Last night after we all got ready for bed, we gathered around in our room to journal. It’s been a while since Kyle (my husband) read through his old journal entry’s to us, so inspired by our oldest daughter (who had been reading his journal secretly) he went ahead and read a few stories out loud. Many of them were around the time each of the kids were being born, so they loved to hear those haha.
But one of them really caught my attention, again...after all these years and the many times we have told the story, it still gave me chills hearing him read it.
This story took place in Dallas, Texas, on the campus where we were attending Bible collage about ten years ago. We moved to Dallas by driving our small Rav 4 SUV. The only things we took with us where the things that fit into the car. We drove through Canada all the way from Alaska. (Those where some fun times!) When we got to Texas we had to start from scratch on our belongings. (The story of our life haha) Thankfully we had enough saved up to get all the necessities. That consisted of a few kitchen and bathroom items, cleaning supplies, and a small kitchen table from Walmart.
Unfortunately we couldn’t afford to buy ourselves a bed or even a mattress so we slept on an air bed, for a while. My parents came to visit us a few months into us living there and the only accommodations we could give them was another air mattress to sleep on out in the living room. Well they didn’t think that was a good idea long term so insisted on us buying a “real” bed. Especially because I was already a couple of months pregnant with my first baby. After they left we went to a few different stores and realized that there would be no way we could get ourselves a bed and not even a mattress, not on our budget, that was for sure! So we started to pray about it, and it wasn’t long before we got our miracle.
While living in Dallas Kyle worked in the Tire Center at Costco. (That job too was a miracle story but maybe for another day) One night after he got off and the store was already closing, he was walking to his car with a co worker friend. A gentleman runs up to them and asks if either of them need a mattress. That was interesting, he went on to explain that he had just bought a brand new RV and did not like the mattress that was in it. So he bought a new one from Costco, just moment ago but had no where to put the old one. He explained that it was brand new and still covered in its original packaging. After our friend said he had no need for a mattress Kyle was quick to say that we did. So the man asked if we had any box springs to put under it, Kyle said no, so he went into Costco and got the ones that came with his mattress he’d just bought. Work wasn’t far from home, so Kyle quickly drove home and found someone with a truck to help out, on delivering the mattress to us. That night we slept on a real bed three or four months into our first year of college. And we didn’t pay a penny for it! We got it for FREE and BRAND NEW! Which was specificity what we had prayed for. After we were done with college we ended up giving that mattress and all of our other belongings that we were blessed with, to others from the campus that needed them as much as we did when we first moved there. So the gift kept on giving.
We have had so many miracle like that one, while living there. Some people might say those are coincidences but honestly they are not. There are too many details that went into the story that only God knew about. Like the fact that it all happened after nine pm, so the parking lot would be empty and the man came straight up to my husband, or that Kyle was off at that exact moment walking to his car, if he was still working in there Tire Center, he would have never seen the man. Anyway all the littlest details matter and where clearly so intricately designed by the Lord to happen in his timing.
Hearing that story again last night prompted me to step back and see what is it that I’m trying to manage in life, instead of simply relying on the Lord to do what he does best. And that is take care of his children and provide for them, big things as well as the smallest of things.
We journaled a lot in college so I have story upon story of miracles that had happened to us. Similar to the mattress or our couch story (which we pretty much got the same way) to the little things like wanting a house plant or a candle but really having no money to splurge on non “needed” items. When baby was due we received absolutely everything we would need for her. I remember having some money left from a baby shower and we couldn’t think of anything else we had needed, because all the essentials were provided for us, so we saved it for the diapers we would need coming up.
For Christmas we had piles of gifts given to us and our baby of things that only the Lord could guide people into buying. For example bath towels or silverware or even dishes. We had things to get by with but the Lord through some wonderful people blessed us with actual sets. Sounds kinda funny now but when you live off of paper plates and a cardboard box as a dinning table for a while, having those things really does make a huge difference.
So many times we needed food and when we would come home there would be bags of groceries at our front door and the things that would be in there would be exactly what we needed and secretly even wanted. You can’t tell me that it wasn’t the Lord’s hand at work haha.
We had miracles with gas money or someone paying our school bill for us. Through out our whole time being there which was three years, God took care of everything. The season there really stretched our faith and taught us how to rely on the Lord for the big and little things in life. And as difficult or scary at times as it was, I wouldn’t trade those three precious years for anything. The stories, the friends and the memories are treasures that we’ll hold on to forever.
My dad came from Alaska a few days ago and brought with him a box I had in storage for many years. In it I found albums full of old pictures. Way back in the day before everything went digital haha. So I apologize for the quality of these photos. But that was our first apartment after Kyle and I got married. We eventually were able to get a bit more furniture and make it much cozier then that. Regardless of that it was where we brought home our first baby and it holds many many precious memories for us.
The fact that our kids are old enough to listen to the stories and experience their own faith journeys, made journaling totally worth it! It wasn’t easy to make time in the evening to write about things that happened, especially for my husband who went to school full time and then worked all day after. But I’m sooo thankful he took the time to write about most of what went on. Back then I wasn’t convinced of the importance of journaling so I wasn’t as diligent as him. Now that I see the result and I try my best to write down everything the Lord does in our lives. I know one day it will be a tool I can use to teach my kiddos. And use it to build up our faith when we feel down.
So as I close I would also encourage you to take the time to not only acknowledge what the Lord is doing in your life but also to write it down. Trust me you won’t regret it, in years to come. Blessings and thank you for reading!