The Visits

Actually the car’s financial history didn’t begin in a vacuum but came from an unusual source. In retrospect, it was this event that precipitated the purchase of the car. You might appear puzzled at this point but what happened only verified how God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform!
It all started a few months into 1988. Spring was beginning to rouse its pretty head with the bulbs of the season already sprouting green and showing their flowery colours. The smells of the hyacinth filled the air, the bees had begun to buzz, and the Robin’s nest was already well underway in the spruce tree in front of Mary’s house. It was a Friday. There was nothing unusual about this day. Mary had been at work when the call came.
Martha, her sister, and her husband and three children were coming to Toronto for a visit. They were going to be at one of those big swanky hotels out at the airport strip; one of those ones that you didn’t always get a chance to see the inside of but you knew had awesome swimming pools, warm saunas, and whirlpools to ease your weary bones. It didn’t take much for Mary and Peter to accept the invitation to come up for a swim that Friday night at the hotel. It would be lots of fun.
Mary and Peter came home from work and hurriedly dressed for their visit. The airport was about a half hour from their home in Etobicoke. Mary had told Martha she would be up around 7pm. It was six now. Being a Friday Mary had all her cash from her weekly deposit from her store in her purse. She had not made it to the bank. Back in the 80’s people still used night machines outside their financial institutions so Mary and Peter’s plan was to deposit the money on their return from the hotel. At the time debit cards were not yet in use and cash was the main monetary transaction of the day, at least for Mary’s business.
As they were leaving the house to go Mary stopped and picked up her purse with her deposit in it. Peter looked at the purse in her hand and said, “You better leave that here. Someone might steal it while we are swimming in the pool.” Mary never thought anymore of it and dropped her purse on the small dresser near the bed.
The evening had been so much fun and the pool water had been warm like soup. It was always a delight to see her sister, Martha and her girls. Her husband Bill was a comedian at heart and always kept Mary laughing but Martha, her sister, was not always so amused anymore by her husband after 3 children and 17 years of marriage. Mary had a special respect for this family.
It was not only that they offered her so much love each time they came up for a visit but it was the special history that developed from Mary’s own tragic past. You see, Mary had been a drug addict. It had begun years earlier when Mary and Peter were first married. It came out of Mary’s pain as she dealt with feeling unloved, rejected, and topped with Mary’s struggle over her weight gain. Diet pills and Valium became her lifestyle. When the headaches started as a result of these medications Mary’s habit progressed into high doses of Percodan to help her cope. Mary was not proud of this and hid it from everyone including her ex husband.
However, the point of this discussion is to relay to the reader the special bond Mary had with Martha, Bill, and the kids. Before Martha’s third child had been born Mary was drowning in this addiction. Horrible, frightening hallucinations had begun to scare Mary. At that time Mary remembered the visit of Bill and Martha to Toronto and a tiny apartment Mary had moved into. It was a nice little bachelor Mary had escaped to after three years of marriage to Peter. At that time Mary could not deal any longer with the pain of that relationship and egged on by the false courage the pain medicine gave her Mary had moved out. It lasted for all of 5 months.
It was during that time away Mary recalled Martha, Bill, and their two tiny children’s visit up to see her. She could still see them all standing in a circle holding hands. Mary held them all so tightly out of fear and desperation as her sister, Martha and husband, Bill prayed for her. Mary was the center of the prayer. In her distress Mary had divulged to her sister what she was struggling with. At the time, both Martha and Bill were young Christians on fire with the Lord. Bill was a bit of an evangelist powerfully witnessing when and where he could. He was in his element at this moment and loved the fact he could pray for his sister-in-law Mary. Martha, always the lady, as her name implied, was a gentle spirit who could read the depths of a person’s pain.
It was a gift that Mary wasn’t sure Martha knew she had. It grew out of Martha’s own painful past. Martha’s gift of compassion and sensitivity to the emotional pain of her sister was the tool God used to allow Mary to open up to her sister.
