Portand - Blogabond

after our middle of street until the middle of the nite adventure in olympia, we headed south to portland. along the way we had to stop to find and filter a new supply of veggie oil. we pulled off the freeway at the next town to begin our hunt.

while keith was out filling his barrels at an asian resturant, i passed the time looking for a little thank you gift for our friends who we woud be visiting that nite. i know it may sound silly, but when i am gift shopping, i pray. "what would this person really like?" i ask. then, i wait for something to jump out at me. this time the said item was pasta. i struggled with it. what a weird gift. pasta? it did happen to be really beautiful orange and green linguini...but still. i stood in front of it contemplating for i dont know how long... walked away, came back, tossed it into my basket. still undecided if i would actually give it, i also grabbed a bottle of wine for a back up.

when we arrived at the Jackys' in portland that night, we were greeted warmly by chris. i knew his wife from the natural birth community in idaho. althoughthis would be the first time we had been able to hang out with chris, he treated us like family. if you ever receive an invitation from the jackys you would be remiss to not take them up on it. he made sure keith,the kids and i had evertything imaginable we might need. then he informed us that dinner was almost ready, but he had to run to the store for a few things first.

i handed him our thank you gift (yes, the not so weird one.) he thanked me for the bottle of wine and laughed that it was one less thing he would have to go to the store for...but he still needed pasta. now i laughed and went out to the bus to retreive the gift i almost didnt give. these little coincidences make me wonder how often i miss holy spirit promptings by reasoning them away.

in the morning, kim treated us to a pancake breakfast followed by (one of our favorite past times) storytime at the library. our kids had fun playing with their girls, ella and mackenzie. abe (whom i often describe as "all boy") didnt seem to mind dressing up like pretty princesses with the girls. just like clockwork we were loaded up and ready to hit the road right at naptime. it as a warm day but the "free air conditioning" through the open windows would keep the kids comfortable enough to sleep while we traveled. i was feeling quite pleased with our organizational skills. several miles down the road later,i went to make a phone call but could not find the cell. i asked keith if he'd seen it. he thought, and remembered exactly where he'd left it.... at the jackys house.

we pulled over on the side of the road and detatched the van to go retrieve the phone. you may remember from our time in olympia that god had been teaching us that set backs can actually be set ups for good things to happen if we keep our hearts and minds in the right place. i remembered this and made the necessary adjustments and determined not to miss it. moments later i noticed a couple checking out our bus.

i went out to say hi. they commented on the velvet burning heart of jesus banner on our home's "mast." they also knew him. we had a short but sweet visit. the woman asked if she could pray a blessing on our travels. i gladly accepted. as we were exchanging farewells, i asked her if i could pray for her. i couldn't help but notice the neck brace she was wearing. she told me she had just had surgery. it had gone well, but she presently could not swallow without massive pain. she also had pain at the base of her neck.

i began to share with her that god cared about her and her pain, and desires for us all to be well...and that "by his stripes we are healed." (isaiah 53:5) she agreed, clearly not offended by this. a stunned look came over her face. "something is happening." she said. she felt heat in her neck and throat. i thanked god and told her that i believed he was healing her. we prayed and asked god to bring the healing into completion. moments later,she reported that she no longer had any pain in her neck! we jumped up and down and thanked god. she then tried swallowing, and could now do this free of pain! she radiated pure joy. it was wonderful.

as she was walking away, she turned around and shouted," oh yeah! i didn't tell you, but i also had a migrane when i came over and it's gone now too!" at that same moment, just like clockwork, keith pulled up. he was pretty curious about the stranger who was shouting about being healed of a migrane. i could not wait to tell him the rest of the story. as i recalled the events with keith, we were both filled with gratitude for a god who can turned a misplaced cell phone into an encounter with the miraculous. the same god who heals massive pain also cares about headaches...and fancy pasta!

written by

firebynite on December 15, 2010 from Portland, United States

from the travel blog: super vegi-matic bus travels

tagged Healing and Portand

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the god of miracles and fancy pasta

Portland, United States

Heading South?