Have you ever had God do something completely unexpected? I’ve had two of those moments recently that brought tears to my eyes.
My co-author and I are working on our next book project, When God Calls the Heart at Christmas. It’s a devotional and keepsake book, and we’re also including holiday recipes so I’ve been making the recipes, staging them and then photographing them.
I’m amazed at how many things are needed for the staging. My sweet friend Dee Dee Parker is one of the most creative people I know, and she’s designed window displays for stores. When I told her what I was doing, she packed up boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations and added antiques to fit the 1910-1920 period of the television show, Hallmark’s When God Calls the Heart, that inspired the book.
She brought antique toys, old rolling pins, piles of greenery, spools of ribbon, candles and oil lamps, and a treasure trove of other things. I’ve added in pieces I’ve collected through the years and antiques I inherited from my grandparents.
But the day we hauled all of Dee Dee’s boxes to my house, she pulled out an item carefully wrapped in tissue paper. “My husband loaned you something I think you’re going to like,” she said, handing it over to me.
As I pulled the tissue paper away, tears sprang to my eyes, and I clapped my hand to my mouth. Jim had sent me an antique Mountie figurine to use in my photos. The main characters (and sweethearts) in the television show are a schoolteacher, Elizabeth Thatcher, and Mountie Jack Thornton.
I was so touched by what Jim had loaned me—but what touched my heart even more was when I realized that all those years before when Jim had collected that Mountie figurine, God had known I’d need it someday.
But that wasn’t the end of surprises. Dee Dee had also brought a beautiful plate for me to use that, unbeknownst to both of us, turned out to be the china pattern that Abigail Stanton uses in her café on the show. And without knowing that, I’d used the plate for the photo featuring scones like Abigail makes and serves at her café. What are the odds of that?
These two special items made my photos extra special—two specific and detailed things provided by the God who cares about every detail of our lives…even down to a Mountie figurine and a china plate.
