For a brief time, over twenty years ago, this suitcase became my most prized possession. It has, most recently been in storage, and last week we threw it away.
On June 8, 2002, in the blink of an eye, our world turned upside down. For 12 hours we weren't sure if the suitcase and it's contents, were the only belongings we could claim as ours.
We bought the suitcase while running errands that morning for our upcoming vacation. We, and my brother, planned to take our boys to Yellowstone in two weeks. With three boys between 5 and 11 years old, I wanted a suitcase big enough to hold plenty of clothes but small enough to not take up a lot of room. I never imagined we would be using it within 15 minutes of walking in the door, after running errands.
You see, we had to evacuate because a wildfire spread to within 50' of our front door. I grabbed laundry I washed and folded earlier in the day, some clothes in the washer and dryer, our pet cockatiel and we headed for my parent's house.
We found out the following morning that we still had a home to go home to, by the grace of God.
From the moment I grabbed the suitcase to throw clothes in it, until now, God has used it to work in me. He has grown my faith, teaching me to trust Him even in facing fear of losing my family.
In the last few years, He has given me opportunities to learn more about PTSD, and what it means, and how it affected me. Letting go of the suitcase meant something. What? I'm not really sure, I didn't feel a loss, but it meant something.
Do you have a "suitcase" story? Is there an item God uses to grow you, and remind you how far He has carried you? I would love to hear your story.
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