Today was an amazing day! I woke up this morning and saw the sun shining brightly outside my window. It was beckoning me to come out and play. So, I did just that. I went out and just basked in the sun for a while. As I gazed at the clear skies and white plains of snow, I realized that my car was buried under the aftereffects of the Snowmaggedon. I probably should get it started. Only, my battery was dead. When I finally charged it, the snow around my car didn’t let it budge, so, guess what? I had to shovel it. Let me just say – that was no easy task!!! Shoveling snow is hard work! By the time I got my car out and battery charged it was afternoon. Half my day was DONE! I was annoyed and frustrated!

That said, if the sun is shining, you know it’s going to be a good day. So, I texted my friend Katie and asked her if she wanted to go sledding. Let’s be real here though – who doesn’t want to go sledding? Equipped with our cookie sheets to use as sleds, we went to a hill near by to sled our way to pure, unadulterated joy!

For the past few weeks the Lord has been working on my heart to be intentional about building community here in Boone. While I’m usually a very friendly person, it is very hard for me to lay down roots without knowing for sure whether I will stay here or leave. But that’s a story for another day. Just know that choosing to go sledding with Katie was part of that building-community that I said the Lord was pushing me to do and I am so grateful for it. She’s pretty cool.

Once we got to the hill, we tried to sled with our cookie sheets but it didn’t get us too far. We watched all of these other people with their sleds. They seemed to have way more fun that we could ever have with our “equipment.” Then, all of a sudden, I heard someone call, “Rachel! Hey, Rachel!” I was a little taken aback that someone in Boone actually knew my name. Turns out, my friends and their kids were up on the same hill, sledding. We exchanged hellos and hugs and without Katie or me saying anything, my friends gave us their sleds and asked us to join them. So, the kids, Katie and I took turns sledding down the hill on actual sleds, as opposed to our makeshift cookie sheets. We zoomed down the hill by ourselves, we rolled down the hill together, we even went backwards, and oh, get this, I sledded my way down the hill and on to the road. It was so much fun! I didn’t care that my face was frozen. I didn’t care that my socks, in my shoes, were soaking wet. I didn’t care that my fingers were about to fall off. I was just enjoying myself!

When Katie and I finally got back into the car to come home, she said, “Isn’t it wonderful that the Lord cares about our smallest of desires?” She made a passing comment but that stayed in my heart. It’s true. I didn’t ask the Lord for a sled. Yet, He made sure we had the time of our lives. The chances of me getting off my couch on a lazy Sunday afternoon are close to zero, let alone me unexpectedly meeting friends who would allow us to use their sleds.

That made me wonder – if the Lord would care enough to fulfill a desire as tiny as going sledding, why do I doubt that He’d withhold my bigger desires – Desires to get a job, to make a living, to build a relationship, to invest in a home, to start a family? Why would I think that He would delay? You know, when things don’t go our way, or per our timing, it is so easy for us to just raise our hands and say, “Oh, God doesn’t care! If He did, this would’ve come through.” Or, “I’ve applied for so many jobs but not one of them is working out, why is God doing this to me? Does He not care?” Come on now! Seriously? Are we truly so foolish to think that the Lord doesn’t pay attention to our needs and desires? How long are we going to ask the Lord to prove Himself to us? Was the cross not enough? Is the fact that we have food, shade, clothing, family, friends, loved ones, not significantly sufficient to see His providence over our lives?

Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

The next time you feel like God’s not being fair to you, I encourage you to think about the times when you didn’t ask, but He gave; when you didn’t knock, but He opened the door; when you didn’t seek, but He revealed; when your deepest desires, minute as they may be, were fulfilled; when the waters were parted for you before today. I encourage you to remember that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever! When He didn’t fail you in the past, rest assured, He will NOT fail you now!

In closing I have to say – I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord!