Jeremy L. Berg

By Nancy Adsem

I make mittens.  I love the search for old wool sweaters and great buttons – the cutting and stitching and lining with fleece.  Each pair is different and, I think, has a unique “personality”.

Each fall I gather with another mitten friend, and we sell our mittens at an out-door Christmas festival for 3 straight days.  Chilly days are a great time to sell mittens outdoors – especially right before Christmas!

This year I also participated in a Holiday Boutique at my dad’s Senior/Assisted Living residence. The residents love to shop and visit.  It’s something to do – without leaving the building on a snowy day.

This is where I met Yvonne.  Yvonne stopped at my table of mittens, in her wheelchair, and touched the fabrics and felt the various buttons. We struck up a conversation and I learned that she is a paraplegic and can’t really get any gloves or mittens over her left hand.  I came around from behind the table and sure enough, her left hand is all curled up in a fist.  I had large mittens for men, but still the opening was to tight to make them work.  And her right hand is still “normal”. Together we tried to find something that would work – but it didn’t.

So I told her I would make a pair for her – bigger on the left hand.  I told her I had the same problem with my feet.  I have a physical condition where my right leg and foot are larger, swollen, and need to be compressed. Consequently, my right foot requires a size 10WW shoe, while my left foot is 9M.  Makes shoe shopping a little interesting.  But my situation gave me the ability to relate and really see the need for Yvonne.  I got her apartment number and told her I would be by with a new pair.

The next week I knocked on her door with a custom pair of mittens.  Her husband, who I had not met, answered the door and quizzically let me in.  Yvonne was in her recliner with a blanket keeping her cozy. At first, she was a little put out because I hadn’t called first.  But I told her all I had was her name and apartment number.  When she saw the mittens I had made for her, the smile came across her face. And she asked “how much do I owe you?”  Nothing.  I made them just for you because I wanted to gift them to you.

And then it happened.  She reached her “good hand” out from under the blanket and grabbed my hand.  And then she prayed. She prayed for me, and double prayed for me.  She prayed for my family and prayed for my day, and prayed for my journeys and my efforts.  She called me her sister in Christ (wait!  I hadn’t mentioned I was a Christian! How did she know?) She held my hand tight and prayed some more.  I. Was. Blessed.

I kissed her forehead and told her I’d be back in a couple weeks with my grandsons to hand out Christmas goodies to the residents, as we had done last year.  We would stop by and see her again!

Would I have seen Yvonne’s need if I didn’t have a similar physical constraint? I hope so, but I question myself.  This condition gave me the awareness, the sensitivity I think, to really see Yvonne and come around that table. If I can use this physical condition as a platform to bless others, then the condition is a blessing in itself.  Thank you Jesus.

(If you know anyone who is a 10WW left foot and 9M right foot, let me know.  We could shoe shop together!)

I love sharing other friends’ writings at Daily Illumination, so please send me any you want me to share! -Jeremy