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I wanted to do something special. For over a year Eleanor, Linda, and Margie had worked tens of hours every week with absolutely no pay whatsoever. They had studied, given huge amounts of time, endured spiritual hits with perseverance, stood before a camera and overcome intense fear to give 40 minutes talks, and personally parted with a great deal of money to help our big dream come to fruition. And by our side all the way was Robin Rosebrough, keeping track of the thousands of details and doing all of the administrative work behind the scenes.
We had completed twelve DVDs….and we were exhausted. It was time for a reward.
I explained my celebration plan to my husband who graciously told me to go for it, and he would foot the bill. And so with joyful anticipation I made all of the arrangements for a wonderful day for the teachers and Robin Rosebrough, who is the administrative genius of the ministry.
I rented a limo.
I made reservations at the Ritz Carlton.
I made appointments for five at Spa Sydell for the complete spa treatment.
And I kept it all a surprise. They only knew to keep the date open, and I would pick them up at 10:00 AM.
Shortly before the big day in May 2002, I received a notice that I was on “stand-by” for jury duty. I gave it little thought, as I knew God would protect me so I could be a part of the big day! The night before at the allotted time I called the number to see if my name was called. I was shocked (may I say that is a HUGE understatement!) to find that indeed I was expected to show up at the courthouse at 8:00AM. I was devastated but did the only thing I could do. I called Robin and told her the whole plan and asked her if she would take my place and be the hostess for the day. She would meet the limo at my house and then proceed to pick up the teachers for a fun day…without me!
The next morning as I was getting ready and noticed that my husband had not left for work. “I am going with you” is all he said. At the courthouse the guards were being very careful about checking everyone’s ID and jury summons. Nine-eleven had made every government building a place of high security. For some reason known only to God, Chuck was able to pass right through security and followed me up to the second floor. Once there he asked to meet with the person in charge, and immediately we were ushered into the office of the “person in charge”. She was kind, but also said in no uncertain terms that I could not be released nor could Chuck take my place.
We went to the waiting room and again, Chuck stayed with me. A little while later the woman in charge came out of her office and called to us. “I have to say, I am so impressed that you would do this for your wife, so I am going to give you an extension as long as you promise that you will appear for duty in four weeks from now! I would have agreed to anything!
We ran out of the courthouse and called Robin. She was in the limo and they had just picked up Margie and were on their way to Eleanor’s. I was able to meet them in the limo thirty minutes later.
First stop was lunch at the Ritz Carlton! While we were eating I got a call from Spa Sydell. A water pipe had broken in the facility where we had appointments but they could make arrangements for us to go to another at a little later time. And they would pick up the extra cost of the limo!
So once again, God had intervened and brought something so good after something that looked bad. We ate a leisurely lunch, drove around Atlanta in our limo (now paid for mostly by Spa Sydell!) and later that afternoon went for our wonderful spa treatments!
The groom is out of wine….crisis….God! Jury duty…crisis…GOD! Security check point…crisis…God! Broken pipes…crisis…GOD!
And so we celebrated in such a grand way, but the truth is we celebrated He Who made it all possible!
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing… to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
Psalm 30:12
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