"Entangled with Joy" an uplifting word to "un" tangle and reconnect with the heart 

​This week seems to have sped up.  Wouldn't you agree?
I just came home from sharing in a Thanksgiving festivity at my husbands Don's work.  He is a Master Tech at the local Honda dealership.   And also a Master at deep frying turkeys. We all enjoyed two different birds, one butter injected and the other Cajun-infused. Your mouth is watering I can tell.  
I promise to post the recipe and video the process for you foodies.
As we enter the season of Thankfulness and giving,
I was searching to give you something.  
​Thank You to Many of you who have jumped over to Amazon or one of my other affiliates, via my website, it does bring a blessing my way when you shop.  

So back to my search for something to give you!  

One of the most encouraging things I have found is to watch or to listen to ourselves recorded.  I heard a testimony from a saxophonist who was hospital bound with not long to live.  The Lord told him to play his "videos" of himself playing the saxophone.  The sound of his personal ministry healed him in three days; they released him from the hospital with a clean bill of health.  That testimony has stuck with me.  
Testimonies are found seated within the mercy seat of Christ.  ​Exodus 25:22   You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark, you shall put the testimony which I will give to you. Testimonies are alive.  They are God's agreement, it's His will, and He desires to do it again.  That is why He holds them within the Mercy seat of Christ.  Not one of the articles placed inside but within the covering.  Cherubim look into them.  

​I just re-listened to a short audio of my teaching, titled an Encouraging word from a bible study series I called the Many Moods of Minnie. Yes, Minnie, the mouse.  That's another story. ​I found it buried in old files and recorded on a phone before they were "Smart."  I think its almost 15 yrs old.  It took me a bit to place it until I recognize familiar laughs from the audience.  Just to hear them again touched me.  We move on in many ways but hearing joy bubbling reminded me of what He has done inside of me. That is the heart of Thanksgiving  a  grateful "remembering" for what He has accomplished. It's a work of the heart.
My personal revelation has grown, thankfully I didn't bite my teeth with something I said.  It encouraged me to continue to believe, to press forward, pursue.  That God still believes in me, that I will accomplish His good pleasure throughout my life.
It blessed me.  I believe it will bless you.  
I re-found a lost treasure,

My gift to you.  ​

​Put your headphones on while you're making pumpkin pie or getting down the Christmas boxes from the attic. Enjoy your family.  
No really, enjoy your family.  

Blessings Kristen

Your heart is doing better than you think!

Last weekend we Oregonians enjoyed a brief recession
from the barrage of rain.  While answering the beckoning call of gardening.  I discovered 4 tidbits that encouraged me.  Rest, Rhythm, Removal, Reward.  Thought I would share my winters table with you.  With over 60 inches of rain a year, almost double the national average you can understand why we rush outdoors.  That means a halt to indoor projects, load up the outdoor gear and or if you're a farmer/gardener, your heading outside "weather" your ready or not. A missed chance at yard work not wearing your rain gear, is a missed opportunity to dance with a little vitamin D, surrounded by the beauty of nature.               

See the blue sky! 

 My flower pots need trimming back, clean out leaf debris in my KOI pond and tidy up the frozen remains in my raised beds.  Water is literally standing several feet deep in the ditches, winters growth in the farmer's fields struggling for a breath of air underneath the wash of seasonal storms.  Your muck boots squish going across a moss-choked lawn, yet my soul is rejoicing at the touch of the sun once more.  I hear the call of my dormant fruit trees and roses with visions bursting in my head of a fragrant harvest. ​

Lush Moss growing under my pergola! Argh!

 There are many unique ways the God talks to me, talks to you, as vast and different as the shapes of mouths and ears we see in our family portraits.  Overall, I'd say that nature has a voice of her own echoing her creator's heart.  It took me years to figure out that I was able to have an audience with Him where ever my day took me, it was my awareness and attention span that changed.  God could use any creative "medium" to talk to me.  He created my senses to know, celebrate and commune with Him.  Nature, TV, music, crazy drivers on the freeway, during quite a time, my daydreams, 

