“He had my back”
It was back in our newly-married days that I answered an ad in the local newspaper. A family was looking for a part-time babysitter for their two children, a boy (5) and a girl (3). The daddy was an eye doctor. The mommy was a teacher, re-entering the work force (as I recall) and needing someone to care for her chickies just 2-1/2 days a week. After meeting them one evening, we clicked, and they offered me the job.
I can still see her vividly in my mind’s eye, that very first day. There she was, that little girl, sitting at the breakfast table, dark head bowed over her cereal bowl. She was wearing a bright red jumper with a school house on the front. In her jet black hair that matched her mommy’s was a matching red bow. She was darling, all dressed to the nines for a morning at preschool.
Her brother with the striking blue eyes just like his father’s was in kindergarten. Such a sharp little gentleman he was, even at five, and just that quick, he, too, waltzed his way into my heart. How I loved those children.
We would do projects together, the little boy and I, and every day we had soup and sandwiches at lunch. From them, I learned to like mayo and that chicken and stars soup is fun to eat. We read stories and talked. A lot. The small mister never knew it, but his hilarious and insightful quotes gave us and our extended family much entertainment. What a charmer he was.
All too soon, my time with them was over, and I moved on to other things. Years went by. The children grew up, graduating from high school and going on to college.
Then one day while picking up Little from the church nursery, a random comment from one of the workers, a colleague of the children’s mother, set my heart to singing. “Did you know that Brittany’s a Christian and that she’s on the mission field?” she said.
I was thrilled! Excited! Happy beyond belief at such wonderful news. That little girl had found Christ and was following Him…all the way to Belize.
Well, through a series of guided steps and divine appointments, I had coffee this very morning with the lovely Brittany Cripe who is now a stunning 26-year-old with a heart for God and the love of Jesus for His sheep. The peace of Christ rests visibly on her face.
What an unspeakable blessing it was to sit across from this young lady and to hear her story. How all through the years, God had planted people in her life, pointing her to Him. How all those years before she ever knew Him, “He had my back,” (as she told it to me). How He led her from a successful career in an advertising firm in Chicago to Belize and other countries of the world. How He was leading her even now in a big step of faith, and she was saying, “Yes.”
Every so often, our sweet Jesus gives us an extra-special gift to be tucked into our “Forever” treasure chests. Brittany Leigh’s salvation, her heart for Christ, and the beauty of the living Lord that her life exudes is one of mine.
So I say again, “Thanks be to God who orders our steps and plans our days. Praise to the One who guides His children by ways they have not known and who truly does ordain all of our appointments.”
Thanking Him for you, too, whom I always count as yet one more of my ordained appointments…
Rhonda