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It’s about an hour and fifteen minutes to drive to my parents’ house.  Not far at all.  Yet, I don’t visit much.  It’s a privilege that I must admit I take advantage of.  I don’t visit much because my parents are always visiting me, which I love.  If I had it my way, they would live with me.  An on and off again conversation with my mother is I don’t visit much.

She often says it would be nice if I would come home more often.  My mother is the kind of lady that if she constantly repeats a thing with a certain tone in her voice, it must be important. I reviewed my calendar and set out to visit my parents on October 14.  I asked my parents not to make any plans for that day. 

As we would spend the entire day together.  Working full-time, managing Treasured Possession, managing my home’s projects, and the list goes on.  It’s easy to place going to see my parents at their home on the back burner.  On average, I see my parents 2 to three times a month.  Again, that’s mostly because they are visiting or passing through my neck of the woods.

Lately, I’ve been consumed with a command I received from God.  Maybe, we will talk about that in another post.  It has literally taken up any free time I have.  Mostly because of the demands I have placed on myself, but also all the “to-do’s” that need to be actioned.  Setting aside his command, I have a lot of home projects underway.

How sudden do you get bored with you home décor?  Me, every two years.  Some transformations are simpler than others.  Some transformations start out simple but end up being a tedious process.  Somewhere in my brain I’ve convinced myself that because I’m the daughter of a carpenter, then I must also possess the skills of a carpenter.  Right?

Well, that is currently being put to the test.  While I’m only making cosmetic changes, a few of these renovations require my “inherited “carpenter skills 😊.  For example, I wanted a new toilet paper holder.  Removing the holder was easy, but then I notice the nail in the wall was inside a plastic wall anchor. I unscrewed the nail from the tube but couldn’t get the tube removed.  So, what did I do? 

YouTube. Yep, a video on YouTube showed me how to remove the plastic wall anchors.  Of course, my process of removing the anchors wasn’t as smooth as the guy in the video.  Hmm, I tore into the sheet rock. 2 big ole holes. I immediately contacted my dad. Who by the way has been my mentor through these home renovation projects.

He recommended I get some wood filler to fill the holes.  That was a thing.  Mind you I don’t know anything about wood filler.  Somehow, listening to my dad and a few trials and errors I got it together and was able to fill the hole. If that isn’t a showcase of carpenter skills, I don’t know what is.  While, I know there is someone reading this saying, “filling a whole isn’t what I would consider carpenter skills.”

Thank you for your input, ma’am/sir.  It is for me.  Normally, my husband would handle this stuff, but I wanted to tackle these projects myself with little interference from him. The week of October 14, I made sure to have a lot of the heavy lifting completed for each home project.   That way I could fully be present and enjoy that Saturday with my parents. 

Part of this heavy lifting was ordering new items to complement the renovations. I mean, what’s a renovation without a little new, new. Picture this. It was late Friday night and online shopping was the focus. 

I was talking to myself about the items I was reviewing.  As I’m tending to this business in my head I hear, what are you wearing tomorrow? I continue to talk to myself as if I asked the question myself. I was like well just a t-shirt and leggings.  Remember, tomorrow (October 14/Saturday) is the day I visit my parents. Immediately, I stopped talking.

My next words were, “God, did you just ask me what I was wearing tomorrow?”  Like, I knew it was Him who asked me.  The question, the tone, the subtle difference, was different from talking to myself about the items I was purchasing.  When I realized it was God, I said, “What are you wearing tomorrow?” LOL, OMG LOL.

I was like God, how random is such a question.  Like there is a lot going on in the world and you think to ask me, “What am I wearing tomorrow?” So then panic, starts to surface. Saturday called for rain.  I asked God did I need to wear my rain boots?  Did I need to dress up? Was I going to be stranded in the rain? Like all sorts of crazy questions filled my mind. I continued to ask God, why did He ask me that. 

I didn’t get a response until the next day.  Saturday morning came and it was raining hard.  The plan was to be at my parent’s home no later than 10am but I didn’t arrive until noon.  Instead of wearing t-shirt and leggings I decided to put on a decent jogger set. When I arrive, my parents were waiting for me in the main area.  My mother stated she had been waiting for me since 7am.  SMH. 

We hugged and kissed, and I went to the restroom.  When I came out Pomp and Circumstance song was playing. My parents gave me a graduation. In fact, my dad presented me with a carpentry certificate from AK University. I was totally surprised and a wet ball mess. In case you missed it, God asked me what I was wearing because I was having a graduation. 

When God asked me “What was I wearing tomorrow”, I thought it was the weirdest question.  To take it a step further I thought it was an inopportune question and moment.  October 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. I would have thought that would have been God’s focus vs. asking me that question on October 13. While I have many lessons learned from this moment, the lesson I would like to leave you with is Genesis 16:13. 

In summary, no matter what’s going on, in, and around your life, we serve a God who sees you.  The journey you, I, and everyone else is on today is of importance to God. A journey to the left, right, behind, in front, across the seas, in different generations, doesn’t limit God’s view of you.  A desert land, prosperous land, raging seas, peaceful seas, God sees you. 

A crisis in one land, doesn’t impede his attention in another land.  GOD. SEES. YOU.  Reach out to Him and trust Him to guide you through. Let me know in the comments How could knowing God as “the God who sees” change your view of your current circumstances?  How can you respond to Him?

Ease & Stillness,

Chetoca B.