everything is an expression spoken from what an individual has previously harvested.  
​As a quote says: "It's all in there".  What do you mean Kristen when you say it's all in there? Your heart has a memory system, you harvest life going on around you.  God has a recording system, Heaven is full of libraries. They have scrolls, mandates and records containing eternity and all that is written in it.  And being written.  Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans I have for you...Even the enemy, our accuser, has a sick video recorder that captures our weaknesses and loss. Redemption has been paid for by the blood of Jesus but not necessarily employed.  The word of God testifies like this;
Matthew 15:18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person.
Let me see,  say you stepped on my toe, I yell because it's very painful.  Well if we were family or friend and there were unresolved issues between us, more might come out of my mouth than just, rackem,shakem, fooy fooy fooy!  The pain would springboard off the unresolved issues that were left inside of me. I might cop an attitude, give you the silent treatment, rolling around my thoughts would be "he meant to do that".   What happens if my toe was broken? Whew now, finances are involved.  Could get scandalous.    Simple example. Another example.  Well, this one was real for me at one point in my life.  Romance novels. I read them like candy.  One day the Lord called me on it.  They were polluting my thought life and damaging my marriage.  They were going into my heart via my eye "gate" and then coming out as dissatisfaction between my husband and me.  Wow, we have discussed a lot already.  Back to this lovely day.
This February day was singing an unrestrained, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine". And I'm seeking; You make me Happy when skies are grey. 

​The importance of Rest
 "Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.  Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us." -Maya Angelou 
Rest should refresh you just as much a night of sleep engages a different consciousness. The Lords rest is grace infused, grace always leads to mercy.  I didn't do anything to deserve it, but I choose to step into what He has offered. Rest, play, enjoy.
Rhythm;​ Part of a plant organism's average annual rhythm is dormancy, 
 Life hushes its self preparing for a Winter's rest, it is only following the cadence of life,  the rhythm of life to recede, rest, slow down.  For the months stepping into winter I fed my KOI a high wheat germ food to build up there fat level in there body preparing for a season of dormancy.  The time we spend with God establishes buttery fat level, a supernatural nourishment in our hearts.  Communion strengthens.  What we do on a day to day basis is a rhythm that feeds our soul.  Life's supernaturally rhythm re-trenches when you spend time with Him.
​ Your heart is doing better than you think!

Removal
For years Don and I have been fortunate to have the muscles of 4 vibrant boys around the house.  They are adults now, 3 of them out on there own, 1 married, the youngest still at home with a full-time job. You get used to their brawn being around when it comes to pruning and yard clean up.  I didn't realize until I pruned my large King apple tree, weighty nippers extended out, standing on the top of the ladder, I did it in a little under 2 hours, wow, my commitment to working out 3 times a week, (aerobic step & weights)has paid off.  Just a little (info-mmercial).  That is a benefit I use with my Amazon prime membership.  They have awesome workout videos included in the service.  I enjoy Jenny Ford Step and weights.  A very inexpensive exercise plan.  
I share with you often about the gift of repentance.  I hold it dear and close to my heart as a high priority in my relationship with Jesus. It is a gift that removes guilt, condemnation, pain that my soul many times will try to hold on to. I have brief hands of video that shares a bit of my communion time with you. 
Pruning, removal, clean up, forgiveness, all take part in bringing forth fruit.  If I didn't prune my roses, last years branches would not support this springs blossoms.  
See, the heart is doing better than we think! 

Look my sweet pink tipped dwarf tulips are popping up!

Reward
While I was enjoying this glorious day.  Dragging the wheelbarrow here and there, trimming, cleaning, picking up the wind-swept branches, I clipped back my pots to discover life is already bursting its reward.

Hosta's in my outdoor pot's poking up!

Succulents forming in the wet cool days of February!

Follow thru, patience and the natural rhythm of life push onto the scene.  My heart, your heart and the concerns that we give to Him are moving.  
Rest, Rhythm, Removal and now Reward His plan's are at work for our good.  Concern you can move out of "Dodge".  He is well pleased with my heart.  Every time we look to Him, every time we focus on things above, every time we surrender.  He is a loving, good God, my heart is blessed more than I know.

A true REWARD, with the last light of the day.  Finished!

together, we sat and were mesmerised by her face;
A tribute to a kindred spirit and the transitioning of friendship

Smuggled & hidden In a carpet for 17 years, Selah!  
A musical/poetic term meaning: just think about that! Pause for a moment and reflect. 

Did the Artist Ferraris even know this little girls name?  
How long did she have to pose in this overwhelming    large room?  
Great, Royal people are standing all around, terror, death and change grasping the country.  This last hurrah of Empress Zita, the wife of Emperor Charles I of Austria, at Vienna's Schonbrunn Palace in 1918,  hires an artist to capture on canvas an Aristocracy that was passing away. 

