I Just Wanna Be a Big Kid Now...Part 2

*************************************************************
In honor of the ol' beloved footie pj's and pulling them out of the dresser drawer for the first time this Fall season, I'm reposting this story to celebrate.  While you read this, I'll probably be sipping my hot chocolate and feeling so happy my feet are warm!
                                   *****************************

There have been many, many things that have brought healing to our sad hearts from the storm that we have gone through.  And it is so interesting to see what God will use on a daily basis for that healing.  His Word says that laughter brings healing, and I can attest to that. 

Our household for about 4 years became very serious, very sad, very hurtful, with no fun, no laughter of any kind.  This way of living can make a person sick, and it did for our family.  After about three years, the three of us left behind from a prodigal, were on the mend, good things were happening, and we were moving on, but still not much laughter had taken place.  Then God stepped in in such an unlikely way.

Jena, a facebook friend who I have never met, posted pictures of herself and her little boy in footie pajamas.  They looked like they were having so much fun.  I didn’t think too much of it until not long after viewing those pictures, I was at Target and saw footie pajamas that would fit me.  On a whim, I bought them.

I came home and put them on. I was all alone in my closet, looking at myself through the full length mirror in those silly pajamas with space ships and stars all over them. I busted out laughing.  Here I was a grown woman in her mid 40’s wearing these ridiculous pajamas, although they are very comfortable!  I decided to have some fun and went and found my teen-age son and husband who is always carrying a camera.  I asked him to do a photo shoot.  I told my younger son to look like he was disgusted but I noticed he had a hard time keeping the grin off his face.  I could not, and neither could my husband.  This is the first time I remember the three of us having such a good time together since our first born had left.  It was a good evening!  But it got even better later!

It was late when my husband and I got ready for bed.  Yes, I went to bed with these pajamas on, my husband actually likes them!  I had gotten ready first and climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to my neck as it was December and a very cold night.  My husband came in about 15 minutes later, turned the lights out to where it became totally dark.  He yanked the covers back to climb into bed exposing my new pajamas, and WOW, what a surprise we had.  I did not know when I bought them, that when exposed to the darkness of being under the covers what would happen.  It had activated something.   He pulled those covers back in the pure darkness, and all the stars on my new duds from neck all the way down to my toes, were glowing brightly.  It was such a sight, and caught us both off guard so that we busted out laughing, laughing hysterically, the kind that brings tears down your face. Oh my, that kind of laughing hurts, and yet it felt so good.

 

Our home had been so serious for so long. But all because a girl hundreds of miles away decides in her good humored nature, to wear footie pajamas and post those pictures on facebook, God allowing me to see those pictures, leading me to Target, a place I don’t go to very often, leading me to those silly pajamas, leading me to buy them, something I wouldn’t have normally done, kept me from seeing the truth of those delightful stars at the time, gave my husband, younger son and I a fun evening filled with laughter.  Just what the doctor ordered; no, just what God ordered and filled; SO much better than prescriptions from the pharmacy.

The depression has lifted, life is good, not perfect, but getting better, and I will always be grateful to Jena, to God, for laughter, and soft, warm footie pajamas with space ships and glow in the dark stars.

You just never know who, what or how God will choose to work around and within you, so always keep your chin up, your eyes open, and be ready to go anywhere he leads. . .even if it’s to Target.

“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy and they said. . .The Lord has done great things for them.”

Psalm126:2