Good Gifts

Last summer I was at my daughter, Sarah's home.  Her 7 year old son, Jayden had come home from playing at the neighbor's home with very muddy shoes.  He was in big trouble!  As he and I worked to clean up his shoes, I thought I should get him some rubber boots for his upcoming birthday.

Normally, this would not be a difficult thing to do. However, Jayden wears a mens size 5 shoe.  I thought I could go ahead and get a size 6 so it might fit him more that a couple of months.  As his birthday was approaching, I went to a local sporting goods mega store.  They had all kinds of rubber boots but the only ones in a mens size 6 were over $100.  Now, I love my grandson but come on. He will be lucky to wear these for six months before outgrowing them.  There was no way I was going to spend that kind of money for some rubber boots.  I found the same problem at the only other large sporting goods store in town.

No problem, I thought.  I will just order them online.  There were a few books that he wanted as well so I ordered the books and the boots in plenty of time for them to arrive via Amazon.  I am not an Amazon Prime member so there was no next day delivery.  I had plenty of time and even though it said delivery in 8-10 days, orders always came in much sooner than predicted.  Even if it took the entire time it would not be a problem to have them before I would be making the 90 mile drive for his birthday party.  No worries.  One click of the button and my order was off.

I waited and checked on the order.  Within a day or two, one book shipped.  Finally another book shipped.  The boots had not shipped yet.  The weekend came.  Nothing else shipped.  Monday was Labor Day.  Tuesday the last book shipped.  His birthday was Saturday.  I was speaking at a women's conference Saturday morning and then driving straight from there to their home for the party that would already be in progress.  I had to have it by Friday night in order to take it with me on Saturday.

I was praying, "Lord, let it come in time!"  "Lord, let it ship today!"  Every day I was praying and it was not shipping!  Why had I not had it shipped to their house?  Why had it not shipped yet?  I was agonizing over rubber boots!  I did not want to go with just the books, even though he had told me exactly which ones he wanted.  Let's face it, when you are turning 8 years old, books are just not that exciting!

Finally on Wednesday when I checked the progress of the order it showed that the boots had shipped but it did not show an expected arrival date.  Why not?  It always gave you an expected arrival date!  On Thursday, the last book that had shipped on Tuesday was supposed to arrive.  It did not.  When I checked on the boots, it just said they had left the originating facility.

Now I was really stressed about this!  I did not want Jayden to think I had not planned ahead for his birthday or that I had not thought about him.  I had put a lot of thought into these crazy rubber boots but they still weren't here!  I kept praying they would make it in time.

On Friday morning, the tracking said it had arrived in Springfield and been sent to USPS for delivery.  That is what the book had said the day before but it still had not shown up.  Would the boots make it?

I got home from work about 9:00 Friday night.  The boots and the last book were there!  I got his gift wrapped and ready for the party the next day.  Big relief!  As I prayed and thanked God, He said to me, "Do you think you love Jayden more than I do?"  No, of course I don't!  As much as I love all my kids and grand kids, it could never come close to the love that God has for them!

Then God said to me, "Do you think I love you less than I love Jayden?"  I knew the answer was another no.  In my mind, I know God loves me but I struggle thinking that God has good gifts for me.  That He will take care of me and provide for me is hard for me to accept.  I don't feel worthy of His love and provision.  Then He brought this Scripture to mind:

Matthew 7:11 (New Living Translation)

"So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him."

What a comfort to know that we have a heavenly Father who loves us more than we could ever fathom!  He will give good gifts to us.  We only have to ask Him!

1 John 3:1 (The Passion Translation)

"Look with wonder at the depth of the Father's marvelous love that He has lavished on us! He has called us and made us His very own beloved children.  The reason the world doesn't recognize who we are is that they didn't recognize Him."

My prayer for you is that you do recognize Him and know how great is His love for you!

Oh, and the boots?  Jayden patiently waited for everyone to leave, slipped on his boots and ran down the street to his friends house to play in the muddy creek out back.