There are some people you meet who leave an indelible mark on your heart. Not the kind that you want to wipe off or hide, but the kind that you cherish and touch from time to time just to make sure it's still there...just like a treasured necklace given to you as a gift that is so cute you can hardly believe it's yours.
In my BMAK life (before marriage and kids), I worked for a Southern-California based newspaper called L.A. Focus where I got to meet and interview celebrities and people whose lives were filled with great stories. One of those people is Therea Ordell who I met more than 15 years ago. I'd initially interviewed her mother Terri McFaddin a gifted author, anointed minister and Grammy-winning songwriter (she co-wrote the award winning movie theme, “Men in Black"), who told me her daughter had a story to tell--and BOY did she.
A talented writer and speaker in her own right, Theresa was born with a myriad of health challenges among them being born with three fingers on each hand and orthopedic discrepancies with the length of her legs. What struck me most about her was the miracle-working power of God in her life. I mean....I'd known and met some anointed folks in my life...but they were all older, not my age. But here was this cute little girl around my age who overflowed with God's power.
She has always been an inspiration to me. I don't know if I've ever told her that.
Just a couple of years back, she got married at the age of 40. An age, when most women would think that God had forgotten about them. This past weekend, I attended her baby shower to celebrate her soon-coming baby girl—a baby that doctors said would never come because she was considered unable to have childrlen at one time.
But she took a leap of faith and spoke a prayer to God (one that she admits she was too scared to even voice for fear of disappointment) but she spoke it anyway (with details) and He honored her request. She is due in May with a baby who doctors say is perfectly healthy and who is amazingly safely surrounded by 11 fibroids that are still in her pregnant womb.
During her shower, she shared her whole testimony of believing God for this miracle baby. How she'd wandered into Baby Gap and bought 2 outfits (1 boy, 1 girl) and tucked those boxes away in the closet without so much as mentioning to God her desire for a baby.
Isn't that what we so often do? Tuck our dreams & desires away in a closet without even bringing them before our Heavenly Father in prayer.
We do the same with God. This Saturday, she said, "It's so easy for us to put God in a box." Her mother had other mothers with "impossible" situations get up and share their testimonies. Then she laid hands on wives who wanted to have babies as well as single women who wanted to get married. It had to be one of the most blessed showers I've ever been to.
So often we look at what the doctors say: "Your window of time for pregnancy is over." We look at what our circumstances say: "You're too old. It's too late. It's too messed up."
But God's name is bigger than infertility, bankruptcy, divorce, broken dreams or whatever it is you may be facing. Theresa's pregnant belly reminded me of that fact.
And His love for us goes far beyond anything we can think of. His love for us is bigger than we can imagine.
"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!" Ephesians 3:20 (The Message Bible)
Let’s never lose sight of just how big, powerful, loving and AMAZING our God is. The same God who parted the Red Sea for the children of Israel to escape from their enemies is the same God who opened up Theresa's womb and it's the same God who came to bring life to the unspoken prayer in your heart. Go ahead...take Him (& those dreams) out of that box and see what He can do.
Click here to get a peek at a bit of Theresa's dynamic teaching.
*photo of me and Theresa at her baby shower
