Friday, January 30, 2009

Wow, what a day!

Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness. Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness; they will sing with joy of your righteousness. Psalm 145:6-7

Well it is late but so much has happened I need to write it down so I never forget ALL that God has done today. It amazes me how much He loves us and cares for us.

The last couple of weeks have been full of spiritual attacks,and today God showed Himself in a MIGHTY way. This morning I was remembering what this verse and standing strong on the Word of God!

One scripture that came to mind was ... Ephesians 6:10-12; A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.

We have been getting ready for this garage sale all month and several people have been so kind to donate items for us to sale. It has been such a blessing. Looking at the calendar for the next several months this was the only weekend that was a payday weekend that we knew we had available (before soccer starts) to do this sale. On Tuesday I went to the American Classified (Thrifty Nickel) to place our ad. Everything was going good.

I took off work Thursday and Friday for the garage sale. On Thursday our van had a indicator light come on, our mechanic thinks it should be somewhat easy to take of. We will deal with that on Monday. At 9:00 Thursday night I finally had time to check the Thrifty Nickel and make sure our ad was in it. Well it was NOT there. I couldn't believe it. It was the only place we advertised in and living where we do you HAVE to advertise. There is no "drive by" traffic only those who live out here. Long story short I was very frustrated. I was able to get a hold of someone at the Standard Times and place an ad for Saturday but that didn't help get the word out for Friday. Mark spent some time with me praying and encouraging me.

We got up this morning and got the kids ready for school and set things out to have a garage sale. I made 2 signs and Mark put them out on his way to take the kids to school and go to work. I had 3 people stop by before 9:00 and then I had about 30 to 45 minutes with no one there. Brian brought over a few more things for us to sell and had suggested the church send an email out since this was for our move to Africa. I couldn't believe that. He called a little later to let me know they were for sure going to do the email. From 9:30 on I had a steady flow of people until I stopped at 2:30.

I have to share with you SOME of the things that happened today ...

This morning I checked my Facebook before the sale and one friend had written me a sweet and encouraging note.

A friend of mine from church and her mom came by mid morning to shop and just encourage me. I am so thankful God has placed her in my life.

One girl came by (I had never met her before, she just saw the sign down the street) and looked and asked if she could set some items aside and go get some cash. I told her that was fine as long as she cam back today. Before she left she asked if she could give me some things to sale in the garage sale tomorrow. I told her that would be great. Well she came this evening and paid (telling me to keep the change) and then she gave me two huge black trash bags full of nice clothes, shoes, belts and purses. She even gave me a box of hangers.

When I was cleaning up I had 1 table still out and an older lady drove by and stopped in the street and rolled down her window. She asked me if I had any furniture, I told her what I had. Then she spotted a plastic pot in my garage under some tables and asked me how much they were. I went to look and carried them out to show her. She bought two and handed me the money through the window and then popped her trunk so I could put them in. She never even got out of her car. It was so funny to me that I was selling things even as people just drove by and didn't even get out of their car!

When I picked the kids up from school one of Brit's friends asked if we needed help. She offered to come and help us in the morning. We had her come stay the night with us tonight and willing to wake up early and help.

So many more things happened today. God certainly had His hand on this sale and we want to give all honor and glory to HIM and HIM alone! I can't wait to see what He has in store for us tomorrow.

We did sell a few things last week to some neighbors and made $78. Today with no ad in the paper and living on the 2nd last street in PaulAnn, we made $733 giving us a total so far of $809.


If you are still reading thank you so much for your prayers and support. I can't wait to report what the Lord does tomorrow. It is after 11:00 I better get some rest.

Update ... It is 12:19 am and I just checked our email to find a sweet and encouraging email from a lady we go to church with that said she is praying for us and will financially support us. God continues to amaze us!!!

1 comment:

Toni Steere said...

Wow...God is so good and so FAITHFUL. Sometimes our vision seem so limited from here...actually it is limited from here. God can see the whole view and His plans and ways are just too amazing for our tongues to express, too amazing for our minds to conceive, too amazing for us to even "think of or imagine!" Tonight I was flipping through my Bible and found a yellow post it note. It was from a time when I worked for Franklin Graham and had been under great attack. Had just returned from the mission field - a two year period and was just worn out. The post it notes a long list of things that God had done just in that week to remind me that while things may not seem to go right at times He is in control and He's working out His sovereign plan inspite of it all.
It's so encouraging to watch as God continues to confirm His call on your lives as a family to be "on mission with Him." Thank you...your lives, call, and heart have been so refreshing to me. Your family means more than words could express.