I’d recently taken up glass etching and had an entire cabinet crammed with platters, glasses and teacups that I’d engraved with my favorite sayings.
One morning I awoke with the thought, You should send Polly one of your crystal cups.
Polly? I wondered. I’d met Polly Oldham at a retreat, and we’d kept in touch. Her husband, Dale, had died several years back and she now lived alone. I hadn’t spoken with her in some time.
“I’ll just give her a call later,” I decided as I sat down to breakfast. But while I was loading the dishwasher, a voice, clear and emphatic, said, “Nellie, send Polly a crystal cup today.”
There was no ignoring that! I went to the cabinet and reached into the back for an engraved cup. The one I pulled out had the inscription, “God loves you and so do I.” I sent it off.
A few days later, Polly called. “Oh, Nellie, you don’t know how much I needed that cup!” she said. “After Dale died, I got in the habit of sitting down in the afternoon with a cup of tea for some prayer time. I always used a crystal cup Dale gave me when we were first married. It made me feel less alone.” Polly paused. Then she told me the rest. That afternoon she’d opened her dishwasher and found the cup was cracked.
“I felt so bad I didn’t even want to make tea. Then the doorbell rang. It was the mailman delivering your cup with its beautiful message.”
God answers prayers…sometimes even before we have the chance to say them.
