Searching for Sand Dollars

Storytime with Becca: In Sunday School on Sunday, we watched the first of a video series by Andy Stanley called Go Fish. As homework, Andy challenged us to write a letter to someone who influenced us spiritually. Whether we chose to send the letter or not, he instructed us to write to that person telling them what they mean to us and the impact they made in our lives. During the car ride home from church, Jason and I talked about the assignment. I told him that I so wish that I could find my first grade teacher, Miss Fitzgerald. I wanted to tell her what she meant to me and let her know that God had used her to help mold me into the person I am today. Without any success, I have been looking for Miss Fitzgerald for years. I know her married name and I know that she lived in Texas, but that is it.

OK, fast forward about 2 hours. I got paged by my workmate to ask that I go see a patient. While Wendy and I were talking on the phone, our other work partner, Angela called. Wendy did not click over....I told Wendy that I would call Angela because I wanted to talk to her anyway. I called Angela and she told me that she was coming to Tulsa today to make a follow up visit to a patient she saw yesterday. I asked her who she was seeing and she said, Mrs Weldon (I can't use her real name for confidentiality purposes). I told Angela that it is weird that she was seeing a person by that last name because that was the married name as my 1st grade teacher that I was just talking about today. I told Angela that my teacher's name was Janet and she said, "Mrs Weldon's daughter-in-law's name is Janet". I said, "is she tall". She said "yes". I said, "does she have red hair". Angela said "yes". I said "is she from Texas". She said "yes". I was floored. I couldn't believe it. Had God scripted this? I literally sobbed as I thought about all the details that He had carefully put together to give me such a gift.

I made the follow up visit to Mrs Weldon and Janet answered the door. She looked exactly the same. It was all I could do to keep my composure. I told her my name was Becca with Hospice. I told her that she may know me by Rebecca Haymore. She said, "wow, that name sounds familiar". I smiled at her and asked if she recognized me. It took her a few seconds and then she grabbed me and hugged me. She said "is it really you!". My heart leaped with joy...to be hugging this amazing woman who poured her life into me at such a young age. We visited for almost 2 hours. I didn't want the meeting to end. We made plans to get together again this week.

A few hours ago, I came home from meeting with her for lunch. I love her so much. There is a part of me that still feels like a first grader in her presence, looking up to her and hanging on the words that she says. And there is a part of me that feels like I am being reunited with a dear friend. Now, I have the opportunity to pour into her life as she and her family are going through a hard time with the passing of her mother-in-law. God gave us both a gift by bringing us together at this time in our lives.

On summer vacations, when I was young, we would wake early and walk the beaches in search of the perfect unbroken sand dollar. I remember feeling anxious that if we didn't get out there early, someone else would come upon the perfect find before we did. The irony is that there were always plenty of people taking early walks or jogs on the beach passing the beautiful sand dollars and sometimes even crushing them underfoot without a thought. The difference between the joggers and me is that my eyes were open; I was looking for the treasure.

Isn't that life. God is at work all around us, all the time. So often though we are not looking for it. We are either so focused on our circumstances or distracted by the busyness of life that we miss his hand. The experience with Miss Fitzgerald was one of those times where if I was walking on the beach, the sand dollar would have literally fallen from the sky and smacked me in the head. By piecing together every detail and giving me such an awesome gift, I feel like God wanted to clearly tell me that He is still here and He cares about me.

Ten Things I Learned from Miss Fitzgerald:

1) Making a child feel important, special and deeply loved goes way farther than just teaching them Math, Reading and Science.

2) eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn - 1-10 in German.

3) When you point at someone else, there are always 3 fingers pointing back at you.

4) She taught me the Bible Verse Alphabet. We learned a verse for each letter in the alphabet. I still remember several. A- All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God B - Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. C - Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.....I am teaching Foster these too.

5) She taught us about gravity. I thought she was so cool when she dropped something from the 2nd floor window and we got to watch it smash to the ground.

6) By example, she taught me how to love people for who they are.

7) One day during class we were drawing a picture of our house and family. I finished quickly and proudly showed her my work. She took me by the hand and we walked over to the window in the hall and she asked me where the sky stopped. This was the first time I realized that the sky didn't stop. It wasn't just a blue blob at the top of the picture. It should have been the entire canvas of my art work. It changed the way I drew and changed how I looked at things.

8) She taught me about the importance of a smile.

9) She taught me the importance of thinking of others. One day she took my friend Shannon and me to Mayfest and then afterwards we went back to her apartment and baked cookies for the principle of the school. I still have the Thank You letter from Ruffin Snow thanking us for the wonderful cookies.

10) She taught me through this awesome reunion that God can still surprise us and bless us beyond our wildest imagination. A smile comes to my face every time I think of her and I will forever be reminded of how God still works in exciting and fun ways!

Until Next Time.

Blessings,

Becca