Wednesday was rough. It had been a stressful couple of days for me and I felt overwhelmed.On Monday, we discovered water in the freshly fixed basement of our old house, which put all showings on hold until we get the problem fixed and things cleaned up again.
On Tuesday, I dragged all four kids along with to the old house so I could start the clean up process. It was a long day for all of us.
Then came Wednesday...I went to turn my computer on to do some work before the kids got up only to realize that it had "died". After that, my morning trip to the grocery store got postponed until afternoon due to an overtired child who was struggling to keep her emotions in check.
I was worn out - physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I'll admit that my faith in God's ability to work things out for good wavered. So, we all took a nap before attempting the trek out to work on checking off my shopping list. Thankfully, God helped my kids to sleep and I even got a quick 15 minute power nap.
Then off we went, piled in the minivan. The kids did well in the first store, enough to where someone remarked that it was incredible for me to have 4 kids and still be smiling. (Usually I get lots of comments from people who are amazed that I have 4 kids so close together. I don't really understand why people think that it's so odd.) We made it to the second store and my kids did what they usually do, they chatted with people. (My kids are super social and have to talk to pretty much anyone and everyone they see.) Mr. R. usually asks people if they believe in Jesus or if they love God. (He loves to share the Gospel.) The kids talk about what they had for lunch or what exciting thing is happening at our house (like going to Grandma and Grandpas, having a playdate with friends, etc.) They started chatting with a lady who was in front of us in the checkout line and I didn't think twice about it. She only had a few items and was out through the line pretty quick. We, on the other hand, had a cart full of groceries and it took us a bit longer to get out of the store. I buckled the kids right away and then dove into unloading the cart. The kids had left one of the side doors open for fresh air and I was elbow deep in the trunk arranging things in the cooler. I finished unloading and looked up to see a sunflower on the seat next to Miss S. I asked the kids where it came from and Miss E. promptly replied, "That lady over there in the red car came over and put it in our van. She told us that it was for you and that we shouldn't say anything." I wanted to cry right there in the store parking lot. God had impressed it on some random lady's heart to buy a pot of sunflowers and give them to me. It reminded me that God is faithful. He faithfully keeps me in His care. I was reminded of Proverbs 21:1, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." If God can move in the heart of some random lady in a grocery store to provide encouragement to a young mom by buying her a sunflower plant, He can work in someone's heart to want to buy our house, He can work on the heart of my struggling child, and He can work in me. All it took was a sunflower for my outlook on the stresses of life to change. God is in control, He knows what is coming next in my life. We've been praying that our house would sell in such a way that only God would get the glory and I am beginning to wonder if He's using all our little "setbacks" to do just that.
No comments:
Post a Comment