snail shells

background:

Monday, July 03, 2006
Present on my Doorstep

so, i'm posting again, because Someone (ie God) left a present in front of my front steps!

i went out to the car to get my N, and when i came back to the house, i saw a beautiful, pink, small, abandoned coil shell... from a snail! it's so little and delicate, it was like finding a little gem or something precious in the middle of nowhere. mom said she saw the snail in my flower box last night, and between then and this morning it either abandoned my shell (+) or got eaten by a bird (-), but either way, that's nature, how the world works.... and amazingly it was left, intact except for one tiny chip, on my doorstep.

what an amazing little send-off from God~!!!! it's like a hug, like He's telling me that i, us going on this trip, and this trip itself, is a beautiful precious thing in His sight. ooooh... *faint with love*

lol, i thought *i* saw it in the flowerbox the night before, but either way, this hit me like a ton of love-bricks and has stuck with me for the last 3 years.

anyhoo.... snail shells are iconic to me, of God's promise, His love, His going-with as i step out into adventure in obedience to Him, and the beautiful gifts He has for me in this life. a precious representation of something so deep and meaningful to me.... only God knows, really. :)

anyhoo.... after coming to some realizations in the last 2-3 weeks, about trusting God with regards to a certain relationship with a friend, that God did indeed bring him into my life as a friend (and who knows beyond but God?), but to trust that God brought this about... and to step out and trust Him in it, to listen to what He's been telling me, and not fear.....

anyhoo.... about three days ago, we were going for a walk, on our way to pams house to have tea, and walking along one section of sidewalk (after a rain) we came across... 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...more! snails! on the sidewalk!!!!! they were huge and beautiful and all sorts of colors and decorations on their shells.... one stuck out in such a way that i said, 'look, this one has 'racing stripes'!'... lol. it brought to mind the last time i struck out on an adventure in trust of God (the trip to ontario) and smiled. wow. thought, oh well, no shell this time (they were all occupied lol)... but beautiful and reminiscent and encouraging nonetheless.

then yesterday i was walking with pam to her house, and we passed the same stretch of road... there were two snails sitting there together, it looked like they were cuddling *aw*.... and then... and empty shell! in the grass!!! and it had racing stripes~!!!!!! pam made sure it was empty for me, and then i carried it in my hand the rest of the way..... beautiful. ...yellow with a black racing stripe, lol!!!!!


and it's like wow... only God could do this.... twice in my life have i found a shell, both times after making a radical decision to trust God and go with what i felt He was telling me.... only He could do that.

wow.

and then today, kimmers tagged me in facebook as a boat called 'shell seeker', hahaha......