Memorial Box Monday – The Shoes

Memorial Box Monday is the time we set aside to remember.  To remember all the ways God has shown up for us.  He is always faithful.
Two years ago I first shared this story.  It is a true miracle.  There is no explanation at all, other than that Almighty God showed up. Big time.    Are you in need of being reminded just how BIG God is?  Are you in need of being reminded how much He loves you?  Are you in need of being reminded that God can do ANYTHING??
I am reposting this to remind myself.  Isn’t it crazy how often we need to be reminded, even though we have seen Him provide or move a mountain many times before?  As I read through this to repost, I began to cry…remembering the powerful moment when the miracle happened!!  I originally wrote about it in 2009.
Four months ago when I did my first Memorial Box Monday post I wanted to use the time to remind ourselves of all the miraculous ways the Lord has been faithful, just as the Israelites were instructed to do once-upon-a-time.
(A Memorial Box is first explained here.)Little did I know back then that we would lose our home to a fire. There are many, many facets of emotion when you lose your home to fire. Dw and I spent most of Saturday crying and grieving. One of our teenagers did too. It has been a rough few days.One thing we have learned is that when we are overcome with grief it helps us to remember what God has already done…and so these Memorial Box Monday posts have taken on an even deeper meaning for us as a family. In difficult seasons it is important to have prepared and one of the ways we prepared for this season was by having a Memorial Box.

Which brings me to my next thought…our Memorial Box was destroyed by the fire so we are hunting for a new one. I feel soooo strongly about the importance of the Memorial Box that I wanted to challenge you my bloggy friends. As I am searching for our new Memorial Box I am actually searching for two. I would like to ship it away to one of you who decide that you would also like to begin a Memorial Box for yourself (whether you are single or have a family). Please allow me this privilege as it will be something to look forward to and concentrate on that’s really fun for me!

All of us have had times where God has shown up big-time and this is one way to remember and pass the stories on to our children and our children’s children. If you have a Memorial Box or are starting one and would like to be included in this giveaway (I will have a drawing here in my home in a couple of weeks), please post a comment that either links me to your blog or includes your email address. Your Memorial Box will most likely come from a hunt at an antique store as I have found some beautiful ones in antique stores. Either way, it gives me joy to think of mailing one of you one as I so desperately want each of you to have one….so join in the plan and start your own Memorial Box. Even if your kids are grown, it is NEVER too late to start one.

