Blessed to Be a Blessing
(Just a head's up...this blog might be long but to see the whole picture, many details need to be shared!)
God recently gave me the opportunity to be involved in something so much bigger than myself with so many different aspects that it could only have been HIS hands putting the pieces together. When I was tempted to be completely selfish and I think only of myself, He humbled me. When things didn't work out in my time, He reminded me that His timing was more important. When I thought I had finally seen the whole picture, He opened my eyes to possibilities I had never even thought of.
It all started with a car. Not just any car - a 1996 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with every feature you could think of. It was also in amazing shape, practically new with less than 29,000 miles. My boss Trevor bought it when he was younger and as it was not a practical car for Wyoming winters, it spent a lot of time in the garage. One day, Trevor called his wife Kristin and told her that he believed God was really impressing upon his heart that he needed to sell the Pontiac. She supported him and shortly after he put the car up for sale, he had a buyer. At the last minute, though, he panicked and wasn't able to go through with the sale. Kristin told him to just keep praying about it and wait for God to show him what to do.
Not long after, Ryan celebrated his 2nd birthday and I helped to share the special day with him. I wrote a blog afterwards about the fact that his birthday was on the first anniversary of leaving my job at Trinity, a job I loved more than words. God used Ryan's birthday to show me that instead of seeing it as a time of sadness, I needed to see it as a time of joy and celebration for the wonderful job He had provided me in caring for Ryan. I wanted Trevor and Kristin to know how much of a blessing their little boy was to me so I sent them the blog. After reading it, Trevor told Kristin he believed God wanted him to give the car to me as a gift. Can you believe it? Me! The proud new owner of the nicest car I had ever imagined owning!
T and K told me I could do whatever I wanted with the car - I could sell it and use the money to buy a new car or do whatever with, or I could keep the car and drive it. Immediately, I knew I wanted to sell it. If I had still been in college, living that care free life, I definitely would have kept it and drove it around when the weather in Riverton was nice. However, being a grown up means thinking practically and logically and I knew it wasn't a good vehicle for me. It only had rear-wheel drive, which is yucky on the snow and ice. It was a two door, making it hard to get Ryan in and out of his car seat, and it was just tiny..not much room for a toddler and Maggie in the backseat. I also do a lot of babysitting and transporting other kids to and fro and I knew that wouldn't be an option if I kept the car.
So as I'm driving home after receiving the gift, I began to think of what kind of nice little SUV I could get if I sold the car and my white jeep (Gertrude) and combined the money. Almost immediately, however, God spoke to my heart and said, "You need to give Gertrude away to someone who needs a reliable car." I realized God was right. T and K had given me the car because they were in a position where they could give it as a gift. Now I was in the position of being able to give it away as a gift and I needed to be obedient to God's calling. I began praying and asking God to show me who I was supposed to give Gertrude to.
Fast forward a couple weeks. I had the car listed on several FB sites and sitting in my driveway with a For Sale sign in the window. As my dad and I had talked about what to do with Gertrude, he kept mentioning how much he would like her to use when he drives between Riverton and Dubois so he didn't have to put all those extra miles on his company truck. While continuing to tell him I wanted to give it away to someone without knowing who yet, I had secretly decided to give Gertrude to him for Father's Day. We went out for breakfast the day before Father's Day and I told my dad about the gift. He was touched and we decided that once I sold the red car and bought something new, Gertrude would officially be his.
Over the next several weeks, the red car didn't sell. I had one or two people seriously interested but for one reason or another, things always fell through. I began to get frustrated and ask God what was taking so long. During the last week of July, my dad and I were driving to the rodeo during fair week and my dad mentioned that we should give Gertrude to my older brother and his girlfriend. They only had one vehicle and that provided some struggles for them like my brother never being able to go pick up my niece from the babysitter's because she couldn't ride in his company truck. I told my dad that was a great idea and we began making plans to drive Gertrude down to Arizona for Labor Day and then fly home after giving her to them.
Shortly after making that decision, the red car sold and I was able to buy a much nicer, much newer Jeep Cherokee with many fewer miles. All signs for proceeding with our plan were pointing towards go. The week before we left, we got Gertrude tuned up and worked on and by the day we left, she was ready to go. All was going according to plan until we got about a half hour from my brother's house on the freeway and a part fell off the car. Seriously. Just dropped out from under us! My dad was driving and managed to get to a safe place to stop and we discovered what the problem was. It turned out a belt had fallen off because of the piece that fell off but my brother was able to pick up a different belt and my dad was able to get Gertrude up and running again.
When we got to my brother's house, we had about a hour or so before we had to go pick my niece up from school so I gave him the title to Gertrude while my dad and I told him about the gift. He. Almost. Cried. My big brother was so touched that he was speechless for a few seconds (and if you knew him, you would know what a big deal that was!) The gift had been given and my heart was incredibly joyful.
Throughout our few days with my brother, he would often go out to Gertrude, open all the doors and just look at her. Watching him be so excited made me so happy and I was so glad I had been obedient to God's calling. I believe I got a small taste of how God feels when He gives good things to His children. I can't imagine the excitement and joy He feels when He sees us speechless and amazed at the gifts He gives us.
