Category: God’s Mysterious Ways

Thank you for joining in to another entry of my series, God’s Mysterious Ways, where I write about things that may be more than just coincidences, where God may very well indeed have a hand behind it, which for today is about a very old Christmas cactus that has been in my partner’s life for well over 60 years.

I’ve always been fond of Christmas cactuses. My mother had a massive one in our living room that I can remember was always there as far back as I can remember and bloomed every holiday season with these extremely beautiful pinkish-red flowers. When I met my partner Chris and visited him for the first time in early 2012, one of the first things I noticed in his home was one quite similar to my mother’s. He told me it was very old when I asked him about it. Botanists say that Christmas cactuses can live as long as 100 years, and my partner estimated his was well over 60 years old given it had been passed down from his mother to him.

When the first Christmas with my partner came later that year, I waited excitedly to see what his cactus would look like in bloom. But that moment never came, as it didn’t produce a single flower that year, nor the next, or the one after that, until eventually nine holiday seasons would come and go without a single bloom. We did everything one is supposed to do to help make a Christmas cactus healthy. From leaving it in rather dark rooms, to feeding it special cactus food, to me even talking to it regularly and asking it to bloom, we tried everything. Each holiday season the other Christmas cactuses around it would bloom, but never this one. Chris and I began to assume that maybe it was just too old to. In fact, he couldn’t even remember the last time he saw any blooms emerge on it.

But then 2021 came. A year that had far too many challenges I’d honestly like to forget about. My health issues alone and all my stress surrounding the pain that came from it was a major part of those challenges. One afternoon during a particularly difficult day of ailments, I found myself looking at that old Christmas cactus when suddenly I found myself praying for God to give it a single bloom this year, just to let me know I’m going to be ok with my health and that I’m still on the right path. I honestly forgot about that prayer, that is until I came home one day just after Christmas and went to close the blinds where our three Christmas cactuses sit on pedestals. As I closed the shades, I noticed something very odd. As I took a closer look, I couldn’t believe it, there wasn’t just one bloom on that ancient Christmas cactus, there were many!

I truly do think that whomever God is, He really does have a sense of humor. While many of my prayers often seem to go unanswered, the ones that do get answered are ones that tend to come in ways that really blow my mind. Why this 6+ decade-old Christmas cactus bloomed this year after having not bloomed in well over ten years or more wasn’t because of any of our doing, other than saying a prayer and leaving the rest in God’s hands. Hands that led to a beautiful reminder of God still being there in my life and hands that most assuredly made for another special entry in my series, God’s Mysterious Ways…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Thank you for joining in for another entry of my series, God’s Mysterious Ways, where I write about things that may be more than just coincidences, where God may very well indeed have a hand behind it, which for today is about a random post-it note that was stuck to the floor at a Starbucks I went to recently.

In the last month or so at all the Starbucks I’ve been to, there has been a board of sorts near the front of each store with colorful pens and sticky notes below it to write out something one appreciates in life, is grateful about, or a gesture of general kindness for others. I’ve occasionally glanced at each of these boards, but never have I added any post-it note of my own. That’s only because each of them are usually so inundated with tons of messages already on them with sticky-note upon sticky-note, that the notes themselves become invisible to me, leaving me uninterested in the feel-good campaign. For the most part though, on those occasional glances to those boards, I’ve noticed a few generic messages like “Blessed” or “Have a beautiful life” or “I love my partner” and things of that sort, none of which have ever left me feeling moved at all. That was until a few weeks ago when I entered one of the local Starbucks in Toledo.

I was approaching the register feeling extremely blue, questioning like I do on most days lately whether God is ever going to deliver me from my chronic pain, when I glanced down on the ground for whatever the reason and saw one of those sticky-notes affixed to the floor all by itself. I found it odd and due to my OCD, I also found it annoying that it was there on the clean floor. So, I picked it up and was going to place it back on the board somewhere. But, when I picked it up, I noticed its message, one that has most definitely has stuck with me ever since. It said, “God Never Fails.”

