Old Letters

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement

 

Old Letters

 

 

Keeping old letters is my family’s custom. My mother kept many special ones from her sisters, mother, and grandchildren. When we read them years later, the letters blessed us with insights, information, and inspiration; therefore, I often kept ones from dearly beloved people. Since we recently moved, I found and read a box full of letters that crossed the ocean during my husband’s Navy years. Because his service was during a time of international tension, he was gone at lot; and we wrote a lot of letters. These letters invoked many memories of our coping strategy.  I often invited other lonely, left-behind wives to lunch or dinner. Sewing miles and miles of stitches, I created a large number of garments of a wide variety. Most important, I kept up a continuous search for methods to keep toddlers assured of their far-away daddy’s love. I’d forgotten the variety and quantity of all those activities. After the long, long hours my husband flew, much of his coping method was to try to catch up on adequate sleep.

 

 

Altogether, those letters painted a picture of a miserable time in our lives.  Reading the letters caused us to look backward. After these many years, we were able to see how God used those difficult times to help us grow and to change us in significant ways. Most of all, we are thankful for how His great mercy spared us and even used those years for good later on in our lives. Those old letters witness to us that whenever we experience serious challenges, we can depend on God to lead us through and strengthen us in significant ways. What sort of past do you have that was fraught with challenging conditions, hurtful situations, or trying times? God is the master of redeeming us from our mistakes, our failures, our trials. We are thankful we kept those old letters. God used them to give us insights into His love and faithfulness. Regardless of how difficult a period of our lives, looking to God for help will enable us to endure. We will reap strength, and learn important concepts. He will cradle us in His love in our time of need.