As I said when I first started this series, the parts of my journey with the Lord that I am sharing are just snapshots of my experiences with Him. I share in hopes that my experiences will be an encouragement to you, because what He has done for me, He can do for you. Remember Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
This current season of my life is the saddest. My wonderful husband, John, died on Sept. 22, 2020. If there is one blessing that came out of Covid, it was that because of Covid, I worked from home part time from Jan. 2020 and was able to spend those nine months at home with John.
About 6 or 7 years before John died, I was able to get a glimpse of how happy he would be when he would go home to be with the Lord. John had a heart catherization and was staying overnight in the hospital. Of course, I stayed with him. At one point, he said, "I don't feel well". I looked at his vital signs and they were dropping quickly. I immediately called the nurse and they came running in calling out, "Stat! Stat!"
While they were working on John, we had the most surreal experience. He had this big smile on his face and kept saying, "I'm only half way here." I was calm and just kept saying, "Don't go now." as if we were just having a conversation and I was asking him to stay for another cup of coffee. This went on for a while, and then he was alright.
On the night that John was going to die, as I was praying for him, a darkness came over me, and I started pleading with the Lord for a little more time. Then He reminded me that He had already given us more time by letting John stay here after the heart catherization. A peace came over me that has sustained me through this grieving process.
I started out in a deep, dark hole from which I thought I would never come out. Although I have God's peace, I was very sad. But God has a better plan for me. He sent an amazing number of people to help me, encourage me, pray for me and love me out of that dark place. I've spent the last two and a half years in prayer and seeking what the Lord would want me to do.
Then one day, I was watching TV, and they were talking about social media influencers. As I was watching, I felt as if God said, "Why don't you become a social media influencer for me?" I thought that would be pretty interesting, but I had to laugh at God's sense of humor; that he would use an old lady who knows nothing about social media to be an influencer for Him. But as they say, "Nothing is impossible with God."
I didn't know where to start, but God provided the people I needed to help me launch this website and create a logo and business card for me. Some things that were amazing to me were these: I didn't speak to the woman who was helping me about color. All she knew is that the site would be called your success advocate. I chose that title because I felt as if that was my calling as a guidance counselor: to help people get the resources they needed to become the best person they could be. I was their success advocate. And she knew that I wanted to share about the goodness of God. The colors she chose were purple and white and she chose to add a dove to the logo. The amazing part is that John's business card was purple and had a dove on the card. It made me feel like John was with me in this endeavor.
The next amazing part was how she added the dove on my business card. She put it above the title, "Your Success Advocate". When I saw it, I was reminded of Jesus saying that He must go, but He would ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to us to be our advocate and to lead us in all the truth. The dove is a symbol that is often used to represent the Holy Spirit. Then I knew that this site was not mine. It is the Lord's. He is your success advocate. He will lead you in all the truth. My job was not founder, but as a facilitator who would populate the site. My prayer is that God will use my entries to encourage, empower, and bless all those who read it.
Thank you for letting me share some snapshots of my journey with the Lord so far. May God bless you in a mighty way as you pursue your journey with Him in your life.
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