Answered prayer

I have been leading a women’s Bible study group at my church on prayer. From the time I felt like this is what God was leading me to do, I have had one thing after another come up to interfere . When we were thinking about moving, I decided to shorten the study to just 3 weeks long so that I would be finished before the potential move date. We didn’t move, so I could have continued longer, but felt like I needed to stick to the time-frame I had published and announced. I thought this was mainly important, because between the four of us doing the study, we had 5 toddlers, 4 of whom are all a year old, and my friend who had volunteered to baby-sit so we could study had agreed to do so partly because she knew it was just for a brief time. Today was the last day of our study, and I found myself wishing we could continue. These ladies are my friends and a great encouragement to me, and I have seen God use this study to really grow all of us in our walks with Him. Well, today when I showed up, I found out that our five precious, energetic kiddos had so exhausted T, my friend doing child-care last week that she had called in another friend (J) for reinforcement this week. That confirmed in my mind the fact that I couldn’t possibly ask T to continue to do childcare if I extended the study, but I didn’t know who else to ask, and couldn’t imagine focusing on a study with all our kids around. Then as we were wrapping up, S expressed how much this study had encouraged her. She suggested that we continue to get together Monday mornings, but without childcare. As she put it, we could basically do a playgroup, but try to also find time to continue to pray together and for each other. You could call it a toddler-pray-and-play-group. I am so excited about this solution. I feel like it’s just a perfect answer to prayer – a way for our kids to continue to play together and for us to continue to be able to encourage each other. I should have known that God would conclude our prayer study with such a clear answer to prayer!

Another answer to prayer- we have realized lately that some of our furniture is badly in need of updating. I have to cover our table with a tablecloth whenever we have company, because it is eclectic “early marriage” style which means the tables and chairs don’t even come close to matching. Then when company leaves, I quickly remove the tablecloth, as my son who is very fond of food, will use it to gain quick access to whatever is on the table. We also have to be careful who sits in what chairs, because they are beginning to fall apart. I have been looking for replacement table and chair sets both in the stores and the classifieds, but haven’t found anything quite right. Either it wasn’t what we needed, or it was perfect, but too much money to justify at this point in our lives. My mother-in-law is thinking about updating her table and their old one would be perfect for us, but I’m not sure we can wait! Well, today when J came to help T with childcare, out of the blue she asked me, “Could you use a new kitchen table & chairs? We have one that we were going to call the Salvation Army to come pick up, but I thought I would offer it to a family from church first.” She recently moved and has a table that is too big for her current kitchen, but too small for her dining room. While it won’t expand for family gatherings, the size seems like it will be perfect for our everyday needs. The style she described is exactly the same as some that I have looked at and thought about buying brand new. I never told J we were in the market for a new table or that our current one was about to drive us batty, but God knew and here J was offering this to us. Wow. We plan to go by this evening to pick it up. Hubby said, “Who knew this morning that tonight we would eat desert around the new kitchen table that we’ve been praying for?”

As if that wasn’t enough I got home and found a form in the mail saying that I may be able to take a tax deduction or credit for the tuition I paid for a graduate school class earlier this year.

There are still plenty of things I am praying for, especially with hubby’s job change rapidly approaching, but it is so encouraging to see God work in these ways. I know he will continue to provide for all our needs and even more as we seek to follow Him.

Update: We got the table and it looks great! It’s so solid and sturdy! Maybe I’ll post a photo tomorrow. Now I can freecycle our old table and chairs, and maybe bless someone else.