Of course, my initial thoughts went to questions like why that post-it note was there in the first place and how long had it been there. After two days of thinking about this way too much, I brought it up to my therapist and as I spoke about it, I finally got into my heart and teared up. Because at my essence, I do believe God indeed never fails, and isn’t going to fail me with the long-endured healing process I undertook so long ago now.

While this may not have been the burning bush my ego often wishes for, it was a message that hit my heart in all its simplicity and something I felt warranted another entry in God’s Mysterious Ways.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

It’s been a while since I really felt I had anything of value to write about regarding “God’s Mysterious Ways”, a category I began a few years ago where its intended purpose was to share about things happening in my life that seem beyond explanation and often feel like signs or messages from Source. Thankfully, I finally have one to share again.

Before I get into what it is, it’s important to note that if you follow my blog at all, then you already know I struggle immensely with chronic pain and have been for years. What you may not know though is that I’ve been frequently praying lately, or more like begging, for a sign or message from God surrounding it, as it’s gotten to the point now where I feel like giving up any hope it’s ever going to get better. Nevertheless, I’ve remained open to God answering my plea for guidance, something I used to get regularly from Source a few years ago to be honest. I’d frequently get signs like extremely vivid dreams that kept my hope alive, ones that I’d awake feeling so loved and connected to God. Signs like strange encounters with creatures in nature like a foot long praying mantis sitting on my door handle one day that wouldn’t move until I looked up the native American symbolism of it. Or even signs from total strangers who randomly approach me like one person did in a detox I spoke at years ago who told me they saw a huge angel standing behind me and that all was going to be ok. But, as I said it’s been a long time since I’ve had anything like that happen, where I felt God had a personal hand in it, where I couldn’t explain it away with science or rationality. That is until just last week when I received something in the mail that I feel was absolutely from Source.

On an overwhelmingly pain-filled afternoon, I arrived home to find my only piece of mail was an envelope from Guideposts, a publication I’ve subscribed to for several years now. I thought it was my bill, but upon opening it, I saw it was some random gift they sent me, something they do occasionally, but usually nothing I hold onto, as typically, it’s just a snippet from a new publication they’re hoping I’ll subscribe to. In this case though, it wasn’t. It was actually a tiny devotional of sorts they sent me purely as a gift with nothing to subscribe to. Its title was “Hope for a New Day”, something I really connected with. When I quickly flipped it open, it landed on the very middle of the book where the staples came through. On that page was the title “Small Steps.” I’m not sure why I opted to read it, because frankly, I get plenty of devotional type stuff in the mail all the time and usually just throw them away, given I already read six devotionals every morning. Regardless, I read it and am convinced after doing so, that God loves to answer us in unique ways, we just have to remain open to however it may come. The following is that reading and something I feel speaks for itself. And oh, in case you’re wondering, if any of the other brief devotions in this small booklet had been what it opened up to, none of them would have felt like any sort of message whatsoever for what I’m going through.

Here’s the “Small Steps” entry from that booklet, as it’s printed:

“HUMAN BEINGS can be very impatient. We want things right away. We believe our time is our own, and, when we have to wait, we become frustrated. God, however, is patient. His timetable often seems uncomfortably slow, rest assured that God’s timing is not only perfect, it is just what we need.

It is important to remember this when recovering from a crisis. Often we pray for solutions, for strength, for calm, for change – only to find our troubles persisting past what we thought was our breaking point. The temptation is great to conclude, God has forgotten about me.

That is the wrong conclusion. God has not forgotten about you. Rest assured, He is working mightily on your behalf. However, He is working toward the right solution, not necessarily the solution you want right now.

This can be hard to accept. But you must remember that God sees your whole life, not just this difficult moment. He does not simply want to put things back the way they were. He wants to make a new and better life for you from the ashes of the old.

So stick to your plans. Go through them step by step. And if you’re feeling discouraged, remind yourself of God’s great truth: hard experiences will pass away. Not on our timetable. On God’s timetable. The best timetable.”

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson