BLESSINGS ARE SIGNPOSTS TO YOUR DESTINY AND SOMETIMES COME WRAPPED IN A CHRISTMAS RIBBON

Sometimes you hear the expression that "God is preparing a blessing" for you but perhaps more likely, the blessing is there, already prepared, waiting. What God is preparing is you for the blessing.

Blessings are signposts on the way to your destiny.

There are signs and there are signs.

A remarkable story came to us a few years back from Virginia Giovanello of Brockton, Massachusetts, who was devastated by the death of an aunt named Lola.

"My Aunt Lola lived downstairs and was very special to me -- I resemble her and sometimes people thought she was my mother," Virginia told us. "She was my godmother and like a second mother to me. Aunt Lola died five minutes after midnight, on Christmas day, in 1997, after the Pope's Mass, with the choir singing Silent Night on every TV throughout the rehab hospital.

“Every Christmas, I dress up like Mrs. Claus at my school on the last day before Christmas vacation. Needless to say, come 1998, I didn't feel like dressing up for the kids because Christmas was not a happy season for me. But the night before the last day of school, I had a dream, and I saw Auntie Lola sitting in the living room, with her sister, Lena, standing in the background. Lola had a Christmas green sweater with a red something on it. She was waving happily to me with lots of energy. When I woke up that morning, I was still not going to dress up as Mrs. Claus. When I got out of the shower, I reluctantly thought about dressing up, not wanting to disappoint the students, but I couldn't anyway because I didn't have a red bow to wear on the collar. Somehow it was missing from the outfit.

“For some reason, I went downstairs to Aunt Lola’s bedroom and sat on the bed and sobbed my heart out, just wanting to be with her. Seeing her in the dream was wonderful, but I wasn't as happy about it as she appeared to be.

“Then I got up from the bed and turned around because I saw something red in the mirror. Behind me, on the bed, was the perfect red bow. I was filled with a feeling I can't describe! Whenever I needed an outfit, Auntie Lola always had an accessory or the right blouse, and she still was primping me!

“I donned my outfit, and had more Christmas spirit than I ever had! I thought I would get into trouble at school, because the students tend to wander about the school on that day, filled with excitement, and I had so many kids in my room, it was bursting, and the love that was permeating the air was overwhelming! After school, I spread that love and cheer all over town! I will never forget that day... and I am assured that God hears every thought and sees every tear. He certainly sent the troops out that day to get me out of doldrums and I fell right into His loving Hands! I guess somebody knew that I wasn't going to be Mrs. Claus that year and made sure that it was going to happen!"

[resources: adapted from The God of Miracles; also: Michael Brown retreats: Florida, January 27; Announcing a retreat in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Houston]

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