Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: HANDIWORK (01/14/21)
-
TITLE: A New Reason To Live And To Bless | Previous Challenge Entry
By Mariane Holbrook
01/21/21 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Jen had taught her two girls when they matriculated through the grade school where Jen had taught for several years. However, her career came to a screeching halt one night at a friend's house when she fainted. She was rushed to a hospital where she was diagnosed with brittle diabetes and fell into a coma lasting three days.
Jen requested a leave of absence from her job, but as her condition worsened, she resigned. It was one of the saddest days of her life.
Jen had taught school all her adult life, so she chafed under the restrictions placed on her by her diabetic specialist. With the girls in school and Carl in his office all day, Jen dreaded the long days alone with nothing to do and no strength with which to do it.
Depression began to settle over Jen like a thick, heavy quilt, causing sleepless nights, crying spells, and irritability. She no longer accompanied her family to church on Sundays because she never knew when she would slip into another diabetic coma. Her friends ceased their telephone calls to her because often, during the conversations, they would hear a crash, which indicated that Jen was unconscious on the kitchen floor in another coma. They knew to call 911 before rushing over to Jen's house.
One day, Jen stood alone in her bedroom and had a conversation with her Lord: "Father, I feel so useless. I'm on a downward spiral over which I have no control. I feel like I'm on the back shelf of a dark closet, alone in the corner, with no purpose and no promise that I will ever be better. I pray for something to do. I need a reason to want to wake up every morning. Please help me, I pray."
Jen stood at the window idly watching new neighbors move in next door. She hoped they would be compatible and perhaps have children her daughters' ages.
A few days later, Jen followed her husband's suggestion to bake something special and deliver it to her neighbors as a welcome gift. They found they had several common interests, but Jan was especially drawn to several paintings her neighbor had completed that hung on various walls throughout her tastefully decorated house.
"Do you like to paint?" her neighbor asked.
"I've never tried, but I've always wanted to," Jen replied, leaning forward to better view the detailed work on the painting before her.
"You're welcome to join a painting group I will be teaching on Tuesday nights here in my basement as soon as I get set up," her neighbor said, as she followed Jen to the front door.
Soon Jen was painting along with fifteen other students, using acrylic paints and learning techniques that pleased her and her family.
While Jen enjoyed painting on canvas, she particularly liked painting on wood. She painted a wooden toy chest with Noah's ark on it for her nephew's Christmas present and painted trinket boxes for her daughters that they quickly filled with inexpensive jewelry and keepsakes.
Jen's mother was ensconced in a lovely, Christian retirement facility her mother had chosen for herself when she could no longer live alone. Two hundred other residents occupied the buildings, and many became friends of her mother.
One Christmas Jen painted over one hundred wooden pendants as gifts for the women residents at their annual Christmas party. The next Christmas, Jen designed a hundred lapel pins made with miniature seashells for the women.
One day, Jen painted a large wooden egg with a bright red apple on it. On the back, in gold script, Jen wrote, "You are the apple of God's eye." Her mother proudly displayed it on the bedside table of her room. That Christmas, Jen painted wooden eggs with stands for all 200 men and women at the facility. On some eggs, she painted birds; on others, boats or fishing equipment, but all with a Scripture verse on the back in gold script.
One Christmas, Jen painted 3,500 Christmas ornaments for a nation-wide gift shop. She used all the profit to bless three missionary families.
God answered Jen's prayer by providing a friend, equipping Jen with new skills, and giving her work that she was physically able to do and to enjoy, all the while blessing others.
-------------
partially based on a true story
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
