While we were waiting we met up with our friends and went to Downtown Disney. We
let the kids run around window shopping all the while calling out what rides
they were going to go on first and how they couldn’t wait to go to the park. It
was so awesome to see their excitement and their faith as they boldly claimed
all of their fun, yet at the same time it was rough. The enemy was working
overtime trying to create doubt and steal our joy. I went through all of the
emotions… happiness at seeing their joy; joy at seeing their faith; fear in
not knowing how or when it would all work out; doubt in myself and the decision
we made; comfort when I recalled all of the confirmations we had been given;
peace when I thought of God’s promises in the Bible. Believe me, it was a roller-coaster all of its own.
At one point, our kids looked back at us with huge smiles, excited
about something that I can’t even recall, and I felt the sting of tears. Their
little faces morphed from a look of joy to a look of confused concern and they
said, “Mommy, it’s gonna be okay. God is gonna provide. We are going to go to
the park!” My heart absolutely melted. How could I doubt when they were so
certain? Again, God was telling me to trust Him. So I did.
We planned to take the kids over to where our friends were
staying so they could all go swimming together. On the way to our hotel to pick
up our swimsuits something happened…
We were just about to call back and accept the offer for
another night of hotel when we got a message and another call.
It was the answer to all of our prayers. It was the
provision we had so needed. Even though we had been praying for it; even though
we had believed He could do it; even though we trusted that He would do it… we
were absolutely astounded.
Through 6 separate people, God provided our park tickets, the
remainder of our hotel and return trip gas money! At the last minute, when we
had nothing left to give, nothing left that we could do, no way to make
anything happen, God stepped in and provided. He put our family on the hearts
of others. He made a way where we saw none. He provided exactly what we had
planned for, but in a completely different way!
Y’all, I have never felt so incredibly loved and so
unbelievably blessed in all my life! We were surrounded by so many people that
loved us enough to bless us so immensely. God cared enough about us that He put
those people in our lives, He put us on their hearts and He blessed us doubly
with the desires of our hearts and people who will never know how much they mean
to us!
We have done life on our own for so long… this is the most
overwhelming feeling. I cannot possibly thank them enough. There are no words
to express how much their love, support, encouragement and kindness means to
us. <3
We were so excited to update everyone that had been praying
and to tell our friends when got over there to swim! The kids could hardly
contain their excitement! We were going to Disneyland the next morning, just exactly as
we had originally planned! God is so good and His love is amazing!
To emphasize the point, He blessed us again! See, Disney has these trading pins. You go around the park and there are pin traders where you can trade one of your pins for one of theirs. Any pin, you can trade for it. The kids loved doing that the last time we were here, but this time we had been so caught up with trying to take care of the big things that we never got any ordered. It wasn’t even something we had taken the time to think about. The kids had packed 2 or 3 pins from home that they were willing to trade just so they could have some fun with that, but then God provided an extra blessing just because… He loves us. The parents of our friends blessed our family with 10 pins each for trading! It was such a sweet experience, watching the last little detail fall so surprisingly into place. It was the cherry on top of the mountain of a sundae that God had blessed us with.
Moreover, and honestly, more importantly, in taking this leap of faith, our children got to see God do what He does in a BIG way. Their faith was strengthened and they got to personally experience His provision. It even brought us closer as a family. We prayed, we contended, we worshiped, we believed and we stepped out together.
So, why did I share all of this?
To glorify Him and to encourage you. Don’t protect yourself
or your children from God’s blessings. Don’t limit Him just because we are
limited. See, God isn't small. He cannot be put into our tiny boxes. He is so much bigger and grander than anything we can understand! He loves giving His children good gifts and there is no better gift than the hope we have in Him that comes from the building of our faith.
Don’t give up. Ask, knock, pray and then… pray some more. Don’t pray
with just asking, pray with gratitude, expectation, faith and receiving.
BELIEVE that He loves you so much more than you can imagine and that He delights
in giving YOU good gifts! HE. IS. GOOD. and He loves you GREATLY!
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