Yesterday was an AWESOME shopping day. I never shop. I actually have learned to detest shopping for clothes. It takes too long to drive there - all the malls are a half hour away - I never have enough time or money to do the amount of shopping I wish I could do (buy whatever I want....new.....too many kids around distracting me.....) So I just make do and I always seem to have enough because of kind sisters who donate to my cause! But once in a while, I will go to the thrift store as they have a $1 sale once a month. I NEVER remember to go. I NEVER know what day it is half the time. I always forget....but this month, I remembered.
I told the two older ones at home, "Get in the car....we're going to BFM...(the old name of the store)." They love that store and so it didn't take much convincing.
I had some birthday money (thanks Mom!) and so I knew I had extra cash I didn't normally have and I went around picking stuff off the racks. I never go in there looking for me either. I'm always picking up mugs, bowls, spoons, or clothes for kids. It was very fun looking through the racks for me! I made my thrifting daughter go, too. She actually likes "thrifting", but was feeling sick, so wasn't as into it, so I had to make her look. The funny part was, when I remembered to go to the store, I literally only had 25 minutes to shop. I had to pick up the younger ones from their piano lessons. So I was scooting through that store.....I ended up leaving my 2 older kids there for 2 minutes (I'm so grateful everything is so close to me!) and came back to pick up what I was buying.
This is the funny thing - I didn't try on a single thing. No time. I figured if it didn't fit, I had lost a dollar but could re-donate it! My kids managed to throw in a few things, all a dollar, and even a basketball hoop for indoors.....the grand total? For a cart full of clothes? $36. Yup. That's it. I felt like hugging the lady behind the cash register. I left the store with my heart so full. I felt so grateful that this store, or the people in administration, or whoever it is to thank, does this sale. They don't realize the impact it has on me and my family.
We drove out of the lot trying to calculate what it would have been if we had bought everything new, assuming most new items would have cost between $20-60, not on sale. We figured it would have been between $1000-2000!!! Isn't that incredible?! And I spent $36. I have to admit, I didn't buy anything except casual clothes, so nothing over the top, but even so casual clothes these days cost a lot of money. My oldest daughter has fallen off the thrift band wagon and "doesn't ever find anything" when she goes thrifting, so being poorer than she thinks, she buys new. It is easier for her to walk into a store and see all the sizes and the latest trends, etc. She always comes home happy for a few days with her new finds, but then sad when she sees her bank account. Meanwhile, I come home happy with my bank account and happy with my finds! Sorry about that!!! I'm hoping she'll jump back on the band wagon eventually.
The day ended in the most hilarious way possible. No one will ever believe how I spent my evening last night - playing bingo. Yup, at a hall, with a bunch of people from my husband's job. It was a fund raiser. All the money I had saved on clothes got eaten up by the fund raiser itself, but it was for a good cause I guess. I sat there shaking my head all night. I had my bingo "dauber", my game cards, the chips and all the classic bingo atmosphere. It was a lot of laughs. The prizes were amazing, but sadly none of us won anything. We took my husband's parents who are now technically shut-ins because of my father-in-law's stroke and losing his license, so they had a great time! It was a lot of fun. They're already excited about next year!
Looking back over the day, I had prayed, starting off the day feeling a little low, asking the Lord to show Himself to me in some way and I have to say, by the end of the day, I had definitely seen how He revealed himself to me. I had heard a verse on the radio earlier on - Proverbs 25:2, "It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out." The woman speaking on the radio talked about how the Christian life is an adventure and how learning to listen to God's voice can be like searching for something that is hidden. He longs to show us, but He wants us to search for it. I knew what she meant as soon as she said it. That describes my walk with God all the time. I am always searching, looking, trying to discover how He is speaking to me. Yesterday was one of those adventures.
It began with my prayer in the morning. Then it became my sudden remembrance of the $1 sale. The store itself is literally down the street, 2 minutes away. I don't have to drive 30 minutes. It's in wine country, not your typical thrift store location. I remembered the sale when my younger kids were all gone to piano lessons, so it made it easier to go. Their piano teacher is the one who charges me literal pennies each week and insists on them learning hymns. What teacher does that? What teacher charges that? What teacher would allow three busy little kids in her house for an hour and a half at 70 years old?! Only a teacher given by God, who also happens to live down the street?! I was starting to see how God was revealing Himself to me. Then, as I shopped, I saw so many things that I really loved (still don't know if they fit, but I'm hoping for the best!). I felt blessed in that alone. Then, when my husband left for work that morning he was trying to get out of bingo. We thought it was going to be such a cheesy activity, but part way through the day, it occurred to us how fun it would be for the in-laws and that's when we decided to go. It ended up being the most fun ever. I got to meet a lot of my husband's colleagues and it was a lot of fun all around.
By the time I got home, I realized it had been a super day. It had started off with a prayer and perhaps looking back over the day anyone else would have not seen anything spectacular or thought it had an ounce of the Divine in it, but I, not by coincidence, had heard that verse right in the middle of the day, and I knew, yes, that is exactly what God does, and maybe just maybe, He was already trying to reveal the secrets in my day that are so easily concealed. He speaks to me in ways only I can hear sometimes. I know His voice when He is speaking to me. Looking from the outside, it was just a lady who dropped her kids off at a piano teacher's house, went shopping at a store, picked some things up, went out on a date with her husband and in-laws, went home and fell asleep - regular day. Nothing could be further from the truth - as I explained earlier, I didn't just drop off my kids at just any piano teacher's house, but the one who charges me nothing and lives 2 minutes away. I went to a thrift store, also 2 minutes away, that just happened to have a sale on the one day I happen to remember and had things I liked on the racks. Then I happen to go on a date that is supplied by the college with all my favourite people and have an insanely fun time when I didn't expect to....the list goes on and on. Yes, in a way, God "conceals" this knowledge to an outsider and even to me, if I'm not deliberate and looking for God to reveal Himself to me. It actually takes a lot of thinking and working and reflecting for me to see, yes, God answered my prayer yesterday - in soooo many ways.
I'm sure God is trying to speak to me all the time in all sorts of ways. I just don't take the time to always see it. Yesterday was a great reminder to me to pray and then watch more intentionally for how He answers. I must remember it is "the glory of kings to search things out". So search things out I will.....
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