The Faithfulness of God

 I recognize that it has been a minute since I last took to blogging and the amount of events that have passed over the last months are too numerous to catch up on.  However, I've been thinking about the blog over the past month and the events of last week catapulted my thinking into action to dust off the blog and preserve some thoughts and memories.  And so, here goes as I find it a good place to jump back in as I reflect a little bit on the faithfulness of God.

Almost 20 years ago, Hap and I were engaged and registering for all the items that we could as we dreamed about making a marriage and home together.  We registered for towels and bowls and toilet brush cleaners and spent way too much time in Bed Bath and Beyond and Wal-Mart over analyzing everything.  While we registered for (probably) hundreds of items, one thing we didn't register for was a Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  Hap felt like it was too expensive to register for and I thought that it would be a great thing to have in our new home, maybe making a great group gift.  In the end, we didn't register for it.

Much to my surprise, at our wedding shower in Patoka, Hap's mom surprised us with purchasing us (maybe me!) a Kitchen Aid mixer.  I was shocked and very happy to receive such a gift.  This Kitchen Aid traveled to our apartment together in Indianapolis and eventually made it into our first home we purchased together on Pike Creek Blvd.  I used my Kitchen Aid mainly to make cakes or deserts or to shred chicken and loved it each time I used it.

Some years later, as we prepared to move overseas and we were getting our crate together, we again analyzed everything we would be placing into our crate.  In the end, the Kitchen Aid made the cut and while it was an American plug-in, we soon found a converter in Palestine to plug it into and it served us well during our 10 years overseas.  I learned to make home made bread and rolls, used it to make pie crusts for team Thanksgiving, made all the kids birthday cakes through those 10 years, and it was a luxury to have.  

Sometime this last January, a co-worker and friend sent me a text and asked if I knew of a small appliance repair person in our neighborhood that could repair her Kitchen Aid that she had brought from American years ago that has broken.  She thought it was actually too long gone to fix but thought it was worth a try.  At that time, Hap and I knew that we were going to be transitioning back to the States and so, as we once again sorted through home goods and made decisions about what to send back to the States, I decided to offer our Kitchen Aid to my co-worker.  Knowing the luxury that it is overseas, I knew it would be a blessing to her.  She was shocked, and very thankful, for such a gift and I was so glad that it could be used.  At the same time, I was already looking online and knowing that a new Kitchen Aid would not be in our immediate budget!  However, Hap and I believed that in the same way God built our home in Indianapolis and built our home in Palestine, He would provide all we needed and build our home in the States as well.

The second Sunday we were back home, we went to church at Hap's parent's church.  The same church that hosted that bridal shower all those years ago.  And a sweet woman came up to me and shared that she was gifted a Kitchen Aid mixer two years prior at Christmas and it was just taking up counter space because it was too heavy for her to use and she wanted to gift it to us, if we could use it.  She didn't know about our old Kitchen Aid, she was just impressed to give it to us.

There is a song that I learned overseas and I thought of in that moment, it says,

"In days of peace and days of rest

In times of loss and loneliness

Though rich or poor, Your word is true

That all my ways are known to You.

No trial has come beyond Your hand

No step I walk beyond Your plan

The path is dark outside my view

Still all my ways are known to You."

And now, as I see that Kitchen Aid sit in a home that is more than we could have asked or imagine I am reminded that God is faithful each time I see this mixer and that God goes before us and walks beside us and is faithful to never leave or forsake us.  This is a tangible reminder but I pray that as you walk through your day today, you will see the faithfulness of God in your own life and the way is loving and providing for you, each step of the way!