What's on Your Mind '09- God in the Ordinary

Karen from Surviving Motherhood is hosting a blog carnival. The topic is seeing God in the ordinary day to day. Wow! There are so many times I see God's Hand in my life daily, how can I begin to share them? I believe when we seek God with all of our hearts, we will see Him in the ordinary. He is always there...His fingerprints are all over our lives. We just need to begin to slow down enough to see Him and BELIEVE!

Here is the info for you to ponder:

What's on Your Mind '09? is a new blog carnival which Shane at Heart Reflections began to challenge writers and encourage conversation. I am pleased to play hostess this week!So what's today's topic of conversation?

We have all heard from God when we read our Bibles, listened to sermons at church, or gone to Bible study, right? But is God limited to our “spiritual” activities? Or does He show Himself in the middle of our everyday activities, too? Share about a time when God spoke to your heart in the midst of the ordinary.

Here's my story:

Several years ago, I owned a children’s birthday party business, Party Pros, in which I planned creative, themed birthday parties. I would “do”the entire party- the invitations, goody bags, entertainment, and even an elaborate cake. I had a Pirate Party, a Dinosaur Party, a Little Mermaid Party, and the ever popular Cinderella Party.

This party was so cute! Lots of little girls dressed up, I did their hair and makeup, an invitation comes for the ball, the girls take a carriage ride, and we dance at the lovely ball. To make the girls into princesses, they make crowns and put on “gowns”- dresses cut from pink tablecloths. This party was every little girl’s “dream come true.”

Well, my business had gotten very popular and I had over extended what I could do. But, I loved doing these parties and could never turn down any parent's request. Summer months tended to be very busy, and one week I had a Thursday evening, Friday evening, and Saturday morning party scheduled.

As you can imagine, the planning and preparation is time consuming for these parties, and I had committed to too many parties so close together. So, on Friday evening, after I finished a Pirate Party, and was very tired, I began finishing the preparations for the very large Cinderella party I had planned for the next MORNING. At 11:00 PM, I began cutting 18 dresses for the little girls. After about 7 dresses, I ran out of pink tablecloth.

What was I going to do now? The pink gowns were a crucial part of the party. I knew Wal-Mart, which was open 24 hours, didn’t have pink tablecloth. The party stores where I usually found the pink tablecloth didn’t open the next morning until 10:00 and I had to be at the party for set up by 9:00.

The situation seemed hopeless. I cried out to the Lord, “God, I am so tired. I‘m so sorry- I confess, Lord, I procrastinated, and should have had this done before now. Please help me, God! I don’t know what to do! I really want the party to be perfect for this little girl. I want to do a good job for her. I know God that with You all things are possible. I trust You and know You will work this all out.”

I went to bed not knowing how God would help me, but feeling peace that He would. But, I still felt the need to control how God was going to help. So, I planned to leave early in the morning, stop at a drugstore on the way to the party to purchase ANY tablecloth, and arrive early enough to cut the remaining dresses. In my mind, I thought God’s plan would be to provide pink tablecloths at the drugstore, or some kind of tablecloth that wouldn’t disappoint the birthday girl. In the “natural,” I couldn’t see how God could help my predicament. I wasn’t expecting a miracle!

In the morning, I continued to pray. I stopped at the drugstore and purchased tablecloth, which was the ugliest floral I had ever seen. It was either the floral or black. Thinking ugly floral was better than nothing, I grabbed it and hurried off to the party.

I refused to lose faith, and continued to pray. I cried out again to God for his help. I said, “God, I have to give this to you! I know you will take care of me. I don’t know how, this seems so impossible.” In my mind, I thought God would help me cut the ugly floral tablecloths before the party began, and that the birthday girl and her mom wouldn’t be disappointed in them. I continued praying on the way to the party.

When I arrived, the mom was waiting at the door. She had an idea for the party and was hoping I would use it. This mother had been a dancer and had beautiful dance costumes that she had worn during her performances. She thought it would be very special if her daughter and her daughter’s friends would wear these costumes instead of my tablecloth gowns.

She had wanted to ask me since she booked the party, but didn’t want to offend me. Sheepishly, she asked, “Would you mind?” I was speechless.

But, this was a large party, and would there really be enough costumes for all 18 girls? Would she have THAT many? The mother and I began counting the dresses one by one and there were exactly 18 beautiful sequined glamorous gowns.

What an answered prayer- a miracle! I knew God was speaking directly to me, wooing me and whispering love songs in my ear. I have to tell you it was an awesome party and I wept and sang the whole way home. God took such care of me. He had given me the desires of my heart and saved me in such a way that I knew it could only have been him! I had limited God in my mind of what He could do, but He was so much bigger than any of my wildest dreams. Like God parting the Red Sea to reveal His glory, He had allowed the mother to delay requesting that I use her gowns so that I would understand the way His hand saved me. If I had planned on using them, I would not have heard His tender love song and seen the way He is willing to save me.

Please post your own example of God in the ordinary and stop over to Karen's to link it. Let's make 2009 a year of EXPECTING to see God in the ordinary and telling everyone about it!