Eric brought home two cube organizers yesterday, a four-cube and an eight-cube. The day before that, he brought home an A.C. unit. A while before that, he brought home a hide-a-bed couch. Before that, a big, beautiful armoire. Before that, two pretty couches.
All from his customers. All free. (Or at least, free until he decided to pay something for some of them.)
Getting all that stuff for "free" is pretty amazing, but not as amazing as exactly when we got it all.
The two matching couches were given to us soon after we moved into this house. If they’d been offered to us when we lived in our little house in Newberg, we wouldn’t have had room for them. As it was, I’d been wanting to put a couch in our guest room here, and what with having such a big living room, we needed something else to fill it up. The couches Eric’s customer gave us did the job perfectly. They even somewhat matched the couches we already had. We didn’t need more couches, but to get them just right after we’d been talking about wanting another set felt a bit like a hug from God.
The armoire was from the same customer, and at first it sat in our entryway looking bulky and out of place, beautiful as it was. Then I decided to move it into our room and use it for a coat closet, and it’s been just perfect. Again, we didn’t need it, and before we had it we didn’t know we wanted it, but it was given to us, and it is so useful. Another little hug from God.
The hide-a-bed came the day before we needed to use it. Plans were in the making for us to go to Australia, and we were at Will’s house in McMinnville helping him finish up some stuff before he headed back to Australia, and we came home with the hide-a-bed couch. I cleaned it up, and Eric set it up, and the next night Russell and Shari’s little girls were sleeping on it. It came at just the perfect time. Very definitely a hug from God.
The A.C. unit came at the perfect time as well. We got a ductless mini-split for our house last summer, and it cools the house fairly well, everywhere except our bedroom. That wasn’t such a big deal last summer, but with a baby who doesn’t sleep well in the heat sleeping in there this summer, it’s been a bit of a trial. And it’s supposed to get really hot next week. We’ve been talking about getting another mini-split for our bedroom or even just a portable A.C. unit, and then lo and behold, Eric’s current customer gave one to him for a steal of a deal. Right before a time when we will need it most. I couldn’t quite believe it, especially not when paired with what else she gave us.
I’ve been wanting a cube organizer for our front entrance for a while and have been checking prices and looking around every now and then. Just last week I printed the canvas that I wanted to hang above the shelf that we still hadn’t gotten, and it was just going to sit somewhere until we had something to put under it. So when Eric sent me a picture of not one, but two, cube-organizers and said we could have them, I was flabbergasted. I hadn’t been able to decide which size we should get, and now I had two to try out in the space. They’re sitting there now, and every time I see them, I think of how they were just a want, not a need, and how God gave them to us anyway.
None of these things were needs. We would still be getting along just fine without them. We could live with a slightly bare living room. We could stuff our coats into our clothes’ closet. We could’ve let Russell’s little girls (and all our other visitors) sleep on the floor. We could keep blowing fans in our room, even though that doesn’t always work very well. We don’t really need any more shelves.
But we have all these things, and they were given to us in such a way and in such good timing that it wasn’t hard to see God’s hand behind it. I was thanking Him this morning again, but as I thanked Him, I thought of all the people who don’t have things given to them the moment they “need” them. (Of course, we don't always either.) I thought of those who have made bad choices at some point in their life and are now living with the consequences, even though they've had a change of heart along the way. I thought of those who are faithfully serving God day in and day out without feeling a “hug” from Him for days. Or months. Or years. And I wondered why we are so blessed.
It doesn’t seem fair. I was especially thinking of those living with consequences that just seem to go on and on. None of us are perfect, and we all make mistakes. We all sin, and we all suffer consequences for those sins, but it seems like some people pay for their mistakes longer and in harder ways than other people do. I thought of a few people in particular, and I asked God about it. I asked Him if He had mercy for them, if He would relent for them. I asked why He has given us such a beautiful life when He’s given them such trials. I prayed for Him to bless them like He’s blessed us.
And then I thought about it.
Maybe God is nearer to them than I know. Maybe He is teaching them things I know nothing about. Maybe God is refining them in ways He’s not refining me. Maybe along with praying for blessings for them, I should be praying for refining for myself. And maybe instead of dwelling only on my blessings, I should be looking at my trials and asking myself how I can better allow God to refine me through them. How I can be more like Him in responding to them.
Maybe that's why He blessed me yesterday.
Blessings or trials, He has a reason for everything He gives . . . and one of those reasons is often to draw us closer to Him. May we not let His gifts go to waste.