Since the fire we have grieved over memories and 30+ years of treasures we have gathered. We had purged much as we were trying to bring home kids – selling things to raise money for each adoption. But we had held onto the best of the best and the most important of treasures. As it would be, the babies room was originally our guest room and since I love that old quilty/antiquey look I had put our dearest treasures in there for guests to feel cozy and loved. When we moved the bed out and put the two cribs in, we kept the treasures right where they were. I loved sitting in there with the babies and admiring the beautiful heirlooms we had.
Another piece we had was an old quilt box. My mom is a beautiful artist and she had painted a scene of a group of Amish women quilting on that old quilt box. There were two little Amish children peaking out from under the table while those Amish women worked. It was beautiful. Years before Dw’s dad had died he had called us aside. He wanted us to have a pair of shoes that had been in the family for generations. He, himself, had wore them as a baby. When he showed us the shoes we gasped. They were amazing and beautiful and on the underside of the shoes it said:
1757
Seriously.
1757
We had never even known about the shoes and were dumbfounded that Dw’s family had such a treasure that we knew nothing about. We took the little shoes home and were in awe of them. Soon after we were leaving to go on a trip somewhere and we thought about those shoes. Where should we hide them while we were gone? So we ended up putting them in the bottom of the quilt box my mom had painted us. Every now and then we would pull them out and admire them.
Since the fire we have cried and cried for all that was lost. At times we have been nearly inconsolable as we have grieved most for our home, our photos and for the heirlooms. Their value is minimal to many people, but the sentimental value of each of these items to us – priceless!
Almost immediately after the fire we both thought of the shoes. They had been in the quilt box in the babies room. We ran to find the quilt box, which now sat on the front lawn, charred and completely destroyed from the bottom. Knowing those shoes had been in the very bottom, we knew there was really no hope – BUT GOD!!
As soon as I saw how destroyed that quilt box was I began to cry and pray. The God of the Universe has done sooo many things for us that I refer to Him as the Miracle-working, Mountain-Moving, Awe-inspiring, Gasp-giving God. The shoes were not something that is too difficult for Him. Infact scripture tells us that “Nothing is too difficult for Him!” At that moment I said aloud while bawling, “This is not too difficult for you God. You can put those shoes under a snowbank for us to find in the Spring. You can do it anyway you want to. You can resurrect them. You can do anything – just help us to find those shoes!!”
Now if the average person saw all the charred beyond recognition things they would laugh at that prayer. It looked impossible!! We told our dear friends who came to help us sift through the things….”If you should happen upon an old pair of shoes or even a piece of something that looks like old shoes – please do NOT throw out – call us immediately. Sift carefully. Sift cautiously – we know those shoes are out there somewhere.” A week passed and there was no sign of the shoes. We kept praying.
 I kept asking the Lord to put them in the snowbank, what a shock/surprise to find in the Spring. We kept looking. Then that Saturday, 10 days after the fire I was up in my room cataloging. There were some precious friends helping. Carie, Irma, Beth and Lori were graciously going through the stuff and listening to my stories of things that were once treasures (thank you ladies – you have no idea how special you each are to me for being there for me!)…there were so many sweet friends there that day helping us. JD and Steve and Ron and JR and Janet and and Mark S. and Pat and my mom and Vicki and Devon.
Ashley and Morgan were helping Emma with her things. Brenden and Nick were helping Graham with his room. These people all took time out of their already very busy schedules to grieve with us and help us catalog and carry to the dumpster. Literally the house was full of sweet, caring friends being the hands and feet of Christ, ministering to us with their time. Upstairs in our bedroom my girlfriends had pulled stuff out of the little cubby we had off our master bathroom. Our master bathroom was bite sized and this little cubby (also bite sized) was used for seasonal clothes. They pulled everything out and lined it up and I would go through piece by piece and see if there was anything that I just couldn’t ever part with even though it was ruined by the smoke, soot and water damage.
As I was moving through the items that had been pulled out I came across a little box. I remember looking at the box in bewilderment, because my traumatized brain was trying to recognize. This box meant something, my brain was recognizing it. I will never forget my brain trying to recall…it was the weirdest feeling. I opened the box and there was a tiny little knobby glass. Again, my brain was grasping to recall what this box held. As I lifted the glass out and the tissue paper underneath it I screamed!!
There were our heirloom shoes!! I screamed with hysteria…as I jumped up and over boxes and clothes and piles of stuff….I jumped into the loft and was screaming hysterically the whole way…”Dw, Dw – the shoes – the shoes – we have the shoes!!”
People came from everywhere. (Some thought someone had died I was screaming so hysterically!) I remember turning to Carie and seeing her sitting tears running down her face, she had also been begging God since the fire for those shoes to reappear!!
Our Miracle-working, Mountain-moving, Awe-inspiring, Gasp-giving God had moved those shoes from that little quilt box to the cubby. They had been in the quilt box – there is NO doubt! But they were found in the cubby. I am confident that the night before the fire – while the angel of the Lord was keeping the wood wet, He had gone and got the shoes and put them in the cubby, and no one will ever be able to convince me otherwise.

18 thoughts on “Memorial Box Monday – The Shoes

  1. I remember being there that day! It gave me goosebumps all over when you found the shoes!! What a gracious God!!

    On a side note, I've been writing down the stories & collecting the associated symbols for my memorial box………..but I still haven't been able to find something to use for the box itself. Any suggestions on where to look? I've tried a few antique stores, furniture stores, Hobby Lobby.

