Happy Fall y'all! I love this time of year. We have been busy with costume parties, Halloween events, hayrides, pumpkin decorating, and football games. I hope you are absolutely loving this cooler fall weather. Well, most days..... Let's be honest we live in Mississippi (some of us) and it's still 80 every now and then until about mid-November.
This time of year is great, but it is busy. More so lately with a husband who works crazy swing shift, full-time job, full--time graduate student, full-time mom, all the wonderful hats I get to wear. I was given the most wonderful reminder this week, by none other than my precious Dani Marie, that God cares about every detail of our crazy, full, busy lives. I have to share.....
A few weeks ago I was a tad overwhelmed with work, family, and school responsibilities. I remember a particularly packed day. I had deliveries to make, errands to run, a test to type, discussion questions due, fabric to purchase for an attempt at a custom CareBear costume, and several other things to do. In my prayer time, my mind got distracted. I started to actually talk to God about the silly costume. God and I have had many a talk over the last few years, and by now I just talk to him like I would a close friend. I felt so silly though mentioning that costume request and my thoughts on how to get started. I remember shaking my head and apologizing to Him. I said, "I'm sorry, that isn't important. I need to focus on the more important things to concern you with. Let's talk about my friend who is having health issues....... I preceded to return to my important prayer matters. That was it. I thought no more about that, until in true Dani Marie fashion a little three-foot blond put me in my place.
We leave for school around 6:30 every morning. I'm an early bird, my daughter not so much. I get ready and then at the last possible minute get her up and attempt to get her moving. On Thursday of this week, we were running a few minutes late and I hurried her out the door. Then it happened.
"Dani Marie? Come on baby, what are you doing? Come on and get in."
She was standing completely still in the driveway and looking straight up.
"Look Momma! Look what God did just for me!!!!
You sweet ol' God! Thank you for making pink clouds for me today!"
I looked up and sure enough the sunrise was beautiful. The clouds were a mixture of the most beautiful pinks and purples. I didn't notice before she mentioned it. I hadn't taken the time to notice.
"Baby, they are beautiful! Why do you think God did those this morning?" I was prompting her to talk about what a wonderful, powerful creator He is, since that is what our last AWANA lesson was about. But she had a better answer...
"Momma, God knows that PINK is my favorite color! He loves me and he wanted to make MY favorite color clouds just for ME! He's such a sweet ol' God!"
You know what? She is right. I never thought of it that way. I tend to think of God as the big, powerful, sovereign God that He is. Even though He is all those things, the Creator of the universe, the Designer of every good and perfect thing, the King of all Kings, the Healer of all hurts, He is still a God who cares about our favorite color. Adults can tend to forget how truly personal our God can get. Kids don't. They get it. She got it. God cares just as much about what our favorite color is, our little moments of joy, our daily lives as He does our problems and our "important requests".
Dani Marie truly knew that God had made that sunrise just for her. To make her happy and fill her morning with pleasure, in her mind, was His purpose. The saddest part is that I never slowed down to notice until she said that. See normally the sky is blue, not pink. My favorite color is blue. Every Single Day that sky is blue, and I have never stopped to thank him for it. The one morning we saw a pink sky, Dani Marie noticed. She noticed, and she thanked God with all the excitement in the world. Her favorite color was just once, and she was so grateful. My favorite is an ongoing occurrence, and I am too busy to be mindful.
The point of all this is to say...
God cares about YOU. YOU. Just as YOU are. We know God sent His Son to die for the world, but sometimes we forget that if it had only been me in the world, He still would have done it. He is that personal. He loves us that much. That blows my mind. He WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT EVERY DETAIL. The CareBear costumes were something He wanted me to talk to him about. I didn't have to skip those, if they were on my mind and something that concerned me, He wanted to hear.
So, last night..... I told him all my plans for my attempt at "making a costume". We had a good laugh, God and I, in the store when I decided I should stick with fabric glue instead of a needle and thread. And after two hours of cutting felt, gluing a sunshine, petals, and clouds, to colorful sweatshirts, I thanked him. For listening to me rant about fabric choices, calming my nerves about having to make it "perfect", and most of all giving me a precious little girl to make the costume for. The perfect girl for me.... one who thanks God for his pink sunrises and requests a custom made CareBear Funshine costume that is sold nowhere (not even online!) to keep my life in perspective and full.
Love y'all! Check out the sunrise this week, who knows God just might paint your favorite color when you need it most.
