Thursday, October 19, 2017

Attention: Shoppers

How do you feel about giving gifts?  For me, it’s something I love.  It's also something that stresses me out.  Two weeks ago my husband and I stared down the task of preparing 16 gifts.  Though part of our family draws names for Christmas so that each adult gives only one gift, we still had a slew of birthdays to celebrate.  So I prayed, “Lord, show me through.  Lead me in this.”  After all, Christ tells us to not worry about our life and what we will eat, drink, and wear.  In Matthew 6:33, He says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  In case my family reads this, I won't give names of stores, but here’s the gist of what happened after I prayed.  On a Wednesday in the course of my usual day at a hospital, I stopped at a small shop.  To my surprise, I found 3 gifts.  The next day en route to visiting some pediatric patients, I came upon another small shop and happily found 2 more gifts.  Friday evening on a shopping trip with my husband, we found still 3 more, plus we ordered 1 from a bookstore due to a recent email ad I consider divinely inspired.  Then Saturday we found the remaining 7, all conveniently located in 1 store.  Add everything together, and within 4 days the Lord had pointed us to 16 gifts with very little effort outside the regular day.  Especially for anyone who stresses over gift-buying, this is an astonishing feat.  I kept hearing my own voice rattling in the air because it’s difficult to keep quiet when every bone in your body is utterly amazed.  In awe I stood and sat and knelt to pray, practically fidgety and unable to contain the joy.  It's an experience I love to relive, and so I pray for you too.  May the Lord give you His almost inexplicable joy for experiencing His presence.

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