As many of you know back at the end of January I met a fellow artist at the local University’s coffee shop who was working on her Master’s degree in photography and painting. Annea had been abused by cousins and uncles starting at 11, and from 13-17 had been a prostitute in Stuttgart until she started pulling herself together and went to college, married the first year, and after two years divorced and turned to the Gothic lesbian lifestyle and came to the states to work on her Master’s degree here at Ohio U. Well, somehow, we ended up that weekend at my cabin in the woods and she never left except for classes; we spent a bit over three months together. Those of you that know the story (Kaya for one followed it closely), know that she got back into the habit of reading blogs here on AAG, my various Bibles and Christian reference books and I began taking her to various local churches (she had a Lutheran upbringing), and she found her way back to God early April. By May she also reconciled herself with her family and then by June her ex-husband Brandt. After her graduation in June she went back to Germany to continue her Doctorate studies and remarried her ex-husband Brandt, and they are now expecting their first child in 7 months.
Annea is the sixth time this sort of thing has happened, I’d really hope it to be my last; Lol, it’s not exactly the way I’d like to be a tool for God’s to use.
For me, well I went back to being the monk/hermit I often have been in my life; and spent June, July, August and September working dawn to dusk on my woods: building a stream, pond, orchard, cutting out dead trees and replanting. September I got back into tutoring inner city kids, mentoring homeless; doing art (mostly compiling things from The Bible in various languages for projects for the next few years). More and more I'm gravitating to the homeless problem, it's really bad out there; seriously thinking of shifting a lot more of my art time to serving the homeless (wish I could say minister to them, but I'm far better at the doing of providing information on resources, being a shoulder to cry on and vent, and help in various soup kitchens and such).
My apologies for having dropped out of sight here on AAG and FB.
God does indeed work in mysterious ways! Well, bad examples are often as useful as good ones, an oh, this as a bad one for those looking for a lifetime partner.
A very warm wish to you all for this season of joy!
*Rick*
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Thank you for sharing... I was led to the article as I read the title...it reminded me of the song Love Moves in Mysterious Ways. Not sure why I was drawn to reading it. YOu sounded with humor as you relate your story. .. perhaps it is just the right way to be in viewing what happened. God bless you... surely, you will hit the jackpot God intended for you. She is out there somewhere!
Woah, I had forgotten I had posted this when I came back to AAG in December. Once again I have found contentment in being unattached; lots of plans for spring working on woods improvements so have kept busy.
Two updates a year and a half later: First, Annea and Brandt had a son in July 2012 and named him Rikart, Brandt and I have become regular email friends since he is an art historian specializing in the Halstatt period of Celtic art. Annea is a bit sad that I'm planning on selling the woods and cabin in order to work a lot more with the homeless out in the wilderness along the Ohio and Mississippi River and tributaries. Secondly: just after Christmas 2011 after I had written this, Marsha sent me an email and said "hi". Marsha was the first, and the great love of my life from high school senior year to college; I will go to the grave believing she was The One. We have been writing back and forth for a year and a half now. She still lives in our hometown about 70 miles away - for the past 20 years she has been taking care of her bedridden, invalid husband of 38 years (she married a much older man after the misunderstanding between us). She still has the cheap diamond first love ring in the plastic box I gave her on Valentine's Day 1971, along with the rocks, crystals and fossils I sent here when I was in college. Forty years since we had last had any contact, when I stopped by as a young Marine about to leave for Vietnam. We have had many intense talks via internet along with weekly emails of trivia. A lot of healing has happened, for one I'm not as angry with God as I have been for 4 decades. She has wanted to meet for coffee or drinks for a year, still not sure about that, far, far too dangerous for both of us, and, well, she is far too much a sacred memory to risk reality messing up our new friendship. Maybe just before I leave on my final life's adventure.
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