The Recliner: Part 1

Somehow, if you manage to look closely enough, there will invariably be a unique opportunity for you to be used in an amaing way for God's glory.

I was at a get-together at the church a few months ago. The Women's Ministries at our church meets once a month and does a potluck dinner. We usually close every meeting with prayer. Hesitantly, right before we were about to begin to pray, a lady spoke up with a very specific and heartbreaking request. She had been living with her daughter, her daughter's two small chldren and her sister's family in a small trailer. With tears filling her eyes and streaming down her cheeks, she began to share with us the details surrounding her decidsion to move out of the trailer they all shared. I won't go into details here, but the environment she was living in was unhealthy for all parties involved. Not violent or threatening, but just straining on the relationships.

She didn't say how long she had been on her own, but told us she had gotten her own apartment. She had been living there for a while now, and didn't have a single piece of furniture. Not a bed, sofa, kitchen table or chairs, living room table or lamp... she had nothing. She seemed to be strong and confident as she revealed how she had been sleeping on the floor all this time with nothing more than a sleeping bag and a pillow. Amazing. She talked about God's goodness and provision. She was certain God had a plan and a way to provide for all her needs, despite her current condition. She assured us that she didn't know how God was going to do it, but she knew He would take care of her. I amired her strength and focus. She wasn't fixed on the problem, she had her gaze fixed on the One who could solve it!

She needed furniture. Guess what? I had furniture, AND just the pieces she needed for her home. Imagine that. I told her that I had a mattress in my garage and bed frame, queen sized. I had a corner tv cabinet and 19" tv upstairs in my office we didn't need. I had a couch that was at my husband's sister's house, just waiting on us to pick it up for Madisyn's room. I had a coffee table in my downstairs living room that a friend had just given us because they got new. She was very excited! I went home that night and began to make a list of the items we were to take to her house. Something hit me while I was making that list, I had an extra recliner... here's where it gets interesting.

This extra recliner was my Memaw's. She died about 7 years ago when I was pregnant with my son, she never got to meet him. She was very dear to me and the reclinder was one of the few things I got that was hers when she died. I also got her Bible. I called it "extra", because I already had a reclinder in my living room when I came to acquire hers. I moved my recliner to a friend's house to store and put my Memaw's recliner in my living room. I didn't care that it didn't match anything, it was hers and it was one of her favorite things. That made it special to me.

To be honest the thought of giving up my Memaw's recliner was at first quickly dismissed. I couldn't see how I could ever give up something so special to me. I struggled with the idea of giving it up! Seriously? Oh, but it totally began to nag me... I couldn't shake the thought that I needed to also give up that recliner. What? It's not good enough that I would give so many other things? I had a difficult time with this idea! I felt sad to give it up, it was special to me! How could God ask me to give something so special to me to somebody else? I dunno, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew I had to give this lady my Memaw's favorite chair.

After some struggle and thought and much to my husband's surprise, I included it in the lot of items to go. After it was loaded up, I was still going back and forth on whether I could really go through with giving it up or not. I had a sick feeling in my stomach over it, but that nagging feeling in my heart wouldn't let me change my mind.

To Be Cont'd...