faith journeys 2

I often see God in the details, and I hope that me mentioning these things (which are, admittedly, very little things) won't seem trite-- like God is nothing more than my personal shopper. Certainly He IS. But he also stoops down to concern himself with the little things, and that is just so incredible to me. Sometimes God blessing me in the little ways is even more meaningful than him blessing me/us in the big ways, like giving J a job. It's in the little things that I know that he doesn't just promise to make sure we have a roof over our head and don't starve, he cares for me personally, intimately, and specifically. That he walks with me as I learn (mostly the hard, don't-make-me-do-this way) to be content with less, content with what he gives, and more disciplined and more about his priorities in the way I spend money.

Exhibit A: Ever since we moved in here, J has needed a desk. His "desk" has been the remains of an old desk balanced across plastic crates-- and I have been dying to have something less huge and unsightly. I have spent months trolling Craigslist looking for a desk, but they're always not quite right-- too far away, too expensive, and should we really spend the money. Then when we had to move offices last week, voila, oodles of desks that were just going to be tossed. So we brought home my desk-- an enormous block of wood that literally weighed 200 pounds. I thought we would never get it up the stairs and through 3 doorways, but we did (after taking the top off)-- and what a great, and free, desk it is! Not to mention that it's kind of special to get to keep my old desk.

Exhibit B: I'm a tea person. When my tea selection starts to dwindle, I start to feel kind of insecure. My tea has been dwindling, and I have been getting the "Time to buy more tea" itch, but at the same time I have been developing more of a taste for good tea and wanting to move beyond grocery store brands (yes, I am a snob), so this has been creating a dilemma. I knew I still had enough tea for many months, so I didn't really need to go buy myself more tea. Then in the same office move, my beloved colleague of previous posts handed me a canister of tea. Unopened. French. I knew at a glance it was very, very expensive. (I have a knack, probably unfortunate, for knowing expensive things at a glance.) So not something I would go out and buy for myself, but I can't help it, I wish my cupboard were full of tea like that. And let me tell you, it is the best tea I have ever had in my life. I told my colleague this, and she said (because she has a huge generous heart), that I should write down the kind for her and she would have her relative in Paris get me more, a selection of flavors. Who knows if this will happen. I don't really care. God already gave me princess tea once.

Exhibit C: Just this morning. This is probably the silliest example of all, and so much more precious to me just because it is no big deal, totally gratuitous on God's part. We had a friend stay here last night, a woman who was kind of like a big sister to me in college, who I worked under in our Christian fellowship. She is a dear friend although we haven't seen each other regularly for many years, and it was such a delight to sit up late last night and catch up and have her meet J, and then have her for another hour or so this morning before she had to leave for the airport. Right before leaving she handed me a bag of dried mangoes. I just started laughing. My friend was kind of apologetic, like it was so small, she didn't know what to get us, etc. The thing is, I have walked past that same bag of dried mangoes the last two weeks, while shopping at my new favorite Asian grocery store. Please no one start sending us dried mangoes or other food-- really, we eat so well-- but I am trying to cut down on grocery costs and so the last two weeks I have walked past that bag of dried mangoes and thought about how much J and I love dried mangoes (the last time we ate them was on the honeymoon!) but really, I didn't need to spend the money. And then God brings me dried mangoes ANYWAY. Awesome.