God of the Details

Laura FrantzBooks, Events, Inspiration, Reading, Uncategorized

Some of us are raised singing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and also memorize the remarkable verse, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Luke 12:7) Yet I tend to be surprised when God delights me, even reminds me, of just how true that is. He really is the Lord of the details…

Long ago when I was a little girl in grade school, my teacher read aloud the classic, Alice in Wonderland. Only she didn’t read the end. Leaving us with a cliffhanger, she told us to write the rest of Alice in Wonderland. A big assignment for a girl of 8! I remember being very excited as I wrote my own ‘rest of the story’, giving Alice a happier ending than her original creator, Lewis Carroll, did! My teacher gave me an A (everyone got one, I think), and she wrote this on a slip of paper, “Laura, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I think you will succeed in your desire to become a writer someday.”

I grew up and forgot that little assignment, moving on to write stories of my own. But I kept the note the teacher wrote in a box, old and faded as it became. Then last spring I was invited to be part of a women’s event at Brightmoor Christian Church near Detroit. I’d never been there but had heard amazing things about Kim Kjos, the pastor’s wife, and her ministry team. To my delight, I learned the evening would revolve around tea. As a mom of boys with lots of testosterone and little time for lovely, feminine things, I was all in!

So last week I got on a plane, excited to see what this inspiring time among soul sisters of Michigan would bring. Imagine my delight when I walked into an incredible foyer of glass (love big windows) to the loveliest sight. Each tea table had been beautifully and winsomely decorated in different themes. At every place setting for all 251 women was a unique teacup and saucer to take home, many vintage, and no two alike!

I soon learned that I would sit with the pastor’s wife. She said she’d chosen the theme of our table as it had special meaning for her. Can you guess what that was?

Yes, Alice in Wonderland with Alice china, a bakery cake decorated with dear Alice falling down the rabbit hole, and all the matching decorations. Be still my literary heart! Immediately, that little note from a teacher almost 50 years before came to mind, and that particular assignment, my very first creative writing task. Since one of the Holy Spirit’s roles is to “bring to your remembrance” the things of the Spirit, I knew God was in all the little details, then and now. Long ago, he’d prepared me to write and had this very day in mind when I’d sit down at an Alice in Wonderland tea table and remember all that He’s done for me in the years between.

As if this wasn’t enough JOY,  I was able to meet reading friends, new and old, some who had traveled several hours to attend the tea and hear me talk about Christian fiction. Truly an event I’ll long remember with a thankful heart, right down to the littlest detail!

SHALOM!