearly destroyed us, not just as a couple but as people. And for nearly 6 weeks we didn’t talk, during that time I really started to notice that cross hanging in my windshield. Sometimes, I would just sit in my car rubbing it and thinking about her, and sometimes I would see it while I was driving and just start crying. During those times, I realized a lot of things, but one that hurt the most was the realization that we had never prayed together, but then at that time I was having a hard time praying at all. I know I was blessed, that the Lord had brought this beautiful and amazing woman into my life. A woman that loved me and that I could trust and talk to about anything. But to be honest, I hadn’t been praying for her, and I hadn’t been praying with her. One day I sitting in my car, rubbing this simple little cross and I just broke down and started weeping, and I started praying. I started praying about all the things that were on my heart, and I started praying for her. I don’t know how long I prayed. But I know since that day, there is not a day and almost not an hour that goes by that I don’t pray for her. A couple of days after I broke down and said this first pray, I drove down to see her, she didn’t know I was coming, and in truth she was so anger with me for doing it. But she didn’t turn me away, instead she told me what she had been going through and about how scared, and how badly she hurting. I listened and for the first time I seemed to understand things, not just know them, but understand them and how they were affecting her and us. When she came to a point where she had shared as much as she could, we prayed together for the first time. As I held her hand and prayed for her and with her, I felt more peace and closer to the Lord than I ever had before, it was a simple pray, but in it I laid before the Lord all that she had shared with me, and all that was in my heart. I know the Lord was there with us, listening to us, comforting, and healing. When we finished I had to go, and drive that 250 miles back to work, and back to my girls. But before we left, we were able to hug, and hold each other, something a few hours earlier we hadn’t been able to do. Since that day, I am careful to listen and pray for the things that she shares with me, and wait for the moment when we can pray together again, those times don’t come often being so far apart, but they are the moments that I remember, the memories that carry me though the days and weeks when we are apart. I am not sure why I felt the need to share this, but I did. Maybe someone else out there has a little wooden cross that they look at and think of someone they love. I hope that maybe if you are not praying with the person you are sharing your life with or for them that you will. I don’t know how much longer that little wooden cross that hangs in my windshield will last, but I know that every time I see it I think of my best friend, and thank the Lord for her, and pray for her. OneLuv Stromcrow |