Things Like This Only Happen to Me

Sometimes I feel like my life is something written straight out of a movie because the things that happen to me make people say, “Ain’t no way.” The situations I find myself in are absolutely ridiculous! So ridiculous that sometimes I am not believed! Wild, right? Now, I know I am dramatic, but one thing I am not is a liar!

There was this one time I told my best friend Cynthia that I had personal beef with the guy in the Bubba Gump Shrimp costume in Times Square. Every time I would walk past the restaurant after church, this guy would try to scare me—sticking his hand out, jumping in front of me, making some weird motion with his head. And it was ALWAYS TO ME. No one else, just ME. I told Cynthia about my ongoing feud with this shrimp, and she hit me with a casual, “Wow, that’s crazy.”

I was floored because, ma’am, what do you mean “Wow, that’s crazy”?! I’m not lying! Yes, I have personal beef with a shrimp (haha). This shrimp wants my smoke!

Imagine my joy when the Lord allowed her to see that I was NOT lying. One day, Cynthia came to visit the new church I was attending. After service, we started walking toward Bryant Park, which meant we had to pass my nemesis to get there. As we were about to walk right by him, he stuck his hand out directly in front of me while making some funny motion with his head. I got startled and immediately looked at Cynthia. She had the most shocked expression on her face and started laughing in complete disbelief. I responded, “I TOLD YOU I WASN’T LYING!!!” We had a good laugh, and finally, my name had been cleared.

If I’m being fair, though, I can understand her unbelief because a) I am a dramatic storyteller and b) the entire situation is ridiculous. My life is just that entertaining and juicy. God is writing a banger story for my life!

Now, remember this as you read what I’m about to tell you next . . .

Last year, my friends and I were planning to attend a concert. However, life happened, and we never got around to buying tickets. Still wanting to go, I went onto Ticketmaster only to see the unfortunate words: SOLD OUT. Ah! Well, there goes that desire, right? WRONG! I kept scrolling to see if the artist was performing in other nearby cities, and indeed, they were!

One particular city was not too far away, so I began searching for hotels. But in my search, all the places that came up were really… ummmm… sketchy! Not suitable for a beautiful young lady such as myself to stay in all on my lonesome! There was even one place where you could rent a bed, but you would be sharing a room with about eight other strangers. No, thank you! I have zero desire to sleep with one eye open next to God knows who. I’m adventurous, not reckless… well… not that level of reckless.

I almost gave up when suddenly my sister popped into my head.

My sister and I didn’t have the best relationship. I carried a lot of unforgiveness toward her, which I disguised as apathy. HOWEVER… I really wanted to go to this concert, and I needed a place to stay where I would not potentially get murdered. My sister lived in the same state where the concert was happening, so I texted her and asked if that particular town was far from her. She asked if I was going to a concert and told me that she lived five minutes away from the venue and that I was more than welcome to stay with her. Amazing! Not only was I going to have a safe place to stay for zero dollars, but it was also only five minutes away! Praise God!

So, finally, the day arrived. I made it to her house a few hours before the concert started. It was my first time in her home, so she showed me around and introduced me to her dog, Lola. Here’s the thing about Lola… she did not look well. So much so that I asked my sister, “Yo, is your dog good? She looks like she’s clutching her pearls.”

She responded, “Yeah, Lola’s not feeling good today. She’s getting old, you know.”

Looking from Lola back to my sister, I responded, “Okay… hope she feels better,” with a suspicious tone.

My sister told me to make myself comfortable and that I was welcome to watch TV and hang out in her living room. Perfect! Although the concert was my main mission, I had a side quest that I needed to accomplish. SIDE QUEST: Indoctrinate my sister. If I was going to spend time with her, she was going to hear all about Jesus! So, of course, I took advantage of her hospitality by opening YouTube and playing worship music. Her living room was going to be the pre-game concert. The Holy Spirit was going to move in that place! She was going to be indoctrinated in Jesus’ name, amen.

If I could summarize what happened next in one verse, it would be Proverbs 19:21: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails” (NIV). I had a plan: go to a concert and indoctrinate my sister. But the reality was that God had a plan that was far greater than mine.

On the drive to the concert venue, my sister turned on her radio and, to my astonishment, worship music was playing. What!? Jesus music, no way! I excitedly asked her about it. She proceeded to tell me that she liked to listen to it in her car and that she loved listening to sermons in the morning from a particular church. She went on to talk about her faith journey and how she wanted to start going to a church nearby. The ride continued with us listening to worship music and singing along.

I thought I was going to indoctrinate my sister, but the Lord was chasing after her the whole time. He was pursuing her, and she was seeking him. I was overjoyed to hear how God had been moving in her life and felt gratitude as I worshipped the Lord at the concert. Praise God for pursuing his lost sheep.

Tired after everything, I came back to her house and slept in her living room. Like I’ve mentioned in the past, vacation or not, my body wakes up early. So, of course, at 6 a.m., guess who was wide awake? That’s right, me!

