It was a gift from my son and daughter-in-law on my 50th birthday. They thought it was a rather fitting gift, especially after the experiences that I'd had from over the preceding three years.

The verse on the cross reads:

The Light of God surrounds me,
The Love of God enfolds me.
The Power of God protects me.
The Presence of God watches over me,
Wherever I am, God is
And all is well.

On the plate in front of the reference 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 is etched. That passage of scripture says:

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

The song it plays is Amazing Grace.

This water globe music box sits on my desk right where I can see it. When I look at it I remember God's amazing grace and how God surrounds me, enfolds me, protects me and watches over me. I remember that truly where I am, God is... and all is well.

A few weeks ago, I noticed something about my beautiful water globe. A bubble had developed.
I searched the internet to try to find out if there was any way I could repair it. Every reputable source indicated that it could be refilled but it was best if this was done by someone skilled in this sort of work. Unfortunately, there are very few craftsmen who have this skill.

I was overjoyed to learn that one such craftsman, an elderly man, lived about 25 miles away from me. The newspaper article I found was more than four years old. Was he still in business? A search turned up nothing. I checked the newspaper article again and discovered a phone number. Was it still working?

I held my breath as I dialed the number. I got his voicemail but yes, he did say that if you were calling about repairs to call back between certain hours. Whew!

I spoke with him a couple of hours later. Yes, he thought he could repair my piece. I made an appointment to deliver it the next morning.

When I delivered my water globe, he gently looked it over and told me that he definitely could repair it. Could I give him a couple of weeks as he had other work to do? Of course I could! I left delighted to know that my water globe would be restored to it's former beauty by an expert.

I got a phone call today. My water globe is finished. I am going to pick it up tomorrow. I'm not quite sure what my son and daughter-in-law paid for it originally for my birthday has the good fortune to usually fall on or right after "Black Friday" which is another word for great shopping sales. I knew they had purchased it on "Black Friday". However, while attempting to get my musical water globe repaired, I'd found it's likeness on a few websites and so I had a pretty good idea of the regular retail value. The repair cost more than the purchase price.

Now normally, that would immediately turn people away from getting something fixed. They would say it is not worth getting fixed and they would simply replace this. I didn't want to do that. Why? Because this was special. It was irreplaceable so I was willing to pay the price.

Man was God's masterpiece. Out of all of creation, man was what God cherished the most. Then Adam and Eve became marred by sin which was then passed onto their descendants.

God didn't want to throw us out. He didn't want to replace us. He wanted to restore us to our original beauty but there was only one way to do so. Restoration could only happen through the application of the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. To God... we were worth the price.



Blessings!

K

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