I have to tell this story!

Last Wednesday, Angel woke having saturated her bed with urine. As I changed the linen I was grieved by the condition of her well-worn baby mattress. After four kids and almost 8 years of continuous use, the vinyl covering is SHREDDED and the inner layer is so threadbare. I flipped it over to see if the exposed side was perhaps the “worse” side, and in fact it was not. It was that bad.

Now, we of course are not poor. Our every need is met abundantly and we are so grateful for all the ways God provides for us. Our home is comfortable, our bellies are full and we are blessed with many, many means of entertainment. However, even after acknowledging all that, we all know that unplanned expenses are unpleasant and a new bed and/or mattress was not on our shopping list. As I made up her bed I breathed a small prayer to God, “LORD, guide us as to what to do,” and went on about my day. Some twelve hours later, as bedtime approached, I brought JB up to speed on the bed situation, and we agreed that sometime this fall, if the mattress could make it that long, we’d buy at least a mattress and just put in on the floor. You know how kids are; the older ones would probably even be jealous of her fun conditions.

The bed was all but forgotten these last two days. Then this afternoon, after church, we went home where I left the family to eat lunch and start cleaning the house for the boys’ birthday party this Tuesday. I went running errands. As I was driving I was replaying a conversation in my head that I had had with a friend at church. As I was congratulating her on her new son, she asked about JB and I having more children. I admitted how much we’d like more, but acknowledged that many times it is worldly concerns that cause us pause. I confessed that sometimes I get caught up worrying about how we could afford vacations if we had more children. Or how we’d need a bigger car and that would mean a car payment and increased fuel costs to use it. She’d nodded in understanding as someone else came to our conversation and I really needed to get going home. Here, an hour or more later, I am thinking about it again and how I just need to trust Him. Because I know in my heart of hearts that these are small things to God and if He calls on us to increase our family that He will meet our needs.

As I was mediating on our conversation, and what it means to trust God, something caught my eye on the side of the road. “Was that a crib mattress? Whoa! That looked like it was in great shape. Aw man, I bet it was for sale, not for free. I don’t have a cent on me. I don’t even have my checkbook. Dumb debit-card society! Still, maybe I could just look,” I thought as I maneuvered into a side road and turned my vehicle around. As I passed back by I noticed the homeowner mowing his lawn and I saw that it was an entire crib set up. “Wow that looks good!” I thought as I parked in a neighboring driveway and jumped out of the van. As I walked over I was amazed at the condition. The man was watching me, I could tell. I scooped up this wonderful find and made a hand signal toward him and mouthed the words, “Thank you.” He smiled warmly and nodded and waved. He looked so pleased that I took it. I got it back to the van and I was TICKLED. “WooHoo,” I thought. “I want to take it right home now and show JB! No. Stay on track. Get to ALDI. Wow. I can’t believe it. The vinyl is completely intact. It looks hardly used. Wow. God, thank You. That is amazing. I can’t believe it.” My smile was ear to ear and I was slowly coming off of Cloud 9. As I did, I tried to find the train of thought I had been in before it all started. And then it dawned on me. He provided. For all of my needs. A crib mattress! He sent me a crib mattress. It is so comforting to know that He will look out for and provide for us. Trusting Him is so often an exercise for me, but one that I am SO blessed by!