One February morning, when the temperature dipped below 10 degrees, I was in the kids’ playroom. Inside the toy box I spotted a book among the pile of broken trucks, cars, and dolls. The children had often taken books from the old bookshelf in the family room, and carried them around the house. Upon opening a book I had forgotten, I found stories — real-life stories. They were about people facing issues. The essence of the book centered around overcoming problems.
As I read, I could see that the Bible verses the book mentioned, were like colorful flowers. It was as if the floral creations were poking up their heads from underneath a still-frozen ground covered with snow and ice. The reassurance from god in this book, in the form of Biblical words, inspired me.
Prior to this winter day, I had felt hopeless. I had been in an avalanche hurling down a mountain on my way to doom. Anything and everything that could go wrong, did.
Linkedin connections with messages pertaining to potential employment failed to arrive, and I had no job. Career hopes had long been forgotten. My confidence level was low. I wasn’t sure I could feel love coming my way. My clothes didn’t fit due to weight gain, and I couldn’t plan for the future because I didn’t know how to move from where I was. And, where I was, had been a place–a point at which I needed to brave the lifelong issues of having bipolar disorder, ADHD, OCD, and Autism.
All of the above tumbled upon me as COVID-19 (the coronavirus), shut down the whole world. As I face up to my health concerns, the book I unearthed from the kids’ toy box, that February morning, became my armor. It insulated me and protected me from the adversarial situations that surrounded me. I read the book every morning with a cup of hot tea..
After a couple of months, when the weather improved, I crawled out of the furry blankets that had soothed me as I read, and started to have faith.
On a sunny afternoon, I ventured out to the thrift store. In the treasure one can find in a shop of old things, I came across a DVD. On it, a preacher asked those of us viewing it, to say “Jesus is Lord,” and for us to believe God the Father raised him from the dead. Upon finishing the DVD, I achieved Salvation.
Then I decided I wanted to share the beauty of Jesus Christ with people.
So now, I write warm messages in a blog, newsletter, and books, I do visual art with happy colors, write songs and sing in an effort to help people get to know Jesus.
Bethlehem Blessing 