Glorying in HIS resplendence!

The colors of the fall leaves back East were not intense; they were muted.  So said the Weather Channel and I agreed. 

We’ve lived in the Phoenix metropolitan area for 40 years.  I love my home and what God has called me to do in the Southwest.  I’m from the Bronx.  I have fond memories of growing up in the Bronx.  In Phoenix we don’t exactly have seasons.  I sorely miss one season – autumn!  Yes, we can travel north to Flagstaff and gaze at the Aspen trees in September and October.  But where are the red leaves and varied golden leaves…and the mountains bursting with colors like Trix cereal?  Flagstaff in the fall has always left me wanting!

Autumn means a decline.  I wrote about autumn in my August blog.  Decline or not, I love autumn.  I dream about autumn.  The last time we experienced autumn back East was in 2005.  Bobby and I were in a park in Verona, NJ.  It was raining (I don’t particularly care for rain.  Actually, I don’t like rain [pill that I am]).  BUT, it was autumn and I was engaged in a self-choreographed swirling dance in the park as the leaves on the trees, though still brilliant on the branches, began spiraling downward to carpet the ground.

And, we were Eastward bound the beginning of this month!  We left AZ the beginning of October to travel by car to West Virginia, New Jersey, and New York via many states in route.  Arrangements had been made to speak in a few churches.  Family members and friends hosted us.  And, I visited the cemetery where my mother was recently buried in Sloatsburg, NY off Eagle Valley Road within a most ultraorthodox Jewish area!  As we drove through Arkansas I observed green leaves on the trees.  In Tennessee it was no different.  While tooling through Virginia, every so often I caught a glimpse of brittle leaves hanging on to trees amidst NOT a blaze of color!?  OK, cooler weather up north will certainly have produced the fiercely grand autumnal countryside for which I was longing…or so I thought.  Not this year!

BUT GOD blessed us in ways we’d never imagined.  A day into our NJ stay I spoke at a Sunday school class followed by sharing at the church service.  Never before had I received such encouragement from a church back East regarding Jewish ministry.  And, mind you, the Jewish population in those parts is HUGE!  I shared and fellowshipped with believers who are intense regarding communicating Jesus with Jewish people.  And these people whom God placed across my path grasp the significance of Israel.  My heart was leaping joyfully.  As I sat in the service, prior to my speaking, God hit me with the gift of family members and friends who had come to hear what I was going to share about the Jewish ministry in AZ.  Bobby, his sisters, their children, and our friends had all come to faith in Jesus in the early 1970’s through the ministry of a sister church not far from where we sat.  What powerful reflections came to mind because He Who redeems us is omnipotent!  That same day we prayed for protection for our bloodline family as rather eventful drama surfaced.  Nothing dampened the new family of God members I met and the love of relatives surrounding us!

I woke up on the third day of our stay and my left eye felt as if it was on fire!  The Ophthalmologist told me, “corneal abrasion.”  I was so grateful for the recommendation of this doctor from a friend in NJ and the eye drops that began to calm the eye.  We pressed on toward additional meetings at churches that yielded new partners within the Jewish ministry – new friends who were burdened for Jewish folks!  When I spoke, I had no awareness of my aching eye!  One man who attended a session told me of his heartache for a specific Jewish neighborhood in NY state where my family cemetery is located.  God had placed a burden on my heart for that very township in 2009!  We have been communicating and brainstorming via Email regarding how God might use him in that area among those folks who so need Jesus.

On the way home, as we exited the Interstate Tuesday evening in Arkansas, moving toward the road where the hotel was located…at the end of the off-ramp, waiting to make a right hand turn, the back of our car was forcefully hit.  Both cars pulled off to the side of the road.  A dear young, very shaken woman approached and was most apologetic.  911 was contacted and insurance information was exchanged.  God had just given us a divine appointment.  While Bobby spoke with the Policeman, this woman told me that she was currently living through a most difficult time in her life and conveyed several details.  We shared Jesus and we prayed for her and with her.  She then asked if she could hug us!  The next day we went in search of her and found no trace.  With confidence that the accident had been orchestrated by God, we resumed the trek to AZ.  On Thursday afternoon as we crossed the New Mexico/Arizona state line, I began to be drawn by brilliantly colored golden trees on the Navajo reservation.  It was thrilling!  I was mesmerized by the northern AZ autumnal offerings!  Moving further toward the middle of Arizona, approximately 1,000 miles from the scene of the accident one and a half days ago in Arkansas, Bobby shouted out, “Look, there she is.”  Our new “accident” (not so much an accident) friend passed us on Interstate 40!  The story isn’t over!

Yes, the trees back East were muted.  But…how thankful I’ve been for this truly majestic October as I experienced the intensity of God Himself!

Glorying in HIS resplendence!

Cathy Wilson

cathylouwilson@live.com