    ♥ you sweet friend!

  2. Wow Linny! What an AWESOME story of who our AMAZING God is and what He can & will do for those of us who call Him Daddy! I am in tears from reading this story!

    I have just started my own blog, and the first post starts out with my own Memorial of how God has shown His graciousness to me over the last year… my first year in Durango!

    I'd be honored for you & others to read & praise God with me for His faithfulness!

    Here's the site: http://rosehavenchronicles.blogspot.com/

    ~Sharon

  3. "Let them give thanks to the Lord for His Unfailing Love and His wonderful deeds, for He breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron." Psalm 107:15-16 And out of ash and soot, come treasured baby shoes…oh how unfailing is the love of the Lord! God flooded your hurting heart with His Love for you! Praising and thanking Him for His faithfulness.

    Thank you for posting this again, it is a treasured reminder of how He brings beauty out of ashes. <3

  4. I just love that story. I love that God put it on your heart to long for those shoes. I love that He sent His angel to keep the wood wet and move those shoes. I love that you had friends looking for them and rejoicing when you found them. Isn't it amazing that in the midst of severe trauma God can make you feel so completely loved and cherished?

    I read the story earlier today and purposed to write my own MBM post later today, something about God providing for one of our adoptions. Ironically enough, God let me find something that had been lost for months and His timing was just so sweet, so naturally I had to write about that instead. If you get the link kink worked out, I'll be sure to post it.

  5. I love this story. Even today I couldn't find my cell phone. I had just been home to bring my husband something to eat after he had been in bed with the flu for 2 days. In the car I was searching and searching. I just knew it fell out of my coat pocket onto my bed while I was home. I felt terrible because I did not want to be out of touch with my husband. Last minute I pulled something out of the way in my car and there was my phone. I know it sounds silly, but stuff like this happens all the time. Sometimes things will just show up in my pantry. Ingredients that I know I didn't have (and dreaded asking my husband to run out to get). When I go to get something in the middle of my meal I get a sick feeling realizing I forgot it at the store. When I look, it is there afterall. I know I sound kooky, but it has happened way too many times. I just thank the Lord for His presence and caring.

  6. Linny such a precious story and reminder of God's extravagant love for us. I shared on my blog this week a story of his extravagance in my life recently. He truly is an awesome awesome God!
    I do hope Mr. LInky will get working again so I can get it up!

    bee blessed
    mary

  7. Thank you for posting again that I too could rejoice with you! "His eye is on the sparrow…and I know He watches me..I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free, His eye is on the sparrow..and I know! He watches me"
    God opened a door for me this Monday and granted me a new job, half day (less pay) BUT very much closer to home!! Thank you Jesus! Now I get to spend time with my little one in the afternoons, the cry of my heart 🙂
    Carey
    Johannesburg
    RSA

  8. i remember when you posted that story… i have even told that story to my friends. it really is a great story about our miracle-working, mountain-moving, awe-inspiring, gasp-giving God.

  9. Oh, Linny! I don't comment often, but I just couldn't NOT leave you a note! I am so amazed at what our God can and WILL do. I needed to read this because I forget so often and I struggle with complete trust. Thank you, and praise God for such awesome miracles!

  10. I have been reading for a while and have never fully grasped the meaning of "memorial box monday"…until this post. Wow!!!! That is UNBELIEVABLE!!!! HE is so Awesome!!!

  11. This brought me to tears. God is soooo loving to us. We can't even imagine. I am reminded of something I asked the Lord for over 10 years ago. I was single and had just adopted my first two children. I planned a dedication ceremony to dedicate them to the Lord. I wanted a special song played at the ceremony, but could not find it anywhere. I asked everyone and prayed like crazy. I began to think I should come up with a back-up song, just in case. And then, remembering the verse from Matthew 7:11, I decided I wouldn't. I would just trust Him to provide. He DID! I received the song just one hour before the ceremony.

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