  For a moment, I'll call her Sarah, the little girl with the round face, sketched clothing outline and a crown of wildflowers in her hair, she is memorialized with unfinished pencil markings of other war orphans around her.  The painting, smuggled by an Opera singer and rolled up in a carpet for 17 years before finding its way to a bank vault. 

Together, with my friend Julie, we sat and were mesmerized by her face.  The depth of Sarah's look, few eyes in the painting moved with you as you watched, pondered. Our entire girls day out found a deeper purpose,  humbled, awed and sealed within our hearts.  
Small in comparison to the traumatic feelings of the persons in the painting, 

Today I am reflecting on the transition of friendships once more.  All the reasons for Julie moving back to Arizona are blooming with destiny and opportunity.  I celebrate her dreams.  We also live in an era of technological wonders; I am very familiar with Skype, hangouts, zoom the list goes on. Not the same century as our little friend Sarah when hearts were penned or painted on paper, sealed, sent sometimes lost.   We can communicate in just a breath.  I'm thankful, so very thankful to be sharing that breath with Julie. 

Friends, I have had many, some for a short season, others part of a workforce, budding friendships didn't make it past the growing pains of youth, the sad accounts are the friends that our opinions changed, and those differences separated us. No, not unforgiveness, it's just that sometimes you come to divine bridges and they are unable to cross with you.  Our hearts can finally celebrate at a later time, growths that a disagreeable interval brings to us.  You have heard the saying; I can count my friends on the one hand?  Yes, I can! My longest and still growing friendship since 8th grade. If I'm adding right that is 45 years.   I invite you to read Suzanne's shortbread; it's more than just a recipe.

A kindred spirit moving away feels much like this painting; there are still lines you desire to pencil in together but the moments spent are like Sarah's gaze.  Caught in a timeless place. It's up to us to smuggle the treasure's God gives us, take the risk of letting go and number them in your left hand. 
My heart is renovated once again.  
I opened myself up to be loved, to be known, to question and that special friendship has enlarged my territory and spread out my tent pegs. 
The genuine and pure of spirit are always worth the trying souls that pass.  
        Friendship's an unfinished masterpiece. 

An in-depth video by Eugene curator regarding The Last Audience of the Hapsburgs

discover the artist in you

When Life is hard, holding onto hope

As firmly as I am transitioning, prioritizing my goals for the year, I noticed that old patterns, emotional triggers, even relationship boundaries are feeling pressed towards me making significant headway on my plans.  If forces could be measured clearly, I'd say they, spiritual forces, were doing their best to distract me.  Hope can feel pressed, even challenged.  For me, keeping a perspective on the size of my accomplishment is evaluated within the scale of my heart.  Only God has an accurate weight and measurement.  I'm often off balance and sell myself short. 
We all have gifts given to us that carry immeasurable personal value, even if the treasure has no monetary worth outside of our company. 
     Judy came into my life a little over twelve years ago.  A bitty thing, feisty and a little confused.  Sadly, we have lost track of each other for about three years.  Even the distraught phone calls brought an odd kind of peace that Judy and life still had much to say.  She is tough to love if she allowed you to get close.  Judy's life is a life of misunderstandings, taken advantage of's and unfathomable tragedies that she has hidden in many personalities, compartmentalizes within the depth of her mind.  During our season, I  wrestled with the responsibility of her wellness and freedom in my path of faith.  Jesus so gracious to remind me that she was His, His alone, that love is free even tho costly.  I must press in for freedom for my life, family & neighbors but not be "PRESSED" in the implementation of the revelation of Christ.  
Sit on and from the seat of rest.
Love with the lover of my soul. 

​Beauty does have a way of being beheld in treasures.  It makes the gift irreplaceable especially when your season of friendship has seemed to have passed. Her life, Judy's life was filled with constant transitions and to think that she had managed to hang onto this valuable little pitcher touches my heart every time.  Judy's pitcher walked a very rough road before finding its place on my coffee table.  That immense challenge and that she responded by sacrificial giving is what has filled her pitcher in my eyes again and again.  

