Dear Friends,
Earlier this week my husband told me that the guy who was cutting our yard was no longer working for us. It's funny cause even before he told me that, i was planning to cut our grass last Friday. I went out into the garage, and much to my disappointment, there was no lawnmower. I asked my husband where the mower was and he said it was at the restaurant http://www.oldgreenbrier.com/ . I was a little annoyed but there was nothing i could do but wait til Monday til the young man who usually cuts our grass could do it. Monday, my husband told me the young man was no longer working for us. So, the next day my husband gave me money to go and buy a new lawnmower to keep at the house because they needed the other one at the restaurant.
I went by Lowe's and was checking out their lawnmowers. I noticed a lot of them were self propelled , but i didn't want one of those. My husband had bought a nice one for me last year and honestly, i was about as ungrateful as a person can be. It had all the bells and whistles but i didn't like it. I didn't think i needed one and I liked the old one i had just fine until the wheel broke off. Giving me a self propelled mower and calling it my "Mother's Day," present did not sit too well with me last year. I used it once or twice in the yard last year and although it worked great on the straight a ways, it was heavy to use to trim. So with disdain in my heart and voice i told my husband to take it to our restaurant and use it there, i didn't want to use it. Besides we had the other young man to cut the grass and he didn't need a self propelled mower.
Well, back to Lowe's this week. I walked by the self propelled mowers out front and went to the aisle the lawn mowers were displayed. A chatty salesman helped me and told me which lawn mowers came back the most. He was helpful but i couldn't make a decision right then between the cheapest and middle of the road mulch mowers, so i told him i would have to come back later. As i walked out the door, i found myself praying and asking GOD to show me which lawnmower He would have me to purchase. Would you believe the first thing that popped into my head was the self propelled lawn mower my husband had bought for me a year ago? The one i didn't like, and grumbled and complained about and was ungrateful for my husband's generous gift. I called my husband and asked him about the mower. He said he wasn't sure where it was but he would look at the restaurant when he got there. He called me a little while later and said he had the mower on the truck and he was bringing a guy in from work to cut the grass. I was a little disappointed, i wanted to cut the grass myself to get some exercise, but
i was glad to get the yard cut. He called later and said the guy had to stay at the restaurant and couldn't cut the grass and i was really glad. When he got home, we unloaded the mower, and i had to go and get some gas for the mower. The gas can was missing:). After i was all gassed up, i immediately started cutting the tall grass. Took me a little bit to remember how to engage the blade, but once i did, the mower took off and cut like a top. It didn't get bogged down at all in the tall grass like my other mowers usually did. The mower plowed through that tall grass in nothing flat and up the hill in the back yard where our storm shelter is without any straining from me. All i could think of was how thankful i was for this wonderful gift and i wondered why did it take me so long to appreciate what my husband had done for me? Maybe get a year older and slower had something to do with it.
I started thinking about the verse i shared up above that had been in my Bible reading that morning. I thought about me being slow to accept the gift of the lawn mower my husband gave me was like not wanting to accept the many gifts God wants to give us....like the lawn mower for one,. Some of His gifts come veiled in packages that we don't want....sickness, death, financial struggles, loss of relationships. I know because i have struggled with illness since my mid twenties. And as much as i have struggled with this "gift," of sickness, some of my greatest blessings from the LORD have come because of the path GOD has orchestrated for me. Blessings of people i have met that i wouldn't have otherwise had i not been sick, education i have received because of the path the LORD has guided me down. Gifts like learning to depend on the LORD to help me raise my kids and homeschool them, because i had to so very much. Now i am entering a new season with grandkids and i find myself having to depend on the LORD to be a good grandmother, and mother in law and mother and wife even when i don't feel like it. HE is strong in my weaknesses. His gift of grace to me and to you each day is a GIFT that HE gives us to DO THIS LIFE. We don't have to struggle through and try to do it on our own. He is there to "supply all my needs in CHRIST JESUS," Phil. 4:13. "His grace is sufficient and HIS power is made perfect in my weakness...therefore i will gladly boast in my weaknesses that CHRIST's power may rest upon me.." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Kind of like that self propelled lawnmower...all i have to do is hold on and it cuts!
