When I woke on the morning of Thursday, August 17, 2017, I had no idea that this would be a day that would mark my story significantly. An unexpected turn was just a few hours away from me, but I was unaware. I met my massage appointment at my studio mid morning, the only one I had scheduled that day, and then I had an afternoon filled with errands to run before my Perspectives team meeting that evening. We were preparing for the Spring 2018 class in Hot Springs.
When my guest left my studio, I checked my phone to see a missed call from a friend. "I'll call you when I get to my car," I texted her. It was 11:52 am. As I was about to leave, my friend, who owned the building in which I was renting my cozy studio space, asked if I could chat with her, so I invited her into my room, and was shocked to learn the reason for our meeting. Skipping to the bottom line, what I heard was that it was time for me to go, find another place to work, as soon as possible. My friend told me she was sorry it had to be this way, but she was confident that I would come back to her soon with an incredible story of how GOD had worked it all out!
When I walked to my car, I was in a daze. What in the world was happening? I loved my little space so much, and had hoped to be tucked away there, doing my work, for years. It wasn't just a space, it was a perfect space for me, and GOD had led me there. But now, it seemed, He was leading me away from there.
I was so discombobulated that I abandoned my errands and opted instead to soak in the hot water of the Quapaw Bathhouse downtown Hot Springs, where I had a membership. I often went to the hot water pools to pray. This was definitely a day for prayer and hot water.
When I arrived to the hot pools, I picked up a cup and filled it with water, before approaching the hottest pool in the house, 104 degrees, my favorite. A black sharpie marked each cup with a different number, so as guests soaked in the waters, we could recognize which cup was ours. That day my cup bore the number 59. Hmmm, I thought, 59. When I see numbers 40-66, I typically think of Isaiah, but as soon as I thought, Isaiah 59, I thought, no, Psalm 59. I tried to remember something about Psalm 59, and I couldn't think of anything. My mind bounced back to Isaiah 59, and I couldn't recall anything about that chapter, either, and decided when I got back to my phone, I would look up Psalm 59.
I stepped into the hot water and my body rejoiced, even as the tears began to pour freely down my face. No one would notice, I thought, as I plunged down into the water, immersing my head and popping back up to sit on the edge of the pool to soak, and pray. When the tears became too much, I would dip my head in again. The redness of my face could have been from the heat, so even though I was surrounded by people, gratefully, I felt unnoticed.
I cried out to GOD. I had no idea what I would do, or where I would go, and I didn't want to go anywhere, but I really had no choice. I have never been one to ask, "why is this happening to me?" my big questions are always the same, "what does this mean? where are you in this? and what am I to do?" As long as I can see meaning, see that GOD is speaking to me, then I know He will show me what to do, if and when there is something for me to do, and I am content. I couldn't see anything yet, and I felt like I didn't even know what to do when I got back to my car. I couldn't think that far ahead. I told the LORD that I would need Him to take me by the hand, in every sense. I couldn't think past the next 30 minutes.
I was relieved when I got back to the shower room to see a text from a friend who was inviting me to go with her to pick up her car about 40 minutes away. Fresh tears welled up, when I realized GOD was doing exactly what I had asked. He was taking me by the hand and showing me what to do when I got to my car. The friend who had invited me to ride with her was going to the Perspectives meeting that evening, so I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized the time frame would have me with her until then. So there was my whole day, taken care of, already. I dressed as hurriedly as I could, and drove across town to meet her. While I was waiting for her to show up, another friend texted me, saying, "I just forwarded an email to you--read it asap!" So I opened it up and nearly jumped out of my skin when I read these words, 'The Holy Spirit woke me up this morning and spoke Psalm 59 to me. I couldn't remember what was in Psalm 59, so I had to look it up.....' Instantly, my heavy heart began to rejoice, because I knew this was GOD speaking to me! It was not happenstance that I chose to pray in the hot water pools, and that I arrived after 58 other guests, to pick up cup 59, and that my friend texted me while I was on my way to meet my other friend, to tell me she had forwarded an email to me that I needed to read asap, that had been written that morning, by someone whom the Holy Spirit woke up with Psalm 59, who had the same exact thought that I did, that she couldn't remember Psalm 59, and would have to look it up!
You know I made haste to Psalm 59, and the first thing I noticed is that Psalm 59 has 17 verses, and it was the 17the day of August, and 2017, so 8/17/17! Match, match, match! I quickly found why I was led there. Much of the psalm talks about those who conspire against me, and prowling dogs, and so forth, which is most likely why I wasn't familiar with the psalm, but the three verses that jumped out to me said, "You are my strength, I watch for you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely. But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely." My heart soared! My cries turned to songs of joy and when my friend picked me up, I couldn't wait to tell her the good news, that GOD was leading me someplace new! He was assuring me of His strength and presence. I was weak, He is always strong.
On our return to Hot Springs from picking up her car, I received a text from a long time friend who was asking if I had time that evening for a mobile massage. So my plans changed, and I found myself driving down Long Island Drive for an unexpected appointment, and missing the Perspectives meeting. On my way, I was thinking, as I always did on my way to that house, of the house number, 126, and the promise of Psalm 126, one of the 15 Psalms of Ascent, which, unlike Psalm 59, I had known quite well, for many years,
"When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, 'the LORD has done great things for them.' The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them."
I was almost there, when I saw to my right, a little red and white yard sign with black letters that read FOR RENT, and written with a black sharpie, no doubt, a phone number, that was easy to remember, especially for someone like me, who thinks and sees in patterns. When I arrived to house number 126, my heart filled with the hope of that Psalm, and the intrigue of what GOD was doing, I texted the number to say I had seen the FOR RENT sign and was interested. Somehow I knew this was strategic, and that I had just found my answer. I looked at the time I had sent the text. 6:52pm, and I was both astonished and not at all surprised. It was exactly 7 hours from the first text I sent that morning, mere moments before I was to receive the news that I needed to move out of my massage studio. From 11:52 - 6:52 was 7 hours, and I marveled at the ways of GOD while I worked. Because I had 90 minutes of quiet, I was able to think of a lot of things. My patterned wired brain noticed some fun things about 11:52 and 6:52, if you added the hours, 11 and 6, you get 17, the number of that day, that year, and the number of verses in Psalm 59, that GOD had given me in the hot water pool, which temperature is 104 degrees. 104 is what you get when you add 52 minutes and 52 minutes. The 11th hour and 6th hour also reminded me of Hebrews 11:6, "Without faith, it's impossible to please GOD, for he who comes to GOD must believe that He is, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him."
Well, she was right. She knew it would happen like this. Not these details, of course, but when she told me I would need to move out of her building, she also predicted I would come back with an incredible story of how GOD had led me to a new, amazing place. She had known me long enough to know this would be another story of how GOD had worked on my behalf, and that it would be an adventure story. Good for her. I didn't see it or feel it, but she called it. And this time, the adventure was 7 hours, exactly.
