The picture above hangs on the wall in Kathy Adair’s home. It hangs there because it was a big God moment in the lives of Kathy and her husband, Rob. It’s shot from their garage up their driveway in the village of Goodrich.
Tire tracks you might say, nothing more. But it was so much more to them at a time in their lives when they were trudging along with life seeming to batter them mercilessly.
At the time this photo was taken, their son’s wife was living in the end of her life with terminal cancer and they had two small children. A family of 4. It was mid December and it was a brutal season for Rob and Kathy and their whole family. Their daughter in law would die at the beginning of the New Year. At this point, Rob and Kathy’s spirits and energy were so low that they were just barely trudging along through each day.
One day Kathy realized that, YES!, here they were in mid-December and they had not one Christmas gift for anyone in their entire family. Kathy told Rob they just had to go shopping. Neither one had the energy but they knew they must at least try.
They bundled up and went to the garage, Rob getting in the car to back out and Kathy stepping outside to wait to get in the car. She began to call to Rob urgently not to back out, “Stop! Stop! Come look!!
They stood in the driveway, cold creeping through their coats, and looked toward the road up their drive and in the mire of anticipatory grief, the picture above is what they saw. Can you see the 4 hearts in the picture and the ‘God light’ in the upper left corner? Rob and Kathy saw God’s presence and His beautiful gift in the random marks left by vehicles turning in and backing out of the driveway to their home and the spotlight on the gift.
They were almost without hope in their days and they stood in the cold and feasted their eyes on a reminder that God was with them after all. They were not left alone to face the death of their daughter in law and the pain of their son and their grandchildren. God was most certainly watching over them!
Kathy said to me, “If ever we needed some support it was that evening when we could hardly think of Christmas shopping but knew we had to go. I mean we were in our lowest of lows!” The trip was still unimaginably hard but they went on their mission knowing that God was present.
But not before taking a picture.
This photo has hung on her wall for maybe 6 years and other deep sorrows have touched this family since. But Kathy continues to look at that photo and her faith is strong within her.
Now picture that.
Let Rob and Kathy’s story frame your faith as you do your days. However hard or possibly unmemorable each day may be for you right now.
This verse from Psalm 123 appears yet again in my devotion:
The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Amen. So be it.
~Shauna Weil
A devotion provided by the Devotion Ministry of Goodrich UMC
Thank you to Kathy for allowing me to share one of her anchoring faith moments in life even as she grieves the recent loss of her son. Without hesitation she said, “Most certainly you can share this story!”
Please say prayers for those who have known loss and are trudging along right now or have done so in the past. It is a hard and unique walk for each person. God made us that way.
Let your compassionate soul rise today to meet the moment and fill your heart to overflowing. Let it simply flow out to touch those who have known loss. It’s a big prayer to meet big hurt and God wants to hear us send up prayers knowing our hearts can be bigger. Bigger than even we can imagine. May the Holy Spirit work in you today.
