Treasures from Heaven

I had no idea where to begin or what was going to happen so I just went about the normal tasks of life with a renewed sense of wonder and love. I decided to pop into one of the Facebook groups I had been neglecting for a little while, a group for artists on fire for God. A wonderful place where we can share what we are working on, give tips, pray, encourage and laugh. I immediately noticed a posting with a picture of a really cool free form weaving. I skimmed through her post (I admittedly didn't really read it through) and noticed she said we can check out the pictures on her personal page to see more of her work. I checked out her photos of free form woven tapestries and two in particular really grabbed my attention. As I clicked on the photos to get a closer look I nosily read the comments and noticed that two of her children loved those matching pieces. I then felt this really strong pull to inquire about purchasing the weavings for her children. I knew it was a crazy notion because 1) I don't even know this lady who lives on the other side of the country, and 2) I am a housewife on a really tight budget, and 3) We haven't even begun Christmas shopping and it's mid-December.

The urge to send the woman a message and inquire about her work grew stronger and stronger and I couldn't ignore it. So trusting that it really was God asking me to do this, I sent a message asking how much she charges. My heart pounding and waiting for the reply, I went back and checked out her original posting in the artist group. As I read through what she wrote above the photo I discovered she was asking for prayer. She had been homeless for some time with her 3 children and it was wearing on all of them very thin. I began to cry because I had just sent her a message inquiring about purchasing her work and I had no money to even back up my interest. I felt horrible. I thought maybe I was crazy for thinking God was instructing me.

As the minutes ticked on, still waiting for a reply I received a phone call from my mother. She was calling to inform me that I had a check coming to me at the end of the week. I had worked for her for a few hours off and on the month prior and it slipped my mind about getting paid. When she told me the amount my jaw dropped. I didn't expect that much at all. No more than a minute after I got off the phone with my mother, I received a message back with the price of the woman's art. Would you believe that the amount she listed was the exact amount of money coming to me in a few days? It sure was, and no coincidence at all. I told her God told me to purchase the pieces for her children. My heart swelled with the Goodness of God and all doubt of the situation vanished.

I decided to tell my husband after I sent the money because I knew he would have a hard time understanding the fact that I sent money to a stranger on the other side of the country to purchase artwork that we won't even own...and I was right. I sent the money on Friday and decided to tell him on Saturday. We were getting ready to go Christmas shopping and I knew I had to tell him because he'd been asking about the money I was to get for working for my mother. He tried really hard not to get mad. This whole 'Jesus trip' I was on was really new and not really his thing. I gave him some space and continued to get ready. As I'm brushing my teeth and praying for my husband to not be mad and understand I hear, "Julie! Come here!" in a very urgent tone. I rush to our bedroom and my husband says intensely, "Look me in the eye and tell me you haven't seen these before, that you don't know where these came from!" Really confused I look at what he has in his hand. It is a red pouch with what looked like gold jewelery and precious stones. I honestly hadn't seen it before. He had found a pouch of jewelery in our locked safe. He made me promise I had never seen it before. He asked where it could have possibly come from and I responded half jokingly, half in all seriousness, "All I can say is it's from God!" 

We agreed to take the jewelery to get checked out to see if it was real. Sure enough, it was all real gold, jade and opal earrings. There was a larger sparkly stone that the jeweler said had to be created. We decided to hang onto the jewelery and continue our Christmas shopping. We completed all of our shopping just fine that day without the money from working for my mother.

Don't ask me why, but I put the jewelery out of my mind (I'm crazy, I know). About a week later I was writing in my prayer journal when the thought of the jewelery came to mind along with the thought to look up the meaning of the gemstones that were identified. I put down my journal and Googled 'jade' and 'opal.' Here is what I found: Jade: gemstone of wisdom and prosperity. Opal: gemstone of God and Angels. BOOM! It hit me so hard! Seriously? Seriously. Gold jewelery and precious stones don't just appear in a locked safe...or do they? My hubby still doesn't have an explanation. Go ahead, Google it ;) 

Unidentified Gemstone

Jewelery found in our LOCKED safe!