The Message on the Mirror Part One

It was 1972 about a year before Brady was born. Cindy and Kevin were fast approaching adolescence. Where had the time gone? Frank and I had built a nice little ranch style home on the outskirts of Morgantown in southern Indiana. By that time the population of our community had grown to around seven hundred, I’m just guessing, but it was still a small town. We were a happy little family, very involved in our local Baptist church. We both taught Sunday School and as the saying goes, “We were there every time the doors opened.”

I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at a revival meeting at the age of thirteen. My life had changed. That still small voice inside of me seemed to become considerably louder. You know, that little voice that says, “Don’t do that, don’t go there”. I listened, most of the time but not always. That’s why I need a Savior.

It was a few months before Brady was born that I went forward in church to give my life to the Lord. Once you do that folks, you’d better dig in and get ready for a rough ride. The good thing is you’ll have all of the help, love and support you need to get through whatever is ahead. It’s really exciting to see obstacles before you, Even huge adversities, and know that no matter how insurmountable they may seem, you have the resources to overcome or get through them. What a blessing that is.

We were so happy when Cindy and Kevin walked hand in hand down the aisle of that little white, wood framed, Baptist church just a few years earlier. I’ve never forgotten the emotion I felt to see those precious little ones step out all alone to accept their Lord and Savior. After that, their dad and I really tried to live for the Lord and to set a good example for those little lives entrusted in our care. They were baptized the following Sunday in Clay’s lake outside of town. “And a little child will lead them”.

We were fast approaching a very spiritual time in our lives. I was reading a considerable amount of Inspirational material, leading me to believe we had only scratched the surface of our spiritual walk with God. If there was more, we wanted it. We began attending Bible studies, sometimes two a week. We were really into this and probably closer to God than ever before. Maybe that has something to do with the story I’m about to share with you.

I can’t be more humble about this experience. Believe me, I’m nobody special and this Is so not about me. I’m merely the messenger.

We were getting ready one evening to attend one of those Bible studies. I was taking a bath in my little, glass inclosed, yellow bathtub. You know how people love to sing in the shower? Well, I was singing in the tub. Not just any songs, I was singing praise songs to the Lord. Songs like “Here’s My Cup Lord,” the “Hallelujahs.” “Praise Him, Praise Him, All Ye Little Children, God Is Love,” and all of the praise songs I could think of. It was just the Lord and I in the bathroom that night.

I can’t say enough about singing praises to Him. It seems to open up the lines of communication. I’m convinced it’s a good way to get His attention. As I climbed out of the tub and wrapped up in my towel, I was so filled with love that I thought I was going to burst. Then the strangest thing happened. Something told me to look for “LOVE” in the bathroom mirror. I felt so strongly that I was to look for that word in that mirror and I believed it was the Lord. How strange was that? I remember saying, “What do you mean, Lord? Am I going to see those letters in the way the steam drips on the mirror? I don’t understand.”

I glared into that steamed up mirror until, finally, I realized how silly I was being. I was suddenly distracted by the ugly spot on the upper right side that I had noticed many times before. It was a place where something on the shelf behind it had spilled and caused the electro plating on the back of the mirror to erode. I wondered what I could do to improve the mirror’s appearance, I had some chrome paint out in the garage, maybe I could use that to cover the spot.

I struggled as I tried to lift the two sliding glass mirrors out of their tracks and down where I could turn them over to see the back of them. To my surprise there was writing on the back of the first mirror. The words DONISI ELECTRO appeared, under which was a date, followed by the city of LOVELAND, OHIO. Oh my Gosh! The word “LOVE” was on the back of that mirror. What are the odds? As far as I was concerned, this confirmed that I was right about looking for “Love” in the mirror. Was it really the Lord. I was ecstatic!

As strongly as I knew I was to look for “Love” In the mirror, I knew that “ DONISI ELECRO” was a message, not in English, but it meant something and I had to figure out what it meant. The first thing I did was to run to the bookshelf where I had an Italian-English Dictionary given to me by my sister-in-law because we were planning a trip to Italy. I frantically looked for either word but had no luck.