I was blessed to be a blessing.
God recently gave me the opportunity to be involved in something so much bigger than myself with so many different aspects that it could only have been HIS hands putting the pieces together. When I was tempted to be completely selfish and I think only of myself, He humbled me. When things didn't work out in my time, He reminded me that His timing was more important. When I thought I had finally seen the whole picture, He opened my eyes to possibilities I had never even thought of.
It all started with a car. Not just any car - a 1996 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with every feature you could think of. It was also in amazing shape, practically new with less than 29,000 miles. My boss Trevor bought it when he was younger and as it was not a practical car for Wyoming winters, it spent a lot of time in the garage. One day, Trevor called his wife Kristin and told her that he believed God was really impressing upon his heart that he needed to sell the Pontiac. She supported him and shortly after he put the car up for sale, he had a buyer. At the last minute, though, he panicked and wasn't able to go through with the sale. Kristin told him to just keep praying about it and wait for God to show him what to do.
Not long after, Ryan celebrated his 2nd birthday and I helped to share the special day with him. I wrote a blog afterwards about the fact that his birthday was on the first anniversary of leaving my job at Trinity, a job I loved more than words. God used Ryan's birthday to show me that instead of seeing it as a time of sadness, I needed to see it as a time of joy and celebration for the wonderful job He had provided me in caring for Ryan. I wanted Trevor and Kristin to know how much of a blessing their little boy was to me so I sent them the blog. After reading it, Trevor told Kristin he believed God wanted him to give the car to me as a gift. Can you believe it? Me! The proud new owner of the nicest car I had ever imagined owning!
T and K told me I could do whatever I wanted with the car - I could sell it and use the money to buy a new car or do whatever with, or I could keep the car and drive it. Immediately, I knew I wanted to sell it. If I had still been in college, living that care free life, I definitely would have kept it and drove it around when the weather in Riverton was nice. However, being a grown up means thinking practically and logically and I knew it wasn't a good vehicle for me. It only had rear-wheel drive, which is yucky on the snow and ice. It was a two door, making it hard to get Ryan in and out of his car seat, and it was just tiny..not much room for a toddler and Maggie in the backseat. I also do a lot of babysitting and transporting other kids to and fro and I knew that wouldn't be an option if I kept the car.
So as I'm driving home after receiving the gift, I began to think of what kind of nice little SUV I could get if I sold the car and my white jeep (Gertrude) and combined the money. Almost immediately, however, God spoke to my heart and said, "You need to give Gertrude away to someone who needs a reliable car." I realized God was right. T and K had given me the car because they were in a position where they could give it as a gift. Now I was in the position of being able to give it away as a gift and I needed to be obedient to God's calling. I began praying and asking God to show me who I was supposed to give Gertrude to.
Fast forward a couple weeks. I had the car listed on several FB sites and sitting in my driveway with a For Sale sign in the window. As my dad and I had talked about what to do with Gertrude, he kept mentioning how much he would like her to use when he drives between Riverton and Dubois so he didn't have to put all those extra miles on his company truck. While continuing to tell him I wanted to give it away to someone without knowing who yet, I had secretly decided to give Gertrude to him for Father's Day. We went out for breakfast the day before Father's Day and I told my dad about the gift. He was touched and we decided that once I sold the red car and bought something new, Gertrude would officially be his.
Over the next several weeks, the red car didn't sell. I had one or two people seriously interested but for one reason or another, things always fell through. I began to get frustrated and ask God what was taking so long. During the last week of July, my dad and I were driving to the rodeo during fair week and my dad mentioned that we should give Gertrude to my older brother and his girlfriend. They only had one vehicle and that provided some struggles for them like my brother never being able to go pick up my niece from the babysitter's because she couldn't ride in his company truck. I told my dad that was a great idea and we began making plans to drive Gertrude down to Arizona for Labor Day and then fly home after giving her to them.
Shortly after making that decision, the red car sold and I was able to buy a much nicer, much newer Jeep Cherokee with many fewer miles. All signs for proceeding with our plan were pointing towards go. The week before we left, we got Gertrude tuned up and worked on and by the day we left, she was ready to go. All was going according to plan until we got about a half hour from my brother's house on the freeway and a part fell off the car. Seriously. Just dropped out from under us! My dad was driving and managed to get to a safe place to stop and we discovered what the problem was. It turned out a belt had fallen off because of the piece that fell off but my brother was able to pick up a different belt and my dad was able to get Gertrude up and running again.
When we got to my brother's house, we had about a hour or so before we had to go pick my niece up from school so I gave him the title to Gertrude while my dad and I told him about the gift. He. Almost. Cried. My big brother was so touched that he was speechless for a few seconds (and if you knew him, you would know what a big deal that was!) The gift had been given and my heart was incredibly joyful.
Throughout our few days with my brother, he would often go out to Gertrude, open all the doors and just look at her. Watching him be so excited made me so happy and I was so glad I had been obedient to God's calling. I believe I got a small taste of how God feels when He gives good things to His children. I can't imagine the excitement and joy He feels when He sees us speechless and amazed at the gifts He gives us.
I was blessed to be a blessing.
Comments
Post a Comment