Mrs. Harvey

Her name was Mrs. Harvey.  She had blonde, shoulder length, frosted hair that parted in the middle with feathered bangs on either side of her forehead.  She wore powder blue eye shadow and bright pink lip stick. She had a slender athletic build with a miniature waist that she always wore a thin belt around.  She wore shimmery dresses and nude pantyhose. Her shoes were peep toe kitten heels...and I thought she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen.  Her husband was a tall, dark and handsome pilot in the Air Force...I thought he was dreamy.  Mrs. Harvey had a powder blue Camaro with silver sparkles...the most amazing car I had ever seen.  She was my fourth grade teacher and I wanted to be her when I grew up.  She was always kind, always patient...and I idolized her.  One day, toward the end of the school year, Mrs. Harvey made an announcement.  Her husband, who had been stationed at McCord Air Force base there in Washington, had been stationed to another base...and so they would be moving. I was stunned. Sitting in my little desk, with the wooden lift top that let you keep all your stuff inside, I lifted the desk top to cover my tears.  How could this be? Mrs. Harvey was my teacher...and I needed her to stay. Why did she need to go with her husband? Confused and sad I just tried to process this in my head. It had never occurred to me that Mrs. Harvey had a life outside of the realm I knew her in.  I had never thought of her in a grocery store, or out with friends....or even as having parents she went to see at Christmas...I only knew her and thought of her as my teacher. In my world I confined her in this little box....and a teacher is all I viewed her as.  Have you ever done this with someone?  Ever put limits on them based on your own perception? I'm ashamed to say I have done this not only with Mrs. Harvey...but also with God.  I confined Him to my own perceptions of what He is...and not who He was? I knew He was the Great Physician...but didn't see Him as my Healer.  I knew that He was omni-present and all powerful....but didn't count on Him to be my refuge, and my very present help.  I was aware that He owned the cattle on a thousand hills, but didn't count on Him to supply my electric bill.  And yet...He does....and He is.  In my small little mind I had limited my God to what He had or had not done for me...when in fact, that couldn't be farther from the truth.  Isaiah 40 states that all the stars in the sky fit with in the span of His hand...that's the length from the tip of His thumb to the tip of His middle finger.  It goes on to say that all the waters in the oceans fit in the palm of His hand.  That's how big He is.  A God that big and that great can't be limited to just our experiences...we have to look at the whole picture....and the whole story, to see the magnitude and the miracles our God does.  It seems that each trial and each victory shows me a new aspect of my Savior.  He has healed me of cancer...not once, but 4 times. He has provided for me....every day of my life.  He has loved me...when no one else did.  He has always done exceedingly and abundantly above all that I could ever ask or think. His greatness isn't just evidenced in my life....it's been seen in the countless number Christians that have gone before me....and those I see every day.  Moses - murderer to leader. Rahab -  harlot to great faith. David - adulterer to a man after God's own heart.  Paul - persecutor to preacher...(fast-forward)...Valerie - cancer to healed. Chuck - homeless addict to a sold-out believer. Lisa - broken to restored.  Our stories are still being written....who knows what amazing aspect of God will be revealed to you in the next chapter of your life.  Just remember not to limit Him...we have not begun to see the greatness of our God.  He will blow you away with what He has in store...just like the wind used to blow through Mrs. Harvey's hair in her powder blue Camaro with silver sparkles.