My eyes then fell upon a Latin book I had used in high school. I had actually taken four years of Latin, which had really come in handy. Just kidding. As I turned through the pages, I made a remarkable discovery! In my Latin book I found the word “DONISI” was the progressive, indicative perfect tense of the verb “DONO”, which means, “I give.” So the word, “DONISI,” is the plural tense of “have been given.” The word was not with it to tell me whether. it was “you,” “we,” or “they,” so I translated it “we.” I was thrilled to realize that, with God’s help, I had figured out what part of the message meant. “We have been given,” but we had been given “what”? I couldn’t find the other word anywhere.

I shared the entire experience with my husband, Frank who suggested that we tell the story to the small group at the meeting that evening and maybe someone could figure out the rest of the message. That’s just what we did. It wasn’t easy for me to tell the story about singing to the Lord in the bathtub, but I did because I really did find the word “love” on the mirror.

Frank’s brother, Mark and his wife and my best friend, Linda shared our enthusiasm and desire to learn more about our Lord. They were in attendances along with Sandy and Donnie another couple to whom we were very close. When the commentator responded that “DONISI ELECTRO” was obviously the manufacturer’s name of the mirror, my heart sunk. I thought maybe he would be able to shed some light on this experience. Our friends were very supportive. Mark came up to me and said, “Don’t worry, Marsha, you’ll find out what it means. Yes, we knew what “DONISI” meant, “we have been given,” but we needed to understand the rest of the message.

A couple of nights later we met at our home, (We were really into learning all there was to know about our Christian walk. Maybe that’s why all of this happened.) Donnie told me the Lord revealed to him that He was going to give him a Bible verse that would put this all together for us. No sooner had those words come out of his mouth, he opened his Bible to 1 Corinthians 13 and pointed his finger to verses 12 and 13. It read in my Bible as follows: “We see through a mirror darkly but then face to face”. The King James says, “ through a glass darkly.” I read on. “Now I know I’m part but then I will know as I am known. These three things remain, faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is ‘love’.”

Oh my Gosh! It was through a mirror, on the dark side of the glass. It said, “Now I know in part.” I knew part of the message but I didn’t know the rest. “The greatest of these is LOVE.” That’s the word I was looking for when all of this began. My knees buckled under me and I had to sit down. I could not believe what had just happened. If ever a Bible verse confirmed a spiritual experience, this one did. I never cease to be amazed at how unbelievably clever our Lord is. I was so excited and totally convinced that this entire experience was from the Lord, but why? I got out my Living Bible. This version was very popular during the seventies, before many of our current translations had been written. The same verses read as follows:

“In the same, we can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at His reflection in a poor mirror.“ My son, Kevin said, “Mama, if ever there was a poor mirror it’s the one in the bathroom.” That ugly spot had worried me for months. The verse went ton. “Now all I see is hazy and blurred, but then I will see everything clearly, just as clearly as God sees into my heart right now. These are three things that remain–faith, hope and love–and the greatest of these is LOVE.”

My wheels we turning. What does this all mean? Why had this happened to me? Does this mean there’s something really bad ahead and God has given this to hang onto. It says that we are only going to be able to understand part of what is going on in our lives, but someday, when we see our Lord face to face, it will be revealed to us. In the meantime, trust the Lord, have faith that He will see us through whatever is ahead, and there is a reason for all of it.

Without faith there is no hope. Never give up hope. As long as we have Him there is always hope for a positive outcome. But above all, love, the greatest of these is love. Love the Lord with all your heart and show His love to one another.

Think about this. The central message of the New Testament which is Jesus’s message to the ages is summed up in these two verses. No wonder the Lord wants it emphasized. It’s all right there.

In my excitement I was sharing this incredible story on the phone with Linda’s sister Marie. I related the entire adventure after which she responded, “I was at a Bible study last night and I felt this electricity all over my body. The message was on how the Greek word ‘dynamo’ had been translated into the English word ‘power’.”

“Marie, that’s it. The word ‘ELECTRO’, which appeared under the word ‘DONISI’, means ‘power.” What else could it possibly mean?” It was so obvious then. Why couldn’t I have figured that out. I said, “WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN POWER.”

And she said, “Through LOVE.” LOVE is the ‘key’. We know that LOVE is the greatest motivating force in the universe.

Oh my, there it was! WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN POWER THROUGH LOVE. That is the message on the mirror but that’s not all. There is so much more to this story. This is only the beginning. I was all right not knowing all of the message. After all, the scripture we were given indicated that, until we meet the Lord face to face, we are not going to have all the answers. I was thrilled beyond words!

The Message On The Mirror 1971-2013