​I would prefer to see January as a potent seed that will multiply spreading its harvest throughout my year. I had to repent and look at it with a fresh perspective.  The distractions may try to take the focus, seem overwhelming but goals have taken shape.  My friend Judy struggled with voices; I admit I've heard "distractions" much in the same way.  Another moment to repent.  
​See, when one pours from a pitcher, it empty's itself to make room for a fresh filling.  Judy's Pitcher is filled with hope that continues to pour out over my life.  
Shall we share its continual flow together, today!

Thinking out loud: My husband is driving me crazy.
What prompted the post?  
My husband Don who in over 31 years has never called in sick at work for more than a day,
(faithful, hard working accolades here)
he just returned to work after a 3 day cold from H_ll.  
​One of my Honey's love languages is acts of service,
​need I say more?  
Good thing men do not have babies, Aay" ladies.

How to change your husband.
​I'd estimate that 99.99% of wives out there have thought,
eaten, spewed, mused these words. 
Will my husband every change?  
You other .001% have already attained Sainthood and should be writing books and raising the dead. Amen
I'm going to pen from the side of "high and sight." 
Might take a few more stories to share, but we will enjoy the "ride."
​ At which point in time have any of us asked this question?  
Will my husband ever change?
Not 3 days after we were married and driving down the red dust roads of Oklahoma on our way to visit Don's Chicago family who was throwing us a wedding reception. Raining cats, dogs, and elephants.  

Back to my "high and sight" story. 
Driving across country, downpour, in a 1979, (Oops, I've been corrected, 1978) Subaru Brat that my extra tall (cute) husband had cut out the back interior wall to make more leg room, topped with a Subaru factory canopy,  squished with blah colors of  silicone goo here and there.  Get the picture.  It leaked,
so was "my Cinderella head" pumpkin coach story already being challenged.
My luggage was getting wet.  When I say luggage I'm actually saying, everything that I put on this body and face to impress my now new family that I have never met. Is getting soaked.  
​Yes, we high maintenance girls get it and would say OMG.

Little did he know the adventure right around the corner.  This 70's Marine had no clue what was going on inside of his "princess's" head.

I began the barrage of inquisitions about my getting wet luggage and what was he going to do about it.  First I'm sure with romantic newlywed overtones, then the decimals began to change
as He is still "Heading out on the highway" conquering Route 66.  
I remember his response was something like this?  
​There already wet! Right brain, left brain crash! 
​I read a fantastic blog post the other day.  
Maps and globes by Seth Godin "Link"

If someone needs directions, don't give them a globe.
​It'll merely waste their time.
But if someone needs to understand the way things are, don't give them a map. They don't need directions; they need to see the big picture.

Here we are in the outback of Oklahoma, got a "fictitious globe" in my hand, Don is having a hard time concentrating let alone "reading" the map, because of the "sound" coming out of my mouth.  When I opened my mouth;  my emotions joined the party,  now you have a wounded, "if you loved me" "princess" "You would stop the car," "change the weather" and protect the vision I have about myself meeting your family for the first time on your hands.
Which part of this do you think my Marine got? ___________
Well, he stopped the car.  Kudo's for him right; then I didn't have to jump.  I burst open the car door, leap out declaring my dramatic independence and began stomping down the red mud road.  
" I'll walk home if I have to." 
"I'm finished."  "He doesn't care."  
I'm laughing hard as I share this with you, was I this immature?  Yup!  
25 going on 4.  
So what's a guy to do?  Who's side of this shall we take? 
Anyhow, here I am walking a back road just off the Sooner highway, now I'm getting drenched.  Don, driving behind me at a snail's pace, snug and dry inside his Subaru brat, I never thought what might be going on in his brain?  But this Marine will weather the storm and keep his princess safe right.  To Don's dismay, driving by was a tall/lifted, Ford truck, with a few dents claiming its right of cowboy passage, beginning to catch wind of this scene.  One blonde, wet princess, was walking down the highway, followed by a guy in a fogged up Subaru brat.  Again, what do you suppose those,
​"Good Ol'e", young, virile cowboys with shotgun racks in the windows were thinking? 
Thankfully discomfort must have brought me a brief moment of reason, and I got back into the car, red mud stuck on my shoes and those cowboys moseyed on to there lasso's and chores.   I  don't remember the moments or hours till we pulled into a motel for the night. The reception Don's sister threw for us was a dandy.  As I tell you this story, enjoying laughing at myself, remembering the misunderstanding that I felt, after 31+ years of marriage, the goofy tune rolling around in my head about how I perceived Don's side of the story,