The most important gift of all is the gift of GOD paying for our salvation with the precious blood of His Son, JESUS. "But as many as received HIM, to them HE gave the right to become children of GOD." John 1:12. This gift is free to us, because it costs GOD so very much."For God so loved the world that HE gave His only Son, but whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. But like me with the lawnmower, we often turn our nose up at this most precious of gifts and don't want to receive his salvation from the fiery flames of hell, salvation from a miserable life and all the blessings that being a child of GOD brings to us. Reading in my Bible reading this morning, God warned the children of Israel over and over, if they obeyed him, and loved him, He would bless them, and pour out this gifts upon them. If they disobeyed and turned to other gods, he would punish them and eventually send them to live among other nations, which is what eventually happened to the Jews when they turned away from GOD. When we refuse God's grace in our lives and reject His gift of HIS SON JESUS, it results in us losing so many other blessings that GOD wants to lavish upon us as HIS children.
I sure am glad the LORD led me to pray that prayer and ask HIM which lawnmower i should purchase. My husband had already purchased the best lawn mower, last year, and it was sitting in a shed, just waiting to be a blessing to me.
Do you have some "lawnmowers," in your life, gifts you have rejected for one reason or another? God wants us to be thankful and receive all of HIS gifts with grateful hearts, whether it be a lawnmower in my case waiting to bless me, or maybe it's something else the LORD wants to bless your life with. Just ask him, HE is so merciful and gracious and glad to give us good gifts if we will ask Him.
I started thinking about the verse i shared up above that had been in my Bible reading that morning. I thought about me being slow to accept the gift of the lawn mower my husband gave me was like not wanting to accept the many gifts God wants to give us....like the lawn mower for one,. Some of His gifts come veiled in packages that we don't want....sickness, death, financial struggles, loss of relationships. I know because i have struggled with illness since my mid twenties. And as much as i have struggled with this "gift," of sickness, some of my greatest blessings from the LORD have come because of the path GOD has orchestrated for me. Blessings of people i have met that i wouldn't have otherwise had i not been sick, education i have received because of the path the LORD has guided me down. Gifts like learning to depend on the LORD to help me raise my kids and homeschool them, because i had to so very much. Now i am entering a new season with grandkids and i find myself having to depend on the LORD to be a good grandmother, and mother in law and mother and wife even when i don't feel like it. HE is strong in my weaknesses. His gift of grace to me and to you each day is a GIFT that HE gives us to DO THIS LIFE. We don't have to struggle through and try to do it on our own. He is there to "supply all my needs in CHRIST JESUS," Phil. 4:13. "His grace is sufficient and HIS power is made perfect in my weakness...therefore i will gladly boast in my weaknesses that CHRIST's power may rest upon me.." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Kind of like that self propelled lawnmower...all i have to do is hold on and it cuts!
The most important gift of all is the gift of GOD paying for our salvation with the precious blood of His Son, JESUS. "But as many as received HIM, to them HE gave the right to become children of GOD." John 1:12. This gift is free to us, because it costs GOD so very much."For God so loved the world that HE gave His only Son, but whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. But like me with the lawnmower, we often turn our nose up at this most precious of gifts and don't want to receive his salvation from the fiery flames of hell, salvation from a miserable life and all the blessings that being a child of GOD brings to us. Reading in my Bible reading this morning, God warned the children of Israel over and over, if they obeyed him, and loved him, He would bless them, and pour out this gifts upon them. If they disobeyed and turned to other gods, he would punish them and eventually send them to live among other nations, which is what eventually happened to the Jews when they turned away from GOD. When we refuse God's grace in our lives and reject His gift of HIS SON JESUS, it results in us losing so many other blessings that GOD wants to lavish upon us as HIS children.
I sure am glad the LORD led me to pray that prayer and ask HIM which lawnmower i should purchase. My husband had already purchased the best lawn mower, last year, and it was sitting in a shed, just waiting to be a blessing to me.
Do you have some "lawnmowers," in your life, gifts you have rejected for one reason or another? God wants us to be thankful and receive all of HIS gifts with grateful hearts, whether it be a lawnmower in my case waiting to bless me, or maybe it's something else the LORD wants to bless your life with. Just ask him, HE is so merciful and gracious and glad to give us good gifts if we will ask Him.
I had the opportunity to go see the Hoppers this past week and been singing this song in my head all week! ..."Life is Good Because God is.." https://youtu.be/2a-JntnZcro
With all His love,
Mitzi