First thing that morning, I had something to do immediately. I needed to pee. So I got up and headed to the bathroom. On my way there, I saw Lola lying down. I rushed past her, used the bathroom, then returned to my little air mattress to lie down.

Unable to fall asleep, I decided to take a shower. Noticing that Lola was lying in the same position as earlier, I stopped and stared at her. Thinking I had seen her breathing, I went ahead and took a shower. When I got out, I made my way back to the living room, but Lola was still in the same position.

As I attempted to read my Bible, I couldn’t help but think about her. I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to get up and check on her. So I did. I went over to Lola and bent down near her, watching to see if she was breathing. When I couldn’t see any movement, I gently touched her tail to see if I could wake her up.

That was when I realized Lola had died.

Like the completely unselfish person that I am, my immediate thought was, “Bro, ain’t no way this dog decided to die on my first visit here. Things like this only happen to meeeeee!”

What do you do after something like this happens? Apparently, you go back to the living room, pretend like you saw nothing, attempt to let someone else deal with it when they wake up, and continue reading your Bible until then. Like I said before, completely unselfish! But as I sat there trying to read, I felt this conviction from the Holy Spirit telling me to get up and handle this situation. So I finally got up.

I knocked on my sister’s door. Knock, knock. No answer. Again, knock, knock. Still no answer. At this point, I was pacing around her living room, unsure what to do. That’s when the thought hit me. I needed to call the only person who would know what to do: MY MOM!

Quickly, I got my phone and dialed my mami. 

She answered, “Hi, baby.”

I frantically responded, “¡Ay, mami! Tú no sabes lo que me pasó. ¡Me levanté y encontré a la perrita muerta! ¡No sé qué hacer!” (“Oh, Mom! You don’t know what happened to me. I woke up and found the little dog dead! I don’t know what to do!”)

Supermom kicked in and started handling business! The wave of relief I felt when my mom said she was going to call my sister’s husband was short-lived. What she asked me to do next—and my reaction to it—made me low-key question my salvation.

Mom told me to grab a wee-wee pad and cover Lola so that when my sister eventually left her room, she wouldn’t have to see her in that state. I got the pad and covered her. The immediate thought that came to mind when I saw her covered was the intro to Law & Order: SVU. Dun dun.

I started laughing. And then panicking, wondering, “Yo, why are you like this?”

It’s important to know that I genuinely am not a monster. My family—correction, my dad’s side of the family—deals with grief and difficult situations through humor. There is no denying I am my father’s daughter because I do the exact same thing. So please don’t judge me for what I did next.

Unable to unhear the Law & Order theme song, I went back into the living room to laugh in a corner, trying my hardest to contain myself before my sister came out of her bedroom.

My mom called me back and told me that she’d called my brother-in-law’s phone, but my sister had answered. Now my sister knew what had happened, and my brother-in-law would be coming out.

While I waited for him, my sister and I were texting. She was heartbroken over her loss. At that moment, my humorous attitude dropped. I went into comforter mode.

My brother-in-law and I moved Lola so my sister wouldn’t have to see her. I helped my sister get dressed and made calls to local animal centers. Through it all, I got to be there for my sister and comfort her in her grief. I’m grateful and honored that I was able to be by her side.

God is so intentional. This could’ve happened on any other day of the week, but Lola passed on Saturday, when my sister was off work and I was visiting. I believe God used that timing to do two things: comfort my sister by bringing someone to help her through her grief and show me how he saw her—as his vulnerable, precious daughter who needed love and comfort, not as this unforgivable person I’d built her up to be.

This moment changed our relationship for the better. It’s not perfect—like any siblings, we have our moments—but the Lord has redeemed our relationship.

We also shared some joyful moments that weekend. She and her husband took me around their town. We ate and saw some of the Amish sights. Her uncle and little cousin came by and took us to this store called Cabela’s, which had taxidermy animals everywhere. It was so weird! We got fudge and came back home. Her little cousin and I made funny little videos pretending to host our own show called “Cooking with Jas and Ray,” where we rated all the different fudge flavors.

The Lord really moved that weekend, and I will be forever grateful for the healing he did in me and the restoration of my relationship with my sister. I went back home with something I didn’t have before: a genuine love for my sister.

. . .

God is able to heal any broken relationship. Nothing is too far gone for him to restore. There is hope in the mighty name of Jesus for restoration and redemption. Perhaps you’re thinking, “But Jasmine, you don’t know what I’ve done.” You’re right, I don’t know what you’ve done, but what I do know is that nothing is too broken for God to fix, and my story is a living testimony of that.

Jeremiah 32:17 says, “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”

If God made the heavens and the earth, he can heal your broken relationships. Nothing is too hard for the Lord! So I want to encourage you: have hope! Pray fervently and ask the Holy Spirit to move in the midst of brokenness. Have faith that God is the God of miracles. He restores.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.