God given...parking space!

This may sound silly, but yesterday I borrowed my mom's car so I could get all my art supplies up to my classroom. Before I got to campus I asked God for there to be a parking spot for me near my class...as it was up at the very top of the hill and I didn't want to be late! So I got there, and like the day before the traffic was CRAZY! Cars were backed up everywhere and, like always, parking spots were scarce and the competition for them was fierce! I got to the top of the hill and there was not a single spot open. I shrugged my shoulders and let out a defeated sigh and said, "oh well, maybe I was foolish to think I would find a spot, I knew it would be crowded! I will probably be late now...but it will be okay, I will get there!"

Right as I said that I stopped to let a student cross the road and low and behold! A big black truck pulled out of his parking space RIGHT IN FRONT of me! There it was! I nice shinny parking space just for me (shinny meaning the ice!)...right next to where my class was!

Was it petty and silly to ask God for something as feeble as a parking space? I don't know, but it doesn't hurt to ask right?

Did I give up too soon in believing that God would answer my prayer? Most definitely! As simple and seemingly unimportant as my prayer may have seemed to me, I still turned to my Heavenly Father for help, and this is just one more example of how many times I doubt that He has heard me.

As I pulled into the spot, I found myself once again humbled by the loving kindness of our great God! If He cares whether or not I have to carry two arms full of art supplies up... what, at least 10 flights of icy stairs or more on the way up to the art building? Dispersed between 4 or 5 equally icy parking lots in between...how much more can I trust that He cares about the bigger things in my life?

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:6-7

Now I'm not saying that I plan on asking God for a parking space everywhere I go from now on! What I am saying, is that I must humble myself and remember to be in reverence to the one holy God whom I serve. I too often forget the grace, love and mercy that He shows me every single day...which He CHOOSES to do because He loves me! I never deserve His goodness, yet He gives it to me anyway and it is my responsibility to never take it for granted, but to always be in awe of the One who provides for all my needs!

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" - Psalm 8:3-4

All I really need....is God Himself!

Life is hard and complex, full of joys and sorrows, requiring hard work at times while other times rewarding us with deep rest and warm rejuvenation. Then there is the One constant, God Almighty, who is always profoundly and perfectly good in every circumstance! His will is always carried out as He sees fit, our obedience and surrender aligns us and qualifies us to be a part of it. Our disobedience disqualifies us! My Heavenly Father stripped me to almost nothing this last year, and for a while I was devastated and I didn't understand. Now my life is quieter, less cluttered, and I have become re-acquainted with the richness and depth that a single moment can hold. The treasures God had planted in my heart were dulled and drowning in mucky puddles of busy schedules and noisy atmospheres.

Today as I type this, after a long, tense, and wearisome weekend, I find myself feeling incredibly grateful that God, in His loving kindness, brought me back to nothing, so that He could be everything again! What was cloudy in the midst of the storm is crystal clear now: There is nothing on earth or in heaven that I ever really need to know apart from the fact that I can trust in my God who loves me and is for me....everything He reveals to me beyond that is a privilege, and I should be honored...and humbled that He cares to tell me anything at all!