Exactly 7 days after Aslan and I became a pair, on Saturday, March 7, 2020, (7th day of the week and 7th day of the month), I made a new friend while we were in our neighboring storage units. It was a Providential meeting that signaled a sharp turn of events, and PRO'Vision for the unforeseen that I had no idea was just around the corner---the whole world shutting down! My new friend, right there on the spot, invited me to live in her Bed and Breakfast, Wildwood. I told her I didn't need a place to stay, but, thank you all the same. I suggested we exchange phone numbers and plan to visit sometime over coffee or a bottle of water. When I got back to my old yellow truck (which I was driving because I was moving big things) and saw the message my new friend had sent, her phone number LEAPED out at me like a flashing neon sign! She doesn't have this phone number any longer, which is great for me, because that means I can share it with you! Her phone number was 501.318.4923. Her number made my heart LEAP because of a song and a promise.
The song, Mountain Greenery, composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart, published in 1926, begins with these words, "On the first of May, it is MOVING Day...." Her phone number was 501 (which looks like the first of May) 318 (which is the address of the Cosy Christmas Cottage that I was MOVING out of!) seven days WITH ASLAN, who is always "on the MOVE"! and the rest of her phone number, 4923, is a long cherished promise: Isaiah 49:23, "those who put their hope in Me will not be disappointed", or another version says, "put to shame." I was astonished. As soon as I got back to the Cosy Christmas Cottage to round up my next load to put in storage, I first ran next door to tell my landlord friend about the meeting and the phone number. She was just as amazed as I was, and asked the obvious question, "Where is Wildwood?" and we both jumped on our phones to find the address. I burst into tears. "What now?" she asked me. "The address!" I said, choking back both tears and laughter, "the address is 808!" Her eyes were as wide as mine now. We sat and stared at each other in amazement. GOD was surely up to something special. "On the first of May, it is MOVING Day" has been a significant song in my life for quite a number of years, and 808 is the address of a place dear to my heart, that I MOVED out of in a hard season of my life, leaving there with GOD's promise that He would give 808 back to me. I didn't know how or when, but that's what He told me, when I followed Him away from 808, with a crushed heart, by faith. And then here in this new friend's phone number, He had once again, in a very specific and clever way, assured me of His promise. I was on the move, ASLAN was on the move, and clearly, GOD was on the MOVE, in a remarkable way! I had moved out of 808 on the 28th day of February, 2016, and this was 4 years 9 days later! Another nod to Isaiah 49!
I texted my new friend and told her that I had changed my mind and wanted to meet her as soon as possible. I actually sent a really long text with lots of details and she wrote back, "I love you! I love all of this!" which was good, because after I sent it, I thought, that was way too much. She doesn't know me yet, and that was way too much for someone who doesn't know me. But some people are meant to be in your life, and some people "get you" from the "get go" and she was one of those people.
She invited me to come to Wildwood 2 days later, on Monday, March 9th, for lunch. She met me at the front door, which was a tradition her mother had put in place, to make sure that each Guest had the grandest first entrance to Wildwood. Not only was my first entrance grand, but so was my whole first visit at Wildwood. I felt like I had stepped across the threshold of my dreams. It was almost surreal, and yet, it wasn't at all.
I was welcomed into the men's parlor, where I presented my hosts, my friend and her husband, with 2 coasters I had made in a pottery class I took with my friend Suzi. The reason I gave my new friends my coasters is because I had engraved the numbers 808 on each coaster. I made the coasters as a reminder of the promise GOD had given me on the 28th of February 2016, when I moved out of my 808, that He would give 808 back to me. I shared that story with them, and told them, that whatever purpose GOD had in sending me to Wildwood, at 808 Park Avenue in Hot Springs, I knew it had something to do with His promise, and it seemed the right thing to gift that token of promise to them, that day.
We shared lunch, and they both invited me again to live at Wildwood. I was led upstairs to the room they had available for me, the King David Room. I couldn't help but share my excitement of going UP to the King David Room! King David, who had penned the Psalms of ASCENT! I told them that on the 29th, because it was LEAP Year Day, I had signed a 4 year loan for an ASCENT, for the Psalms of ASCENT, that I named ASLAN, for the Lion in Narnia. And then I discovered a big reason we clicked right away! They LOVE CS Lewis and, in particular, The Chronicles of Narnia! They loved the reason I chose to name my vehicle ASLAN, so that I could say, ASLAN IS ON THE MOVE, with every mile we traveled together.
A couple hours later, I pulled away from Wildwood, as I had more packing and moving to do, and only one more day to do it. I had already made other plans for the rest of the week, but I told them before I left that I would accept their offer to stay, for at least a few days, to have a quiet place to pray about my next MOVE. I told them I had a big dream to bless the nations, and was thinking I would travel to raise support so I could launch my ideas. I was busting at the seams to see them come to pass. I also told them that day that I think I may have been led to Wildwood because I am supposed to buy it some day. They were delighted at the prospect, and agreed that Wildwood would be the perfect place for everything GOD had put in my heart to do, which was very much influenced by Lewis and Narnia.
The first night I stayed at Wildwood was Friday, March 13th. It was the 15th anniversary of my Mother's departure from this life into the next, and I was sleeping in a bed in the King David Room, who had penned the 15 Psalms of Ascent, with ASLAN, my ASCENT, sleeping in Guest Parking. One of my favorite lines of Psalm 37, David again, kept coming to mind, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and he delights in his way." My steps were being ordered, and I was in wonder at how He was leading.
Six days later marked the first day of Spring, March 19th, which is usually the last day of Winter, but in Leap Year, is the first day of Spring. That was the last day I didn't know what was happening in the world.
The next day was March 20th, a day I love to celebrate because it's 3:20 and I love Ephesians 3:20, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond, anything we can ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us." 320 Sycamore is the address of George and Mary Bailey, in my all time favorite movie, It's A Wonderful Life. And, 3 x 20 is 60, so another day to celebrate Isaiah 60! Arise! Shine! for your light has come and the glory of the LORD rises upon you! With all those promises still in place, I realized that I was too, as the Great Lockdown had begun. ASLAN and I were not "on the move" after all. Instead, I found myself in the midst of an adventure that would unfold as the world and I with it, stood still.
