The Mattress Man

Some things need to be thrown into the dumpster much like the sign that once hung over my bed...

I have no slept well since I left the state that houses the man that I will no longer allow to haunt my mind. I began "cleaning house" both literally and spiritually. I found myself throwing out everything that held a negative thought, a bad memory or a demon from the past. The chains that were placed on me were no longer welcome nor would they be tolerated.

The first place I started was photos, letters, than I came to a screaching halt at my mattress. The mattress that was the enemies battleground for my weaknesses. The place where my mind tried to find comfort, where my body fought during pain, and where my tears of being "taken" saturated the cotton cover. I look back at the endless times that mattress was rolled down streets, driveways, pushed upstairs, wherever I had to escape to it came with me. Perhaps it was time it stopped following me. It was piled ontip on my car along with the expensive wood that encased it. It all had to go.

I found myself sleeping on my couch that had many dips and spots where you could feel the wood pressing through. I tried the beanbag chair. I began praying for a mattress. Where my body could rest, my soul could rest and my mind and heart could begin to repair.

With a little help from my hero I walked into a store with little money compared to the cost of the average mattress. But I believed God would make a way. After my son bounced from bed to bed and my mind bounced from price tag to price tag I was left feeling a little hopeless. I wasnt looking to buy new cloths (that I need) or new shoes (that I need) or some decorative items for my home (that I want) I was looking for a neccesity and frustrated I didnt have the means to meet my basic needs.

The salesmen. Somehow I ended up smiling and laughing right before tears broke through. Gods joy comes JUST when we need it. I had to look at the endless trials I have face BUT look more so at the endless trials I have overcome. As the man sat working numbers on his computer I began to wonder, what does this man need? What is a neccesity that he needs, that he does not have the means to get?

Of course we got talking and my life story began to spill out. Bits and pieces and somehow as my story of pain poured out, joy from within him began to emerge. His mind got lighter, his heart saw a new perspective, he smiled and shook his head while he listened to me. Than he got to the price I needed to have a place to sleep. He blessed more than me, he blessed a daughter of God and in return I believe the Lord will bless him.

You see, a good price isnt what I truly needed. I needed to inspire him. I needed to show him that you do not need a GOOD circumstance to have JOY, you just need God, in any circumstance.

I went to church last night and proceeded to add to my debt my giving away the last bills my purse held. Maybe the church didnt need the MONEY maybe they just needed to see that GIVING was not dead.

We never know who we will meet that will influence, inspire us, encourage us, or change our lives. We never know who will bless us and while this man blessed me, I felt blessed in knowing he had smiled for the first time, in a very long time. Who says you cannot smile over suffering? The joy of the Lord is not limited. The Lord is not limited. His works are not limited. His blessings are not limited and I praise God that some people, like this salesmen, still had a heart and eyes to see the Lord, in me.

I continue to pray for him by name that he begins a journey to find out who God is and who God desires him to be, what God has in store for him, what God can offer him, and I mostly pray that this man feels joy and smiles everyday because he deserves it. God bless you Mattress Man.