The Little Things

Sometimes it amazes me how little changes can make me so excited and happy. The other day I went to Target with my monthly budget and we finally had enough extra to get something ‘frivolous’ that I had been wanting to get for about three months, drapery holdbacks. We live in an apartment and I had pinned up drapes to block out the streetlights at night, I had been using strips of ribbon pinned to the wall to tie back the drapes during the day because I love natural light. They would consistently fall out and my kitten loved to pull at the ribbons and shred them. The day I got the holdbacks I put them up as soon as I got home. I was so excited to have them up and there! I’m sure Nick thought I was crazy, but something that simple as those hooks to hold back our curtains made me so happy. It’s three days later and I still am in awe at how nice and easy it is to pull back our drapes in the morning. (silly, I know)

I honestly believe that is something that God understands. My family has been going through a rough season lately and one day I was talking with my momma and I knew she was down and discouraged. I’m a ‘have to do something to help’ kind of person and it was driving me crazy not to be there and be able to take her out for coffee or a smoothie to give her an hour or two to just relax. So instead I reminded her of all the times when God has provided those breaks completely out of the blue. When I was in junior high/high school we were going through a very hard financial time and in a three year period, my momma won three separate trips to Disneyland (my family’s *favorite* place). We had to stay at flea-ridden motels (but never took any home!) and ate food that we had packed for the trip but during those trips my parents didn’t fight, my sister and I didn’t argue (trust me, this is a miracle in and of itself at the time). We made my most treasured family memories during those trips. Some would say that it was irresponsible for my family to take some of what very little money we had to take those vacations, but I think that God knew that we *needed* that time away together.

God knows those little things that make us smile, and right when we least expect them He is more than willing to show you how much He loves you and that He’s still there. I have countless stories of those moments, and sometimes they’re bigger, like our trips to Disneyland and sometimes they’re a whisper, a butterfly flitting right by my window. I believe that God has written out His love for us in countless ways, if we just open our eyes to see them. Sometimes our hearts are so downtrodden that they’re hard to hear or see, but know that He *is* there, He promised not to abandon us and that He is always faithful. If you need encouragement or prayer, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email (h1s.b3l0ved(at)gmail(dot)com) and I will pray for you, that God will reach out and touch you with the little things. We are never truly alone.