“I’m bad at finding your gum but I found you a living room set.”
“You found me a living room set????”
I received this text from Ron at my desk last Friday.
“Better. It’s a gift if you want it.”
“What!?? Who?”
The response was… “God”.
Texting turned into quick emails and he sent me a link to a picture of the furniture. I liked it so much and knew it would look perfect in our dragonfly blue family room. (Really. That’s the name of the color.) Just the fact that one of the main colors in the pattern was red hinted to me that this was a gift from God. I love red. If I were to buy new furniture, I would buy red.
And I wondered, “Why? Why would God give me furniture when I haven’t even asked?”
And then I remembered…
Months ago my dear friend/prayer partner and I discussed some big needs. Things like a new laptop and a winter coat for my husband. And a new roof to replace the leaky one. The little stuff – furniture, shoes, and various other small stuffs don’t usually make it into my prayers.
My friend encouraged me to make a list and start praying over it, giving it to the Lord, letting Him decide the small stuff. That day, when we prayed together, I smiled when she prayed for furniture for me. After that day, I put it out of my mind. I wasn’t convinced.
But this day, last Friday, I remembered her thoughtful prayer.
We picked up our furniture the next day. It’s perfect! The red, green, and blue plaid looks so beautiful with our blue walls and the green is the same color as the tile around our fireplace. It looks like it was meant to be.
See for yourself!
On Tuesday I found out… not only had my friend prayed for furniture for me that one time in my hearing, she kept on praying! And that very week, the week the furniture came to us, knowing we were discouraged, she had added to her prayers a request that God would do something special for us to encourage us. (!!!)
You know what? It’s not about the furniture, though the furniture reminds me every day of what it’s really about.
It’s about friendship that is deep because praying together is part of the friendship. It’s about a friend praying a prayer I couldn’t pray for myself. I want to be that kind of friend.
But most of all it’s about a heavenly Father who hears our prayers and is faithful to answer. Who takes delight in answering with a gift so much better than I could have even chosen for myself. Isn’t that the way it always is?
I am bowled over again by His loving-kindness. His hearing. His knowing.
That furniture, it’s like God’s voice saying to me, “All those other needs that you think are so much bigger? I know about them, too. Trust me.”
How can I not?
“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.”
So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.” Luke 8:39
(*A few more details… The friends who gave the furniture to us had placed it on Craig’s List. Though there were many calls about the 15-year-old but hardly used set of furniture, no one had ever followed through. Our friends are downsizing. Ron had had lunch with him that day and in conversation about the moving fun, we were offered the furniture, seemingly out of the blue. Now it’s a little clearer why so many people inquired but decided not to take it!)
