She Connects: Mailboxes

by Kiersten Homalon | Nov 8, 2015 | Faith + Expressions

Running has always been a way for me to have clarity of mind, and often peace of spirit. Even before becoming a mother, I would through on my jacket and running pants and head out to desolate Colorado hiking trails and run until I literally could not run anymore. This is my weapon for times when I feel like those voices in my head are getting the best of me. It is my way to triumph over them with sweat dripping down my back and my heart thumping so loud it drowns out the chatter of my mind. Becoming a mother has made my running a little more, how should I say this, strategic. My daughter is as strong willed as they come, and I know, because I pray passionately for it, that it will make her a mighty warrior of a woman one day. But for now, it makes trying to get her into a running stroller a little difficult at times, ok lets be honest, every time! But those sweet times of victory when I manage to get her buckled in, we whisk off to bask in the sweet Hawaiian Sun, there is nothing better!

The same running bliss happened just a few weeks back. I always take a path that sandwiches this large hill in my run. I love running this hill because at the top I can see this mailbox that sticks out, visible from the very bottom of the incline. I set my eye on it and I jam! I run with all I have, and push that stroller full of toddler up that hill. My daughter loves this part of the run a little more than I do! But as soon as I hit the incline I feel that burn, and with the burn I start my prayer, or how I like to refer to it (maybe a little dramatically) my “Warrior Call”. Its almost natural for me to reach out to God in that moment (Partially to not have a heart attack) but also because this hill is so symbolic of life, of walking with Christ, and setting our eyes steadfast on Him above all else. I merge this outward expression with my prayer to run towards God with all I am. This is my fight, my battle, and this run was a moment that turned out to mean much more than I ever thought it might.

Previous to this run, life had unraveled. My husband and I had decided to get out of the Army, and return to his home here on the Island of Oahu. I have always loved Hawaii after living on the Big Island, and occasionally traveling to Oahu so I had no qualms about this decision. On top of that, my parents were planning on retiring in Hawaii, the same time we were getting out of the Army! It set up perfectly! We all decided to buy a home together and renovate it to be the perfect blend of families, something that is very common in Hawaii. However, I knew the moment we arrived in Hawaii, that a storm was coming. I even had my best friend warn me that she too felt that we were going into “The trenches”. I felt such joy at finally moving home to the place we longed for, for so long while in the Military. Now that it was here, however, my spirit sensed what was coming. That very night after getting to Hawaii my daughter woke in the middle of the night and was struck with a sickness more intense than she had ever experienced before, considering that up to that point she had only had minor teething sniffles and low grade fevers. She had it all, literally for two months, my vibrant little girl was a fussy, miserable, exhausted little being, and I, with her was, emotionally drained. This I knew was hard but was not the storm. My spirit sensed that the storm was soon. Then shortly after my sweet girl recovered, and was her goofy two year old self again, it happened. The blow of the tip of the storm, it was upon us. My parents had decided to divorce. This was a decision that I NEVER thought would happen, and honestly stirs up a battle with in myself that stems from my high school and early college years! (That is a story for another time) We had to put the house we planned to spend our lives in on the market and I had to again say good by to both my parents as they split ways and left for the Main land. My husband was still looking for work, and my business was still in the foundational period. So here we were, beyond broke, in an empty house that we had to pry our heart strings off of, and our only hope was to cling to God to salvage the life we still hoped to establish here in Hawaii.

So in that moment of running, I felt like I was gripping to life. I was running off the anger, and deep sadness I felt. At last I reached the mailbox, however, this time I noticed the address marked on the mailbox. 40. In my head I heard “40 days”. I thought it was myself thinking that, but for the remainder of my run “40 days” repeated in my head, so just to see, I marked it on my calendar. And I forgot about it and carried on with life! Since then my husband was blessed with an awesome job and we couldn’t be more thankful! However, the attempt to financially recover from all that had happened and multiple offers on our home falling through started weighing on us. We knew we needed out of this house, but financially we couldn’t leave a home that we still owned with my parents. On top of that we were too broke to put down a deposit for any rentals we saw. Many know that Hawaii is really competitive for rentals, and though we didn’t intend to rent long, we just needed to get our footing, before faithfully attempting to be home owners again.

This led us to Monday the 16th of November. My daughter and I usually walk everywhere (We are a one car family) and excitedly she pointed at all of the Christmas decorations going up all around! We LOVE Christmas! We talked about how exciting Jesus’ Birthday is and all it meant! She gets over joyed every time we talk about it! Then we started making our way home, praying out loud together that God would bless us with a home we could live in before Christmas so we can decorate and enjoy the first Christmas that my daughter is old enough to really participate in! We rounded our last turn up our hill and our sweet neighbor next door drives up to us and tells us that they will be letting us rent the back house for well below our budget, if we wanted it. I couldn’t believe it! All our searching, and God gave us the house next door, in the neighbor hood we loved! Our neighbors, asked the owners to bless us and claimed us as their own family, and that decided it for the owner to choose us to rent it! I couldn’t find words to thank her kindness enough. Irie and I sung praises to God as we walked the rest of the way to the house! Later that afternoon, before I put my daughter down for her afternoon nap, my sweet friend popped in, committed her life to Christ in our living room and left our house with a bright hope of a future ahead of her. As a mother her had recently lost her 2 month old child, had a history of homosexulaity, and the recent high risk birth of her daughter, who is now as healthy as can be! She was ready to heal, and to be made new. I couldn’t believe it. What a wonderful day! As I put my daughter down for her nap, I started heading to my office to squeeze in work as my daughter slept, and then I got a phone call. There was an offer on our house, by passing all of the inspections and going right into the ending processes of escrow. Wow! I couldn’t believe all that had just happened…. in one day. Later that night a friend invited us to go bowling next week, so I pulled up my calendar on my phone and in big letters and that very day, Novemebr 16th, marked 40 days. I was over come with uncontrollable laughter and my husband couldn’t believe that it was 40 days, as he remembered my run that day and, like me, forgot about the time! As that night finished, feeling abundantly blessed, still with struggles on the Horizon, but the intimacy we felt in our lives with the Holy Spirit, with God, we knew we had all we ever would need.

I often fear that God doesn’t talk to me, or than maybe I am not listening, but a dear friend reminded me that that is nothing but a lie from the enemy. God talks to us all in different ways, even through mailboxes. Lets stop doubting that God is an intimate God, and embrace the profoundness of His relationship with each one of us.

Ephesians 1:16-22 “I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom[a] and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.”

Have Grit Mighty Ones,

Kiersten Homalon