The prayer that ended that visit so long ago back in 1978 was the other implement God used to help Mary. Because Mary lived in Toronto and her sister lived in Buffalo Mary had no one to turn to except her ex at that time. It might seem as a mistake to the reader that Mary went back to the person that agitated her emotional state and egged Mary into taking drugs but at the time Mary saw no other avenue out.
At that time her ex husband, although not too eager to allow her into his heart again, did allow her back home. Out of his even bigger heart Peter took control and sought the avenues of medical help Mary needed.
As Mary sat reflecting back on all this she realized how good God had been to her back then. She recognized Peter’s gift as a caretaker came out during this period to get Mary the help she needed. But most of all she remembered with great warmth her sister’s love for her that was demonstrated that day. Mary was sure her sister’s prayers did not end there but that she and her family probably prayed for her long after their visit ended.
So the invitation to the hotel and to the pool that night, years later in 1988, was a delight for Mary. Her sister’s love and non- judgemental air bathed Mary with warmth that came only from heaven above. Nurtured by this love and that of her three children Mary was more than excited to spend time laughing and playing with her sibling and children.
The swim was over much too soon and Mary hugged her sister and family longingly. Having no children over her own Mary felt the tug of her heart to spend more time with them. It was not to be and so Mary and Peter departed the hotel a little sad but happy for the time spent with family.

However, the joy of the evening was soon displaced by what met them at home. Peter had pulled into the driveway that night and both he and Mary got out of the car unaware of any problem. Peter unlocked the front door and both he and Mary stood there looking at the scene at hand. They had French doors that separated their kitchen area form the dining area and both doors were off their hinges leaning against the wall!
No words passed between them as they walked through the hallway joining this area to their back bedrooms. It was here the worst mess met them. Clothes were thrown all over as every dresser drawer had been emptied on the floor and bed. Peter looked at Mary and said,” see if you can find your purse”. But Mary knew there would be no purse. In fact, if it weren’t for that purse filled with money it might have been might much worse for them. The intruders had found the purse, no doubt, sitting visibly on the nightstand and went no further then the bedroom. Although all the doors had been damaged in the attempts to break in and there was some jewellery missing there were no other losses.
The robbers had made a quick in and out as Mary and Peter had only been gone three hours! Entry had been achieved through the old milk box at the side of the house. The sliding glass doors of the living room and one the side door had been tampered with and damaged but other than that nothing was harmed. The French doors had been taken of their hinge for some unearthly reason that neither Mary nor Peter could figure out.
Mary had phoned Martha, at the hotel, almost immediately after the phone call to the police. Martha and Bill had been very sympathetic; the insurance people even more so. They were old friends of Mary’s ex-husband and had always been there for them. This time was no different. Although they could do nothing to compensate for the lost money they were more than generous for reimbursement of the jewellery and the damaged entry ways.
Mary remembered the day Peter came home with the check from the insurance people. She couldn’t believe it: all in all they gave Mary and Peter a check for over $6,000! The adjuster had left it up to Mary and Peter to fix the damage done in the robbery. Most of the work was minimal and not that costly to repair. Some things were never repaired. The jewellery items that had disappeared were accessories neither of them even wore anymore. The funny thing was that Mary had left her gold wedding rings at home that night on the dresser. However, the thieves seemed to have missed them sitting there plainly on the dresser! Mary thought perhaps the robbers assumed her rings were only silver because they were made of white gold.
In the end, what looked like a tragedy was used for good. “Why?” you might ask. Mary saw it all as the hand of God working on her behalf. You see, reader, Mary had no money to speak of to purchase that car she wanted. This robbery supplied some money to help in the transaction. It was the financial aid and impetus to encourage Mary in her battle to achieve her dream. More importantly, it was the initial experience that built Mary’s faith up regarding God’s word that “all things work together for good for those who trust God”.