A Hug from God

This weekend I really wanted to go garage saleing since I hadn't been in a while. Either we've had appointments or there just wasn't many out there to go to, but this Thursday I didn't have much going on so I planned out my strategy from Craigslist, wrote down all the directions, and was ready to go the night before. One problem- I didn't have any cash on hand. I really didn't want to have to stop at a store to get cash back on my way so I started searching around the house to find some. I found $2.35. Not going to get me much. I went to check my stash (aka the garage sale fund) and nope, nothing there either. I was looking through a drawer and I told God that if there was money in there, then I was supposed to go and if not, I was to stop looking. All of a sudden, I found a little cup with a bunch of quarters in it! I didn't even remember putting them in there. There ended up being almost $10 there! I got excited thinking this was my sign. LOL. So now I was up to $12.35 and after raiding Chris' wallet (I asked first), I had $18 or $19. Enough to find a few good deals. (:

I had read somewhere to pray before you go garage saleing for God to bring forth what you need (and to even have a list so you don't buy alot of things you don't need!). So the night before, I prayed that God would bless me and, in a deeper way, just let me know that He is listening and truly cares about the little things that matter to me. I went back and forth if this was silly or being selfish or whatever, but I think it was more about hearing from God than just getting good deals. I just wanted to feel His presence in my life and I just love it when He reveals Himself to me in those special ways that were meant just for me. So after feeling peaceful that I should go, I set off at 8 am. The best part was that Chris watched the kids while I went. Love him!

Well, I found the sales easily but didn't find anything really worthwhile. It was fun to go out but I wondered why God had given me my "sign" if I wasn't going to find anything. I still felt like I had "heard" from Him that I was supposed to go garage saleing that day, but went home after an hour or so wondering if I was just imagining things.

Side note: I was even more bummed since a subdivision sale that I like to go to every year was going on that weekend, Saturday and Sunday only. Well, Sunday we were having our kids' birthday party so that was out and a few months ago, we had started dedicating Saturday as our day of rest, worship and family time. We try not to do our regular hobbies or activities on that day and just spend time with family and in the Word. So I wanted to commit to that and not go garage saleing on Saturdays anymore. So as you see, that whole sub sale was out. We have seen so many blessings from God since observing this day this way that I knew God would provide other ways, and that I didn't need to go to that sale. I trusted that God would bless me for obeying Him.

So back to the sales...When I was looking through Craigslist on Wednesday night, I saw a posting for a garage sale on Friday that was advertising teacher items for sale. I am always on the lookout for those sales. (: It didn't look too hard to find so I decided to go for it on Friday. As I turned on the street, I realized it was a sub sale- and a big one at that!! Isn't God neat! I could tell right away that this was going to be good. (: I went right away to the teacher sale to see what they had first. I walked up and found like 10 boxes of teaching materials- idea books, kid's books, posters, manipulatives, all kinds of stuff. I didn't see any prices so I asked the lady how much things were and she said 25 cents! I was like oh, the kid's books are 25 cents, and she's like no, 25 CENTS FOR ANYTHING! She was an elementary teacher and was switching grades so she just wanted to get rid of it! I am thinking to myself, Um, okay, play it cool, don't start doing the happy dance right in front of her. Okay, thanks, I say, and immediately start my pile. After a few minutes, I am filling box after box of items. After 20 minutes I am still at the pile, and haven't even looked at anything else in the sale! LOL! Finally, I bring my pile (3-4 boxes/crates!) to get added up. I didn't add it myself but even at 25 cents each I am cringing for the total. The wife tells the husband to just figure a price and he takes one look and is like, Oh I'm not adding all that up, how about $10 for all of it? Seriously?? I couldn't get my money out fast enough! He even helped me take it to my car! As I was leaving the lady comes over and says, if you want to give me your number, I'll call you after the sale and give you a good deal on what's left over! She said she's just going to donate it anyway. I said if you are just going to donate it, I have a homeschooling group that you could donate it to! She said that would be great! I couldn't believe it. There was still a TON of stuff left.

Here's a picture of stuff from just two of the boxes I got. Yes, those are "big" books on the left. I've always wanted some since my classroom teaching days. (:
So needless to say, as I was driving home (after going to a few more sales in the sub), I said, Okay, God I take it this was your "blessing" for me! Way more than I expected. How cool is that! I totally felt like God had just given me a hug. It was one of those things that you hoped would happen but knew it was somewhat petty and unimportant, but God cared about it anyway. I felt like He just wanted to bless me that day and knew just how to do it- good deals on school stuff! LOL!! I love how He loves us!

Oh, and sure enough, the next day after the sale was over, the lady from the sale calls and says she had SEVEN boxes of items left over (she even found more in her basement) and that I could just come and pick it up! It filled the back of my car! When I was there, we got talking about my homeschooling group(s) and she said that she would keep my number and when the teachers at her school have their end of the year clean out, I can just come and take whatever I or the groups want! They just throw it away anyway (apparently the school itself can't sell the stuff that is federally funded, but the teachers can donate their own items). I couldn't thank her enough. I really hope that happens because it would be such a blessing to the groups, and me too! I am so excited to see how God provides, even more than we can ask for!!