I hadn’t slept a wink last night and remember looking at the clock the last time at 7:30 am this morning. At 8:00 I was finally in dreamland when I was awakened by the phone ringing. I ignored it.
Three minutes later the phone rang again and since my boys are known to call again immediately if no one answers, so I will know it’s one of them, I answered. It was some man who needed something framed. I was about to ask him when he would like to set up an appointment to come over when he told me he was already parked outside our place of business….our house.
“Give me 5 minutes before you ring the doorbell, please” I requested, then hung up, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and threw on some clothes before stumbling downstairs, still in somewhat of a sleepy fog. I had never had someone at the door that early for framing, and I had the fleeting thought that my husband had already left for work and my son had spent the night with a friend, so I was alone in the house. Should I call Marty to let him know someone was on the doorstep? If he came home in the afternoon to find me missing or dead, at least then he would already have a lead! A framing customer did it!
He was a young man. Looked nice enough. Acted a little nervous. Hmmm….where was his artwork? It was on his phone, he said. All righty then. He sat down at the table and opened up with the story.
He and his girlfriend had broken up. He was a louse. He hadn’t cheated on her but she didn’t think he cared about her very much so she broke up with him a week and a half ago. He wanted to do something special for her. He hadn’t slept well last night (did anybody?), and at 4 am he got on the computer and found a loving email from her that she sent on February 18th but he just received last night. Was it a sign?
He was feeling a sense of urgency. He showed me the photo and we picked out a mat color. It was the first time I did design work using a photo on a phone! He said he wanted to print words from Proverbs 31 on the mat; a description of a worthy woman. My Bible was right there opened on the table and I flipped to Proverbs 31 to find that I had already highlighted that section and written a few key words in the margin. Wow…I was starting to get tingly!
I took him down to the basement shop to pick out a frame from our in stock moulding and on the way, he commented that I should have a dog. Another of those fleeting thoughts ran through my head; “I’m going down in the basement with a stranger and there’s no one else here!”, but it was way too late to turn back now.
After all was decided, he asked how soon I could have it done. I told him this week was booked with framing (true) and I could probably have it for him by Monday. I had quoted the price and he offered me double, in cash, if I could do it by tomorrow. Hmmmm….he wanted to know….did I think he was doing the right thing? He said he was trying to let go of the situation but God seemed to be nudging him. His girlfriend said she missed him. I told him the ball was in his court. Do this, and then truly let it go. The ball will then be in her court.
So, I cut the mat so he could take it home and do the writing on it. He returned four hours later with the finished mat and the printed photo.
He looked worried. I told him I would pray for him. He asked me to put lots of love into my work. I did. He will be here to pick it up tomorrow. I hope it all turns out for him.
This week has been an incredible week of framing. This particular job, which started out kind of flaky, turned into a labor of love and a real God shot for me. I love when He does that. I hope that somehow I helped this young man, with God’s help, by using my talents for His purpose.
UPDATE: Not long after this experience we got our rescue dog, Chanse!
A LIVING STONE 