In January, we threw a lovely vintage tea party themed shower for my niece. Everything was so perfect except for one missing component! There was no worthy place of honor for her to sit. In my mind, a folding chair just would not do.  

She needed a place to sit that was girly and cushioned and regal. Something to surround her that would tell her she was loved and that she was lovely. 

I scavenged through my mind of the chairs available to me with nothing being deemed quite right. And then I saw it in the store front side of the venue for the shower. The Chair. A mixed floral parlor chair with coordinated stripes trimmed in a garland of sparkles and pastel Pom poms. The chair’s floral pattern prominently displayed big pink roses. I had just ordered vintage rose bedding for my daughter’s nursery. The chair even spins like a little girl twirling in a new dress. It was the perfect throne for our purpose. I lovingly placed the chair back in the store after the shower. And never thought of it again until the planning meeting for my newborn daughter’s funeral.  

“Is there anything else you will need ?” My sister Ange asked. There was a long pause before I choked out the words, ” I will need a place. . . Where I can go. . . To get away . . . Or breathe. . . “. I didn’t even know what I would need to do but I was sure I needed a retreat – – a private place for rest or to take on a wave of sorrow I couldn’t manage gracefully. The only thing I knew for sure was that I was weak and this place should have a comfortable chair.  

Our church has folding chairs and worship chairs but nothing comforting in the way of a sitting chair. A rocking chair was suggested and the thought of rocking with painfully empty arms made me grow cold and nauseous. I said , “No. It can’t be a rocking chair.” It was one of the only things I was able to say firmly that week. 

And a whisper of a memory flew in my heart and I said ” you know that chair from the shower?”  

Yes! The room filled with hopeful agreement. That chair! That chair was the perfect chair for a mother of a princess to beg God for enough strength and grace to keep going. . . To somehow feel loved and lovely and close to her daughter at the same time. However, 

That chair had been sold. That chair was gone. 
But do you know what God did for me? He called a shop owner to call a customer to request a borrowing of a piece of furniture that had already been perfectly placed in that customers home.  

When I heard the chair was on loan to me for my hour of need, it touched my heart. This chair felt like love to me.  

But when I was told that the chair was mine to keep forever. Well then the chair felt like Jesus to me. You see He knew that I would continue to need a place long after the day I buried her. He knew that there would empty holes in my home where cribs and swings used to be. And so He provided a place for me. A chair. But not just any chair. That chair . . . The chair I admired with Ellis and sat in with her before she was born. . . He’s that Good. His people are that kind and generous . . . and I am that Loved. Love so Amazing. I’m sitting in my chair now just marveling at it💕💐💕
“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2

God has told his people, “Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest. . . ” Isaiah 28:12

#EG41 #useEllis2tellus