A Small Miracle

Here’s what I love: A small miracle.

I love to tell newly married couples the story of our living room furniture.  It’s a couch and a chair from Pier One.  Nothing fancy, but we like the style and feel of it.  We knew that’s what we wanted back when we were registering for wedding gifts.  Together, the set would be about a thousand dollars.  My ever-generous and amazing grandmother wrote us a check for a thousand so that we could buy the furniture for our new apartment. 

That new apartment happened to be in Lexington, Kentucky where Bill was starting medical school the summer of 1999.  That’s right, we graduated college in Abilene, got married in Houston two weeks later, honeymooned in Nantucket and then drove all the way to Kentucky to begin our married lives.  THAT was a busy time. 

Once in Lexington, things quieted down a bit.  We unpacked our apartment and went straight to the near by Pier One to purchase our dream furniture.  We plopped down exactly $1000 in cash for one couch and one chair.  We were so excited about it!  Our first home was taking shape.

I was hoping to find a job right away because, well, we needed money!  Bill wasn’t going to work because he was starting med school.  I searched high and low for a job, but to no avail.  I should have enjoyed my “time off” and laid by the pool at our apartment.  But, instead, I wrung my hands with worry about never finding a job. 

The little bit of money we had when we arrived, was dwindling away.  As I paid the bills for the month I realized that after I mailed the checks, we would not have any money for groceries.  With just the two of us, I estimated that $300 should be enough for the entire month, but after the checks for the bills cleared we would only have about $17.50 in checking. 

Shortly after I realized this concerning fact, I began to worry again.  I suppose we could have asked our parents to spot us some cash so that we wouldn’t have to go hungry, but neither of us wanted to do that.  Finally, I prayed that God would provide.

A day or two later, I got a phone call.  It was the manager at the Pier One.  It had been nearly 3 weeks since we bought our furniture there, but he wanted to let us know that it was going on sale and that had we waited, we would have gotten a better deal.  So, he wanted to give us the discounted price on our furniture.  And if we would kindly come back into the store, he would give us some money back. 

We jumped in the car and high-tailed it back over to Pier One where the kind manager counted into my palm $300 cash because if we had waited to buy our furniture, it would have only been $700. 

Three hundred dollars, y’all!  Can you believe it? That’s just what we needed for groceries!  Further more, we had paid cash for the furniture, so to this day, I have no idea how the manager got our information to call us about the deal.  Besides, who does that!?

Of course, the manager wanted me to turn around and buy throw pillows and accessories with that extra cash, but I had to carefully ration it out for food for the rest of the month.  (A few months later, after I had a job, I did actually go back and buy throw pillows.)

14 years later, we still own that same (slightly ragged) couch and chair.  They serve as a constant reminder of a small miracle done for two poor newly-weds in their first months of marriage. 

This is especially meaningful to me lately, as we prepare to move.  We felt like God wanted us to move, so we put our house on the market (you know that story).  And now that we’ve sold our house, it awaits inspection.  Then, we have to secure movers, pack up all our stuff and move out…problem is that we don’t know where we are moving yet.  It all sounds a little stressful, doesn’t it??

But, guess what?  I know that God will provide.  He will provide wisdom in finding our next home, strength to have a garage sale and pack up all our stuff, and He’s already generously provided the financing to make it all happen. 

Just a few days ago, I was beginning to have a mini-panic attack when thinking through all the unknowns on the path out ahead of us.  Then I stumbled across this verse in Isaiah: "Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?" Says the Lord.  (Isaiah 66:9)

God called us to move and He will bring it to fruition in these months ahead.  I, for one, will hang in there for the delivery, because, like all deliveries, it’s sure to be full of both excitement and blessing.