I might just bust!

Here at Northland they have what is called "Works of God chapels" on Mondays. It's an opportunity for the studnets to stand up and share what they've seen the Lord doing in their personal lives, extensions, families, etc. While I've never been able to attend one, they are among some of the Northland Alumni favorite things to recollect. I just have to share some of the neat things the Lord's been doing for me lately--it's like a mini Works of God Chapel coming your way!

Our 10th anniversary is coming up and Brent and I were hoping to get away for something special to celebrate. It was really looking like it wouldn't work out and I was so discouraged to the point of tears yesterday. I was so convicted that my first thought was not to talk with the Lord about it, but the Holy Spirit worked in my heart and I spent the rest of the day pouring my heart out to the Lord asking Him to help me get over the disappointment and even for Him to maybe work it out if that was best. (I know...such a flair for the dramatic!) But you know what...He did! We're going to be able to get away the weekend after our anniversary! Such a simple thing in the light of eternity but what an amazing reminder that as our heavenly Father, God delights in doing good things for His children. He's promised to meet our needs, but what a special way for Him to remind me of His love--giving us so much more than just our needs!

I've been praying about some paper crafting things that I wanted to get to use for Christmas gifts--a couple of stamp sets in particular. I went to teach piano lessons last night for a friend of mine who is AMAZING in the card industry--get this--she makes cards for HGTV!!! That's impressive, even to someone who doesn't stamp or care anything about it! She has been so very generous in the past and the Lord has used her to encourage my heart countless times. She and I were chatting about her latest projects and whatnot...had not said a thing to her about what I was praying about. She sent her son downstairs to get some things...I walked out with exactly what I needed for one of the projects...exactly what I had been talking with the Lord about and then some! And it was free! Again, did I need these things? Absolutely not--total want--even above what I would have thought to ask for! (Let's see if I can use any more exclamation points, heh?!?)

And then I came home and checked blogs on my google reader. I missed one of the online events I had been hoping to get to, but there were a ton of blog posts about the event. I have been praying for wisdom to know when to buy something I want to use to make Christmas gifts. The thing (I can't give it away...too many people who will be getting the "projects" are reading this!) was $24 and not exactly what I was wanting. The company released a second edition of it--perfectly meets my needs for the project with nothing extra I can't use--for only $15! I'm telling you...God has been showing me so much about His love and genuine care for me that I might just bust! Talk about overflowing! Poor Brent...he was asleep when I got home (it was a late night by the time I got my grocery shopping done and put away) I waited until this morning to tell him...talk about rambling on and on in a stream of consciousness sort of way! But he just patiently listened and smiled as I got more and more excited and remembered more and more things to tell him about how the Lord was working! And there's several other things the Lord has been showing Himself strong to me about but I won't bore you any more!

I could have just written that God is good and is doing some neat things for me...(Brent would be much more concise and to the point)but anyone who knows me will understand the amount of constraint I'm using to stop going on and on even longer after this novel I've written! God is so good and does so much more for me than I could ever come close to deserving...oh that I would learn to hope in God who is the help of countenance and my God!