Fortune Cookie Messages

Posted by Pat Stewart on Apr 27, 2012 in My Blog, Think About This | 1 comment

I really enjoy Chinese food…well, that which I can identify that I am about to consume!  I have two very memorable Fortune Cookie experiences that outweighed the deliciousness of the meal itself.  The first one was on my birthday about  17-18 years years ago.  My husband (now my ex of about that many years as well) took me out to our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner.  We enjoyed a great meal and then were served the traditional Chinese Fortune cookies.  We both cracked ours open and I said you go first. I don’t recall what his message  was, but it was likely something obscure like “Get the heck out of Dodge, Dude.”  Then, he asked me to read mine.  I sat there just a tad in shock because MY fortune cookie message was BLANK!  Okay, in retrospect, I probably should have known something was up…something like he might “get the heck out of Dodge!” 

But, my MOST memorable fortune cookie message which I viewed everyday for about 15 years was this: “Courage is Fear that has said its prayers.”  I LOVE that message!  It seems like it should have come from the Bible instead of inside a Chinese fortune cookie, but the impact it has had on my life is amazing!  Courage is fear that has said its prayers.    Seriously?  Seriously!  It has remained taped to my computer monitor all these many years to remind me that we ALL will encounter challenges in our life, we will stumble into the PIT or even be slammed into it from time to time, yet, we do not have to fear because God is there with us and will not allow us to reside there permanently…we shall not be consumed, crushed.   Just as we know from Isaiah 43:  When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

And isn’t it just like our Creator to slip that promise to us in a Chinese fortune cookie right where we would never EXPECT to see it!  So, the blank fortune cookie message is nothing but a funny story to tell for a laugh or two, but the PRIZE tucked away in the cardboard-like, slightly almond-tasting cookie remains for me to TASTE and live with forever and ever.  That one message has accompanied me through divorce, financial crisis, breast cancer diagnosis, surgeries and chemotherapy, the premature and uncertain birth of my precious grandson, and other trials and tribulations of life.  They are hard, gut-wrenching.  But my God is always true, always with me and just in case I might forget for just a moment, He sneaks in little love notes that order my steps right along His path.  God is so good!!

Amen!