Do Butterflies Wink? (Part 3)

*Follow these links to read Part 1 and Part 2 of the story 

Here is what happened after I got married...

After our honeymoon, I received a special gift from my father and Joyce which Joyce cross-stitched.  It looked like a painting. It was an “Angel of Love,” beautifully cross-stitched with a cape that flowed and had a butterfly in the very end tip of her cape!  It did not stop there: my father was quick to point out another butterfly – the little butterfly pin purposely tacked onto the angel’s shoulder.  It was his turn to show his love for me in this special way.

We talked about these events over the years to follow and when my dad got sick with cancer, I sent him a plant with butterflies inserted on little sticks that are put in the dirt so they seemed to float around the plant.  It was my way of comforting him now but for different reasons.  I wanted him to know that I loved him deeply; of course, he always knew that as only a father can know these things deeply hidden in a daughter’s heart. It was my turn to show my love for him in this special way.

My father died several months later and the plant now sits in my kitchen.  The butterflies found their fate in the hands of two little boys, 3 ½ and 5 ½ at the time.  It was OK; I had the memories of what was between us.  His love for me and a glimpse of his tenderness was in our “little secret” of a butterfly pin found in a box at a Christmas gathering years before.

Now, it is God’s turn to show me His love for me in His special way and His care for my sorrow in my dad’s death. The story now shifts from my father’s love to my heavenly Father’s love!  God continued to “wink” at me but now in my sorrow of my dad’s passing through a REAL butterfly this time.

to be continued... 

by Joni Ormsbee

Do Butterflies Wink? (Part 2)

This is the 2nd part of how God comforted me in my journey of finding love in a mate through the story of a butterfly. To read the 1st part of the story, go to the post on April 1, 2013

RECAP: After a painful breakup, my father had comforted me with this poem: “Love is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” Then, my father had given me a silver butterfly pin with rhinestones as a very personal Christmas gift. I cherished that gift and his words in my heart for another 2 years.

So here is what happened NEXT…

In July of 1997, I met David Ormsbee. We started dating in September 1997 and were married in July 1998. The story of our meeting and courtship is a wonderful story of my heavenly Father’s sovereign hand.

You see for the prior year, maybe year and a half, I had not dated anyone and turned “my attention to other things.” Little did I know that one year and three days from meeting David, I would become his wife! 

Love came and sat softly on my shoulder.

Another “God wink” occurred in our courtship showing the caring hand of our sovereign God:

The weekend before the engagement announcement was to take place in a Chapel service at David’s work for a private Christian University, I was having second thoughts. I had been engaged twice before, my parents were divorced, and I had on the ring of a man above and beyond what I ever had asked or imagined in a Christian man. Yes ladies, the man of my dreams (not perfect), but all I could have ever hoped. I did not doubt him but myself in my ability to be a wife that would please the Lord. In the upstairs of my home with a friend waiting downstairs, I surrendered the morning of the chapel service to the Lord. I stood and thought: I can’t do this. But I heard the Holy Spirit in me say, “You are right. You cannot, but I can in you.” I asked the Lord for a scripture and he gave me:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (NASB)

I felt His Spirit fill my heart unlike ever before. God winked, big time!!

I got ready and my friend took me to the Chapel service. They announced our engagement to seven trumpets playing; it was amazing! The president of the University closed the service with; well, you will never believe it, but yes, Philippians 4:13 - yet another “wink!” The earlier moment was enough for me, but God did this “extra” because he can! We engraved our wedding bands with this verse.

WEDDING. When my father walked me down the aisle, I pinned a small butterfly pin on his lapel just below his boutonniere. He told me later it was not fair for me to do that right before we walked down the aisle because he almost cried! I was so touched by yet another glimpse of my father’s private, well-guarded, yet tender heart.

to be continued...

by Joni Ormsbee

Do Butterflies Wink?

"Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” ~ Thoreau

I never thought that this saying would set in motion a series of events that over the years would show me the God of all comfort “winking” in my life to assure me of His love and care for me! 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. II Corinthians 1:3-4 

God comforted me in my journey of finding love in a mate through the story of a butterfly.

The Lord began his first “wink” in a Christmas gift given years ago! There the story begins…

When I was in my mid-twenties, I was dating a young man that I thought would be my husband, but that day would never come. Parting ways with me, he gave me little understanding as to why, other than saying,“ I don’t think it is what God wants.”

Well, as a woman who loves God and has an intimate relationship with Him, how could I argue with that reply. However, I could argue with God, and I did for months: What could I have done different? God, what is wrong with me? Why? Why? Why?...

The answer to my Why? would not come for another 2 years. But, I am jumping ahead of myself.

The young man and I parted ways sometime in November or early December. I remember because he was going Christmas shopping the day things started to unravel and the “writing was on the wall.” I remember where I stood and was so glad to be at a friend’s house. I unraveled as well. I just could not understand. But, he said… He did… I could go on, but the specifics are not important. What is important is that I was in sorrow and starting the stages of grief.

O, my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me. Jeremiah 8:18

I had spoken with my father about the situation off and on over the last month or so. He listened and at one point said this poem to me, “Love is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.”

You have to know that my father did not normally share on an emotional level, so this was a first, especially for us. I was very touched that he was hurting because I was hurting. Our conversations meant a lot to me. No matter how often I repeated myself or how many times I might have asked Why?, he listened.

At Christmas, my family celebrated with my father and his wife, Joyce, at my brother’s home like we had for several years now. This celebration would start a life long journey and a special bond for my father and me. The first “God wink” of this journey in my life.

When it came time to open presents, my father slipped me a small package and motioned from across the room for me to open it. The room was busy with everyone opening their own gifts and paying little attention to the story unfolding between us. It felt like we were the only two in the room as he waited expectantly. I opened the box, and inside was a silver butterfly pin with rhinestones in it. I was absolutely beautiful! I still have it today. Of course, I instantly knew why he gave it to me. It was the assurance that someday, I would find love in a soul mate; like a butterfly coming to sit softly on my shoulder!

I found out later that my father shopped personally for the butterfly. My father did not shop for our gifts in the past, so this gift was especially significant to me!! He was truly emotionally invested in our “little secret.” I cherished that butterfly and the reason behind that gift in my heart for another 2 years.

To be continued...

by Joni Ormsbee