It never ceases to amaze me the way God really
does give us the desires of our heart, big or small, a need and even a want.
Yet, I also understand that ultimately our desire is for Him alone, He is the
desire of our heart, and in that He still shows us such sweet glimpses of His
love towards us.
So when I get to experience God at work in ways
that reflect His intimacy and thoughts and love towards me, I could just lay
down and cry. This story I am about to lay out, may seem insignificant or trite
to some, but I truly sit in awe of my God...a God who sees me, knows me
and gives me things that even I don’t deem as that important.
It’s springtime here in Ohio and when the
weather's nice everyone and their dog, literally, is outside. In our new home
we have a nice deck and a patio, however, we have no patio furniture as we had
to leave it behind when we moved. Although we did claim one small janky table
for four we picked up along the way but has no chairs. Anyway, I thought
maybe I could just buy some chairs to go with this small table so we could enjoy
the outdoors and the fire pit that is on back patio. Aldi, is my store, and of
course they had a great deal on some chairs. They were decent, and the first
time I saw them I thought maybe I should just go ahead and buy these. Mind you,
they were a good price and decent quality. But there in the middle of Aldi, I
sensed God telling me no. Not going to lie, I may have argued a bit with God in
the store as to why not...really...they are inexpensive. So I thought ok, I
will talk to Bill, my husband about it first. Then we were both in Aldi not
much longer after that and I showed him the chairs, and now they had cute
adirondack chairs as well to choose from. Once again, nothing wrong with them,
good price, etc, but still I just kept sensing God telling me to wait. Another
small argument may have pursued once again as I questioned God because don’t
we all just love to wait! So I thought well maybe God was wanting me to
wait because I should get them somewhere else. That was a negative as well. It
was just this sense from God to wait, don’t jump ahead, be obedient in what He
was asking.
Pause for a moment, we have a wedding that is
coming in 6 months for our oldest daughter. While our son is married, we have
yet to be on the other side as the bride’s parents. This translates, no
spending, we have a wedding to pay for and 2 still in college! I tried to
dismiss this want and I could justify the need of some chairs to sit in on my
patio because after all we are going to be hosting a Young Professionals Home
group soon.
Skip ahead about a week, as I had put the chairs
in a holding pattern. Bill came home and I was on phone so he got ready to go
ride his bike, but when I got off phone he could see that I really wanted to go
on our walk as usual with the dog. Bless him, he changed out of biking clothes
to go with me and Sadie, but he asked if I wanted to go over to neighborhood
where Mary Allyson was going to get married at the country club. It would
be a praise walk, a thank you Jesus walk, as only God could put together this
venue for Mary Allyson to get married. This is another story for another
day. On our way back from country club
to home, our eyes locked on something set at the street at about the same time.
Could it be, was that really a patio table and six chairs sitting at the curb?
Why yes it was. I about broke out into a run. Just as we were getting there I
could see that the table had cardboard and duct tape all over as if it had
cracked or been broken, so my heart sank. Then about the time we got to this
furniture on side of road the owner comes out and we ask her about it. She said
it’s free, trash day is tomorrow. She continues to tell us it’s all good aside
from some rust and that the table is in excellent shape, they just had
protected it. Now I really did about break out into a run to bust a move home
to get the “big ol burb” (aka suburban) to load this up. Bill and I laughed,
because we said, if God has put that there for us, He’s going to keep it there
until we can get back to load it. And realistically, there probably weren't
many like us who have no shame but to haul free patio furniture from the street
to their house. We don’t even wait to do it in the cover of the night, no shame
for us we do it in the busiest time of the neighborhood with people coming home
from work and kids being carted off to dance and LaCrosse.
In the midst of this, I just kept asking Bill,
how does God do this. And He does it in such a way you know it’s Him and what
He’s giving is even better than what you were thinking. This is where I just
want to lay down and cry and say thank you God. You truly know me, even these
kinds of desires in my heart, patio furniture. Let me say, God makes
obeying fun, especially when we get to watch him work like this. This is when I
was thankful I felt his nudging to wait because He showed up with so much more
and in a way I knew it only could be from God. The other part of this story was
Bill deciding to go on walk with me instead of bike ride and our decision to
take a different walking route this time to thank God for his goodness in
allowing for the wedding venue. Obedience and self sacrifice is key! We both
got to see God at work and provide in only the way He can. As Beth Moore says,
“There ain’t no high like the most high!” I just get giddy watching God
do things like this. Side note, I am
sure the neighbors got more than giddy as they watched me and Bill load the
suburban with a round table and six swivel and rock chairs! Who knows, if they were
videoing we may go viral!
If you’re waiting on something from God, whether
it’s as small and what I thought insignificant to God, keep trusting, keep
obeying, keep listening to His leading because what He’s going to give us is
the “immeasurably more.” The immeasurably more may come in that “thing”
we are waiting on, but always in the way we get to see Him work! “Now to Him
who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to
His power that is at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20
