Recently the Squier’s and our friends the Evans drove to Lake Tahoe to volunteer at a Joni and Friends Marriage Getaway. Enroute a deer leaped over the guardrail catching our left headlight, bumper. In shock we watched the dead deer’s body spin circles across the wet highway.

Yes, a trip to the auto body shop would be necessary, but thankfully our car was drive able. Not only drive able, but thank You, Lord, the air bags did not deploy and the damage was to the bumper, not the windshield.

We praised God for His protection, at the same time we grieved the dead Bambi. We concluded had we intercepted a second earlier our drive to Tahoe would have come to a screaming halt.

We God’s grace in life’s good and yes, in life’s bad experiences. And His grace goes as far as to bring a smile to our unsettled memories.

Back at home safe in Oregon, we awoke the first morning to a special gift from our Heavenly Father – an alive deer – a spittin’ image of the dead one on the roadside – grazing peacefully on our lush front lawn.

“Behold, I make all things new,” promises the Lord God in the book of Revelation.

​And there’s more: He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

2015 fleeteth … I can’t believe we’re in the merry month of May! Mom was right: “Time moves faster the older you get.” My birthday came and went with 70 balloons now a sweet memory and two gold shoe birthday cakes long gone!

It’s time to celebrate the safe arrival of Grandbaby #5 – Quinn Elizabeth Belikoff born on April 22. She’s a beauty from head to toe and of course this Granny Goose loves her feet more than anything.

Imagine my surprise when during the first week of her life our son-in-law Beau called and said, “Goose, Quinn Elizabeth has your legs.”

“She has my legs, what do you mean?” While my mind tripped over his words, my stumps grabbed for a pair of dancing shoes.

Looking at Quinn’s legs, my soul smiles at God’s kept promise from Joel 2:25 – I, the Lord, will restore the years the locust has eaten…

It’s been seven decades since I arrived without thighs or knees and with five toes missing in action; now seventy years later the Belikoff family declares that their daughter Quinn bears my legs. For me their declaration means God did what He promised. He squelched the locusts of exclusion, hurtful stares, missing out, the decade of not having children because my birth defect might be genetic, the years of performing the legs-job- motherhood-tasks – without legs. All the above and more He not only squelched, but redeemed – using my disability for His good purpose and for my good as well. The bottom line: He made the pain and shame of my missing pieces worth it and more. Two generations later Elohim, Creator God, has brought my incomplete legs to completion. Yes, my soul smiles at what is humanly intangible, but made tangible by God.

As you celebrate with me I want to celebrate with you. Let’s begin with the question: What have the locusts eaten in your life? Your dreams? Your plans or hopes for yourself or someone you love? Your health? Your youth? Your retirement funds? Life as you’ve known it?

In this very pit of heart ache is where God wants to meet you. He is there. You are not alone. Are you ready to release your tight grip, and receive His promise: ‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’ – Jeremiah 29:11 NASB

His plans include a life hidden in Him, daily feasting on His words in the Bible and fellowshipping with others who long to know Him and to be known by Him.

Little by little you will see His footprints and surprises in the last place you would expect. So grab your I-never-thought-I’d-wear-you-dancing-shoes and let Jesus whirl you around on the dance floor of your life. Lean in close to hear Him whisper, “I’m wild about you.”

As you lean into Him, receive His hug with the words of one of my favorite songs: