Just Another Day in the Arms of Jesus

I can’t believe I missed the exit. It was the second time I had done that today and I was going north on I-5 and was scared that the next point to turn around would be 17 miles out of my way. And all for birthday presents for two of my friends. I hadn’t even found any good cards for them yet and their birthdays were this weekend. Maybe I was just being emotional or maybe it was because I had gone shopping alone and it makes me kind of sad, but I was half tempted to drive back to Salem.
The sign read “Coburg, 3 miles”. Ok, I will just get off at that exit and get back on I-5 and head back toward Springfield. Heading south, though, the traffic was bumper to bumper. At this point I had the choice of either breaking down and crying or just laughing it off. I chose to laugh it off. I guess that is what I get when I ask God to go shopping with me. He really has a special way of screwing up all my plans.
I took the exit and thought that I could just get into town by taking Coburg road. Thank God I was right. And as I was driving I saw a sign that said Springfield. Screw it, I am just going home. I will shop for the boys later. But as I headed into town I saw a ShopKo. Earlier that month I had gone to one in Salem where I had found the perfect cards for David and Billy, but had opted not to get them. So I pulled in to the store.
There they were in all their glory, the cards that I wanted for the boys. Now what to get the boys for their birthday? These weren’t just any boys or else I would not have put so much time and effort into buying their gifts. These were two boys that meant a lot to me and I wanted to show that to them by purchasing them something special. So I wandered around the store and stopped at every shiny object that caught my attention when I found it. This was the Holy Grail of all blankets. Kathryn had bought one similar for the Green House last year and I had tried to steal it (I was going to give it back eventually). It was the softest blanket I had ever touched in my life and I fell in love with it. Kathryn had said she had bought it at ShopKo and so I searched for it or something similar many times before and had no success. But tonight, for some reason, God decided to bless me and there it was. The original price was forty dollars, but it was on clearance for five.
If this was not enough that I had found the perfect birthday cards for Billy and David, God KNEW the desire of my heart for this blanket and He brought it to me. Now this whole time I had been praying to find the perfect gifts for these boys. I found something great for Billy, but was stumped on what to get David. There were only two left when I came across David’s gift. It was more than I had wanted to spend on him, but I decided he was worth it. I had almost said a half prayer to God, hoping that it would be less money. As the clerk rang up my items, David’s present came up to be less than half the amount it had said on the price tag. I was overwhelmed and so grateful to God for blessing me.
I ask God to do whatever it takes to get me to where He wants me to be( I think Kathryn was the one who coined that phrase). And He showed me that today. .Funny how it took me getting completely lost to find where I needed to go all along. God leads us down roads that we would not normally take to get us to places in our lives that are better than where we thought we wanted to go. I believe that is true in every aspect of our lives. God never takes the well beaten path and He usually doesn’t tell us where we will end up, but if we trust Him then He will lead us to places far better than we could have ever imagined. God truly does have good things in store for those who love Him.
Maybe it is easy for you, but for me it is sometimes hard to trust God. It is just a matter of perspective because I focus on the circumstances instead of focusing on Jesus. Today was just another reminder that God is so trustworthy. There is a verse in Jeremiah that says “My ways are not your ways nor are My thoughts your thoughts says the Lord.” Today I said in my heart to Him that I believed He that He wanted to bless me and love on me. He is so good.
My heart is just overflowing with awe and adoration for my Jesus and what He did for me today. Jesus, thank you for knowing the desires of our hearts and letting us know your love in every aspect of our lives. You are so beautiful and so worthy. I love you so much my precious Friend. Bless those who read this and let them know how much You care for them as well. I love you.