He was very serious about it though and wouldn't stop looking online. These very rarely came up for sale and if they did they were always far away or across the border. He wanted a job so badly and he's not quite old enough for a regular out of the house job and we weren't ready for him to be out of the house yet either, so as he looked for a trampoline we told him that he could buy one if he raised the money himself. HOW in the world was he supposed to do that he wondered. Sell stuff, we said. We have had some crazy things lying around the farm that we either don't use, don't need or don't want anymore. We just told him if he listed it and it sold, he could have the money.
So off he went around the farm, the storage room, the shop. He listed all sorts of things and got a little bit here and there. And each time, he put it in a jar. But he was so discouraged. It seemed like it would never happen.
Around this same time I started to notice a huge change in him. HUGE. He had started to become the most helpful kid around the house. He started to try to get along better with his brother who he typically is at war with. He started to become super diligent at school. He started to show an interest in spiritual things and wanted to get baptized. He became more sensitive to sin and longed to live a righteous life. How I wished I could bless him for all his work he did around the farm. I wanted to be able to go out and buy him a gift or something to show him how pleased we were with him, but there just wasn't the extra cash. So I did the one thing I could do. I prayed and I prayed very specifically. I asked God to bless him in his language, just how God blesses me in my language. I prayed God would pour out His blessing in a way that only God could and that only my son would understand.
And one day God did. It was the coolest thing. My son had listed two saddles for weeks if not months. Out of the blue this guy called and asked if he could come by and look at one of them. He came by and told us this long life story about why he needed the saddle and we told him why our son was selling them and that he was getting all the money. Suddenly the guy asked if he had any others for sale (who does that?). I quickly said yes and told my son to run and get the other one. The guy said, "I'll take them both". My son's eyes nearly popped out of his head as that was going to get him 400 more dollars. He was getting really close to his goal even though a trampoline hadn't come up online yet for sale. He was preparing for rain. We are convinced that guy was an angel and wasn't even a real person. We are sure his life story wasn't even real and that he just got in his truck and went back to heaven. It was the kind of thing where it was such a specific answer to prayer in my son's language that I couldn't have made it up if I tried. The guy didn't know we had two for sale and he just happened to have hundreds of dollars in cash? This crazy blessing/miracle happened on the day when I had started to spiral in fear about the garden, the day when one of my garden experts told me I was up the creek. This answer to prayer for my son was also an answer to prayer by God for me as it was such a great reminder to me how God was once again in control. He showed me, "I care for your son. I'm speaking in his language. That should show you I care for you. I care for your garden."
We watched the saddle angel drive away (back to heaven) and we all just stood there in awe shaking our heads because it was so neat. Again, to anyone else, it was just a sale on kijiji that was successful. But that's not what it was. It was an answer to my prayers for my son that God would bless him and God did that.
He then listed a few more things like an old trampoline that he wasn't using anymore. I never thought it would sell. It did. On and on it went. Finally he was just a little bit short because he contributed to a couple gifts for family birthdays, etc. So we told him we would chip in the rest as he was so close. Just before this, the EXACT trampoline came up online that he wanted for half the price of new. He got them down in price to even less than half for a virtually new trampoline. It was far away, but not too far. My husband agreed to go get it with him as he was also picking up something for the winery which he also got a HUGE deal on (that's another story). So off they went.
It was apparently the sweetest thing to watch my son. My husband had prepped him on how to count out the money and make sure the bills were all together, etc, but that's not what happened. My son got out of the car and handed the lady his jar of money. She nearly died by the sweetness of the moment. How endearing is that?! She was so happy that it was going to a "good home"! She could clearly tell how excited he was.
Last night was a night of full circle rejoicing. We wanted to make sure he didn't miss the teaching moment. He had a goal - buy a trampoline. He had the process - raise the money on his own. He had faith - he knew only God could bless his efforts. He had results - he was faithful and diligent to do what we said and God blessed him. AMAZING.
What a great story. Now we have 3 trampolines again and I have to say I'm not thrilled about the danger aspect, but I pray and pray over these kids and for their safety. I know it is dangerous so I don't love that, but I do love how it keeps them so active and so fit and outside. So I'm willing to have it for now. I love the lessons that we all learned by watching this process and I love how God spoke to my son in his language.
No comments:
Post a Comment