Our Feathered Friends---God's Gift of Goodness | Shirley Mozena Speaker and Author

I’m going to set the stage for today’s blog. As I’ve posted in my blogs this month, January and February are memorable months for me. They are filled with heart-wrenching joy. They are filled with sorrow and loss. And most of all, they are filled with God’s loving care throughout those horrendous and terrible days. During January, I said good-bye to two husbands and two mother-in-laws.

On January 27, my husband Bill Rudberg had a severe stroke, they believe caused by the Shingles of the Eye and other complications from his Chronic Leukemia. He seemed to recover from the stroke, they did some heroic medical measures which gave me and his family, time to say goodbye. On February 3, 2006, God took Bill home to Heaven.

Time progressed and my grief and loss lessened. When I met and married Blair Graybill, my grief was gone. We had the wonderful experience of loving previous mates, only to find each other. We were madly in love and actually it felt like we were still on a honeymoon when on January 29, 2010, Blair suffered a brain aneurysm. On January 31, 2010, Blair left this earth to enter Heaven.

Also in the month of January, I lost two mother-in laws: first, Mary Mozena Hough, my mother-in-law for scarcely six weeks on January 21, 2014, and my mother-in-law of more than 50 years, Marian Rudberg, on January 24, 2016.

I’m going to share two stories–although there are many more–where God showed His special loving care to me when I was widowed.

Isn’t that an eagle?” I exclaimed, looking up at the sky in front of my house.

“I’ve noticed him circling around your house all day,” remarked
my neighbor as she walked by my home. Linda was the consummate
walker in the neighborhood and spent hours outside. If she noticed
the eagle’s presence, I believed it to be true.

It had been one week since Bill, my husband of forty years, had
died. For his memorial service, we had chosen to read Isaiah 40:31.
“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They
will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”

At his graveside service, I noticed that a tall fir tree next to
Bill’s grave held an eagle’s nest. Now there was an eagle circling
our house—a place where none had been seen before. God was
showing me His care.

I was sitting in my morning room, bundled in a cozy pink
afghan. It was long before daylight but I couldn’t sleep. Blair
had been gone only nineteen days.

As I held the steamy cup of coffee in my hand, reading Scripture, I heard a thumping sound—like a cord blown by the wind, slapping the side of the house. I tried to ignore it, but the sound continued. I checked the front of the house and didn’t see anything. Again, I heard the thumping. I sighed and checked the back of the house—nothing.

When the sound persisted, I got up again to check the garage.

As I walked by the powder room, I noticed a large red-breasted
robin perched on a small tree just outside the window. He vainly
thumped his beak at the glass. I was afraid he would break his
neck—or the window!

Mr. Robin on patrol.

Next morning, right on cue, Mr. Robin was there, thumping
earnestly. I checked on him again and he seemed to peer in the glass.
I reluctantly lowered the shade so he couldn’t see his reflection
and hurt himself. He returned to this spot for another two weeks.

Just as an eagle patrolled my home after Bill passed away, this
robin was paying me special attention. I’ve been told that a bird will
attack its reflection, mistaking the image for another bird invading
its territory.Was that the case? Perhaps. But I had never witnessed
it before, and this bird seemed a special, feathered angel.

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God is there for you!

There are many stories I could relate about how God took care of me as a widow and you can read about them in my book. I want you to know that whatever loss you’re experiencing, He is there for you. It might be a husband, a mother, a father, a child, a dear friend…

God in His goodness, provides each of us His delight in us and in His creation. These two different birds, each with a different duty, helped me in my grief and loss, see how God was with me and protecting me.

I have a calendar in my office. Each month features a different bird. For the month of February, it’s a Hummingbird.

Broad Billed Hummingbird

Did you know their wings flap at up to 80 times per second? Did you know it is incapable of walking or hopping so flight is its only means of movement? Did you know they eat nearly twice their body weight daily?

I didn’t know those facts, though I often see them buzzing in my flower gardens. They are amazing! Just as the God who created them in the first place.

I like this verse in the Old Testament. It spoke so vividly to me when I was a widow.