Craigslist Blessing.

It’s so easy to get our eyes off all the blessings God bestows. Most of them we probably missed the first time around! But sometimes something comes along that one just can’t deny is a tremendous act of God’s outpouring of love in a tangible way. We celebrate those moments and thank the Lord for them. Inevitably, life continues and can soon choke out that gratefulness we feel about said blessing.

I wanted to take just a moment to write of such a blessing, not so much for telling all of you, but to force me to slow down and concretely commemorate God’s tender provisions by putting it into writing. It’s a way of re-celebrating how intimately involved God wants to be in even little aspects of our daily lives – areas we think may be “off limits” or out of His realm of caring.

Go back with me a few weeks. Surely you remember the {dining room table} that I’ve mentioned more than once. You may recall that it came with six chairs, 2 of which were {arm chairs} that I painted and am currently using at the ends of the table. I was left with 4 side chairs that I began to refinish for use at the kitchen table. The legs got painted. I began to staple fabric onto the chairs, fabric that began as an extra Ikea curtain panel I had on hand. I struggled. I tried. I wanted to like how it was turning out and told myself this would fabulous in the end.

My sweet husband saw my struggle and noticed my frustration. He kindly encouraged me to just get rid of the chairs and we’d do something else in the kitchen. Whew! Relief. So I listed them on Craigslist with sad little pictures. Solid chairs, good “bones”, in a sad state, a perfect project for an ambitious person: $15 each.

In an hour I got an email from one woman who wanted them. The next day she was to come out, so I told another woman who emailed that they were spoken for. However, first woman emailed me the next morning to say that her husband wanted her to wait since they were in the middle of a remodel. I understood. Boy, did I understand!! I respected that she respected her, probably respectable, husband. Still with me??

I emailed second woman and told her the chairs were once again available. She was thrilled and planned to drive out the next day, double checking on my asking price. She arrived the next morning with her son. She took a look at the chairs, oohed and ahhed that they were just was she was needing. She already had the fabric she would be using to complete them and looked forward to putting them into her French Country kitchen. We chatted about big moves, major changes, following Christ, and, as she was a few years ahead in her journey through life, she encouraged me to keep believing God has big things in store for our family! She was a breath of fresh air to my soul and I was so refreshed by this woman God brought to our home through Craigslist.

As she pulled her money out of her pocket, she talked about how God laid on her heart to pay more. She handed me the roll of 20’s and insisted I take $100 for them rather than the $60 I had asked for. Wow!! That has never happened to me in the history of selling on Craigslist! I refused but her son said, “She wants to do this. Please take it.” I humbly thanked her and received the blessing she wanted to bestow.

I have begun reading One Thousand Gifts Devotional (by Ann Voskamp) after receiving it as a birthday gift from a dear friend. I pray my eyes will be more and more opened to the “manna” we are fed from God; the daily food from His hand – the food needed for just today. You see, it wasn’t just the money. It was everything about the exchange. It was the encouragement one lover of Christ can offer another. The hug one older mamma can give a younger one, as if pumping just a little more stamina into her for the day. It’s the proof that God does not give up. That He doesn’t lead you to or into something and then let you go it on your own. It’s a little sign that He will provide fellowship and communion in places least expected.

Thank the Lord with me for Darlene, my Craigslist “buddy”, and her family, and pray that they will be richly blessed by the hands of God, as she has blessed our family by her encouragement and unnecessary generosity. And pray my simple eyes will be more opened to less obvious ways God provides, though still provisions and acts of love, nonetheless.

–Beth