I have always loved surprises! Like the time when Bryan and I were dating and he sang to me in front of our entire high school, asking me to Homecoming. Or this last birthday when he secretly took the entire day off work and arranged a day filled with time for the two of us. Best birthday ever! I love to get unexpected cards in the mail, a twenty dollar bill in my jacket pocket that I had forgotten all about, and even a gorgeous rainbow after a spring morning rain shower. Surprises are the best!
I also love the kind of surprises that God brings... like yesterday for example. I was having quite a day. The kind of day where I blew up at my children, had zero patience, and everything continued to go wrong from spilled milk on the car seat to dumped soil all over my kitchen floor. (In all fairness, Sam was trying to help clean up.) I was done with the day and then surprise! God blessed me with a park date with two very special women. We sat and watched our kids play and chatted about school, parenting, and lots of things. I went home so refreshed and remember being so thankful for the unexpected blessing that God brought with those ladies. To top it off, last night I met with a very special friend of mine to just talk and do some work on her upcoming wedding. She is one of those surprises that God planted smack in the middle of my life when I least expected it and under circumstances that wouldn't normally result in a friendship. But God blessed me greatly with this friendship and it has been the kind of surprise that has blessed me immeasurably.
God is constantly full of those extra blessings that make me smile and fill me with joy! I love the way He works! An unexpected text or call from someone special when I need it most, overhearing a sweet prayer by one of my little boys, an uninterrupted grocery shopping trip while Bryan watches the kids, flowers just because, watching Jacob spell words with his bathtub letters for the first time, and people that God puts in my life for different purposes, but that bless my heart to the maximum capacity. I think the best surprises of all though, are the ones that God creates through difficult times. They are never pleasant to go through, but after some time, God creates beauty through them and uses them to mold us to be more like Him. I have been thinking alot about this during this Easter week. God didn't enjoy watching His only son suffer on the cross for us, but what came from it is the best surprise of all... the opportunity for us to live a life with Christ as our personal savior not just in this life, but for all eternity.
This is so true. It's like the song blessings by Laura Story that you have shared before. Blessings coming in packages least expected sometimes as almost as if they were camoflouged or just haven't learned the lesson taught yet to interuprt what that blessing is that God is giving us. For me some of the areas that have brought me the most hurt and pain my younger years I now realize were blessings from God because it has allowed me to become someone new. I am now a woman seeking after Christ and I know have a story to share about how God saved my life...literally. Thanks for sharing Shelly.
ReplyDelete