Surrendering Personal Possessions by June Foster

Surrendering Personal Possessions

My husband and I recently decided to travel the US while we still have our health. We sold our house and moved back into our RV, giving up most of our worldly goods. All of our furniture remained in the house, about half of our other things went to family members and friends, and the other half to a storage shed. If I hadn’t surrendered my attachment to material objects, I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it.

Here’s the story.

Some years ago, we lived in Germany while Joe served in the army. I bought gold charms for each of the memorable places we visited, as well as a solid gold bracelet. A double-decker bus in London, the Parthenon from Athens, a beer stein from Germany. Other charms were from Denmark, Austria, Norway, and Italy. Then I attached other special keepsakes such as my sorority pin from college and a medallion my stepfather gave me when he retired.

I treasured my bracelet, not for the monetary value it held, but for the sentiment. Each charm had special meaning. When we returned to the states, I began my teaching job. One day when I came home from work, I made a shocking, no, devastating discovery. Our home had been robbed. Probably some druggie trying to feed his habit. Yes, you guessed it, my solid gold charm bracelet was gone forever. Along with a lot of other valuables as well.

To top it all off, my husband was back in Europe on another tour of duty and couldn’t even be there to comfort me. I grieved for my bracelet. Every perfect, unique charm was gone . I’d been violated. Someone had taken something I valued—something that belonged to me. Finally, I had to seek resolution. As usual, God provided His word.

A Christian janitor who cleaned the school where I taught came to me one day with a piece of paper in his hand. In his masculine scrawl, he’d written: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6: 19-21.

His note was the reminder I needed to move on. I’ll always remember how the light of God’s word lifted me out of my situation. Nothing on this earth is more valuable than the Lord and His word. And no one can take that away from us.

The realization that I can take nothing with me when I leave this earth helped in the process. Yes, going from a 4000 square foot home to a tiny RV took effort, but I didn’t grieve over the loss of my possessions. I have something of greater value.

About Christmas at Raccoon Creek by June Foster

Emily Eason wants to distance herself from her parents’ opulent lifestyle in Birmingham, Alabama, and enjoy life in the rural village of Raccoon Creek and her fifties-style home. But after gazing into the little snow globe she purchased from Hardwicke’s Drugs and Gifts, she finds herself transported to another time—her grandmother’s era.

Lance Hardwicke is the pharmacist and owner of Hardwicke’s Drugs. Four years of pharmacy school didn’t allow for much of a social life. Gorgeous Emily Eason, nurse and resident of Raccoon Creek, has captured his attention. The next time she comes in the store, he’s determined to ask her out. Maybe take her to Birmingham to see the Christmas lights in his brand new orange and white ’53 Pontiac Pathfinder.

Can love span the fifty-year gap standing between them? 

Purchase CHRISTMAS AT RACCOON CREEK HERE

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