God's Mercy via a Frog!

Once upon a time, when I was the Queen Supreme of Nag-land, there lived with me a Frog. Warts covered his green, slimy body from head to webbed toe. He croak out his crummy words a whole lot, and Queeny did what she did best - nag the idiot (ok, that was very nice) Frog to quit croaking and start crooning (as in, say lots of really loving & adorable things to Queen Nag).

Well, this kept up for eons, centuries, years, days. One day, the King of kings announced to Queen Nag (QL - Queen Liz, from here on out) that He would be most pleased if she would cease that endless dripping (see Proverbs 27:15) and begin to see Frog as a prince that He loved.

What???? You love that uncrooning Frog?! Darn that! (Okay, and yay for that.)

Thus, QL dashed right out and bought a new charm for her charm bracelet. The picture is fuzzy, so I will tell you that it is a silver frog, sitting all smug with a crown on his head (I added the smug part; it could be that he is just HAPPY that God loves him!!!).

Anyhoo, I tell you all this to tell you the real purpose in this blog (oh, besides that we all should quit nagging and start bragging on our Frog Princes) - GOD'S MERCY ENDURES FOREVER! And that mercy involves another Frog.... this one....
Back in 2001 I had to have a complete, unwanted, cried-over, hysterectomy. Words cannot describe the turmoil within me of NOT WANTING THIS THING THAT WAS SOOOOO OUT OF MY CONTROL!

I prayed, begged, pleaded with God for mercy. I told Jesus, "I don't know nothing 'bout having no hysterectomy" (best said with Prissy's accent from Gone with the Wind), so, please, Jesus, hold my hand the whole time." These two things, amongst a myriad of other requests, were my main focus and plea.

Well, it ended up that while I was in surgery, Mike and my sister Karen were roaming the gift shop for a sorry-this-is-it-for-you gift. Mike, knowing I loved writing letters, was reaching for stationary. Karen said, "No, she needs something she can hold onto." She did not know about my prayer for Jesus to hold my hand. That's what makes this so neat!

Anyhoo, the above stuffed, green, cute frog-guy was my gift. When Mike gave it to me, I held on for dear life.

One of the nurses told me, "Liz (she didn't know me as QL), the strangest thing about that frog is that even in your sleep, that frog has never fallen out of your hand." Now... I was in the hospital for four nights!!!! God's mercy had Jesus holding my hand in a way that wouldn't freak everyone out! :) Isn't He good? And very real? Oh, and, oh, so, caring?!!!

That was just one of the many ways that God showed me (and now you) that His mercy endures forever! Amen & yahoo & yay & thank You, Lord!!!! xo