Every time I have attempted to wrestle with change, declared and stomped my foot, that there was going to be, change,
a change did come, a transformation was obedient to the word, in me.  Hear the lyrics, 
"Yeah Darlin' go make it happen, Take the world in a love embrace". That is what I had to grab on too.  Love.  First, this immature broken 25-year-old princess had to look at her globe,
"Princesses carry globes and Marines carry maps."  It's the "vision" God placed in me, not the road map God gave him to provide, defend and protect.  
How do you get it to snow within the globe?  Shaking!  Beauty and transformation come by shaking.  Every time I have tried to "DO" the shaking I have failed miserably and left debris in my wake,  multiplying the broken individuals at hand.  
A Beautiful transformation like a "snow globe" is only revealed when looking before the snow flurry rests. What I allow to be covered up is always manifest during the meltdown.  
I had to learn to fall into "love" and the person my real intuitive Marine fell in love with appears.  Me. 

We have entered a New Era as the church, leaving the Apostolic Age stepping into the Joshua Generation, Order of Melcezidek there are a few names out there. 
God has been orchestrating our position to reside on the other side of the veil,  outworking heaven and releasing it on earth. 

  I have a couple of questions to ask you that I will partner with some suggested thoughts and some hands on happenings.
1. What is the origin of a prophetic word?
2.  Is there a responsibility of the recipient to bringing it to pass?

I recently heard a prophetic word that someone shared and how God confirmed it through a friends dream.   They offered the interpretation which involved a bent on a particular national past time.  The "bent" would be a sign that God was bringing a breakthrough to a certain people group and answering an obvious concern. I am not in disagreement with their desired response to prayer.
No, I am not talking about the political race currently tho some of my thoughts could benefit many of us in that venue.  
This prophetic word rather stuck in my craw for about 36 hours after reading it.  The interpretation & confirmation swayed the outcome of an important event.   An event that many people have held in their hearts for generations.
​Its influence was opposite from my personal desire.
What do I think about that?
Am I going to do anything about it?
Is it my place to do anything about it?
Are my desires necessary, self-centered, rightly divided?
Do I think they heard from God?

Why is this irritating me so much?
I gave up the struggle this morning during my quiet time with the Lord.  "Lord, you obviously want me to respond here." 
In the language of the season, I call this a mandate.

At a later time.
It has been a few months since the whirl of the World Series.  Yes, I am a Cubs fan. So I thought it was time to pick up this word again and share just what I experienced from my neck of the woods.  I believe there are lessons to learn here and much to ponder.

​So, this is where this tender story originates; I have many stories from my eight years behind the wheel of the local school bus. Lost glasses, Mom's ambulance ride, down power lines, the trouble making sisters. The boy in seat number two.  How often  I have caught myself saying:  "I haven't yet been employed as a  baseball Umpire."  That would be the top coating to thickening one's skin, wouldn't it?   Pastor will do!

​September came, and I signed up for the  2nd year driving the school bus with some exciting changes.    The school district added preschool to its curriculum, which meant on that September day I had 14, three yr.  old's on my 40 ft. Bus who had never been out of their car seat and half of them this was their first trial run with English as a second language. I learned quickly to say, "siéntese, por favor".  Sit down, please!  Again and Again and Again!  Aah! Remember they are all sitting behind me, and I was supposed to watch the road.  

For those of you who have children using the local school bus, please thank them for their service to your kids.  Cookies are always a nice gesture.

 Her name was Kendra.  She was a bitty little 3 yr. old, blonde hair, with an over protected seven yr. old brother.  There stop precarious, stopping on the busy 99 E route, cars zooming by, lots of children lived in this rather unkempt mobile home park.  Every day she'd shyly follow her brothers lead, sitting about row 5, right-hand side.  
September, October, and November hurried by with my eyes set on Christmas vacation.  The Lord was challenging me in those days to believe Him for all life's comings and goings.  The little things.  
Pray about everything, He'd say.  I noticed as the weather had turned cold Kendra would wear a little lavender ski coat.  You could barely see her buried in its warm poof.  Every day like clockwork she was being picked up at 7:00 am and dropped off after 3:00 pm.  A very long day for 3 yr old's in my opinion.  The protocol was that a parent had to be present to receive any child under the age of 6 off of the bus but Kendra for some odd reason was released to her brother's charge.  I never saw a parent present and my heart began to be impacted by her journey in this big world.  I  observed that her lovely lavender ski coat was looking a bit bedraggled. Come the beginning of December it was downright grungy, so I began to pray.  Jesus, I ask you to prompt Kendra's parent to wash her coat.  I prayed, and Kendra, now brave enough to smile at me when entering the bus would come and go in her way, conquering life, loving school and unaware that her coat was desperately needing attention and some serious time with a washing machine.   My mother's heart said that her unkempt coat probably wasn't the only neglect in her life.  So I continued to pray and in my window of time with many of these kids tried to encourage them and deposit a little difference in their lives.
It was the last week of school before Christmas break and my conversation with the Lord about her little coat was more intent.  It was almost 30 days past since I began to pray that it get washed.
​ Passionately I said to the Lord,  isn't there anybody in that little girl's life that would wash that coat!!!

​At last, filled with candy from Christmas parties at school my 60 some odd number of students piled on my school bus for the journey home.  Christmas vacation had arrived.  A good handful of thoughtful mothers would send me a kind thank you gift to me bless my holidays.  My students and I would bid each other Merry Christmas, and most of them would sneak in a hug saying as they toppled down the stairs. 
"Bye Bus-driver,  Merry Christmas, see you next year.  Finally, gloriously delivered to just the noise of my four boys for two weeks.  I had visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in my head under the cozy covers for fourteen days I didn't have to beat the sun coming up.

Back to the bus barn, I drove, knowing me I was probably singing carols over and over again.  Smiling from ear to ear with every fa la la la.  I parked my bus and began crossing every t and dotting every i in my departure routine with a final walk through to the back of the bus to make sure there weren't any sleeping children. 
Out of the corner of my eye, there it was.  Row five, right-hand side.  Kendra's coat laying on the floor tucked under the seat.  Emotions welled up in me and tears began to flow as retrieved the coat and sat down in the seat.  Touched, humbled that I was the only person in Kendra's life that would wash her coat.  I must have bawled for 5 min., which turned into humble thanksgiving for the love that my husband and I were allowed to bestow on our boys.

​Later an Ah Hah! moment to the timing the Lord was orchestrating for the answer to my prayer. 

​I took that coat home, soaked it for 24 hours in Biz, washed it reviving it to its new school coat glory and dropped it by her house the following day.  Kendra was outside playing with no coat on and ran towards me when she saw me get out of my car.  Hi, Bus driver, that's my coat.  She quickly took it out of my hands, put it on and returned to her game.  Bye, Bus driver.  
My heart was quietly with no fanfare changed. 
Pray about everything.
Why would a story more than 20 years old be rekindled with all of us just getting ready for Thanksgiving and our holiday season?
Last week I had the pleasure to enjoy a girls day out with my dear friend Julie.  We are to peas in a pod.  Love the Lord, we both have raised a bazillion boys and stimulate each others' creative juices.  
It was a rainy off and on, weekday here in Oregon.  Julie and I ventured for a late breakfast downtown Albany.  Yum, comfort food.  I had the best chicken fried steak, eggs, and gravy; I have every had and we filled our veins with too much coffee.  Then off, in and out, of our favorite haunts to see what their Christmas displays were boasting, with an in-depth hunt for several bolts of the perfect ribbon for my Christmas tree decor this year. A lovely day, for which I took my light colored trench-coat on and off, throwing it in the back seat of her car all day. I  was a bit embarrassed because my coat collar was grungy, makeup, body oil yuck and had sheepishly mentioned to Julie just to make me feel better about its unkempt look,  it was in desperate need to go to the cleaners.  Are you getting the "moral" of this story yet?  Yes, I did leave it in the back seat of her car.  She texted me so I wouldn't be missing it and asked if I needed it returned immediately.  I told her I would get it on Sunday not to be bothered with an extra run to my house because she was getting ready to leave for Thanksgiving to visit her family in Phoenix.  I knew she had many things to check off her list before she left. 
Well, she called me two days later and said she had some church paperwork to drop off to me before she was to head out of town.  
Yes, you guessed it.  It came back around.  Julie climbed out of her car, reached over the seat pulling the clear film wrapped &  freshly cleaned trench coat.  The Lord sees everything.  What you do in secret He rewards openly.
The love and care I shared towards Kendra over 20 years prior returned to bless me.  I was so touched by my friend's thoughtfulness which she overflows again and again.  Oh, what a multiplied reward.
Blessings to you as we celebrate family, friends and the goodness of our Lord.