Lately, God has been using our furniture business to teach me faith in a new way and I had a large dose of humility to wash it down.
I had been praying for my husband.
Specifically, to have direction with the business.
I felt like God wanted me to pray for my husband to hear Him and then to act upon what he heard.
I also felt God warning me.
I was to trust my husband to hear from God and not to get in his way by having a crummy attitude.
Which surprised me, I thought I had a good attitude about the business, but I prayed for my husband to hear and for my heart to be obedient.
The same day, just a bit later my husband calls me.
He had purchased the contents of a storage unit.
He hasn’t done that in months and we had an agreement from a previous experience to not purchase anything without running it by the other.
At first I felt bewildered and slightly offended that he hadn’t asked my opinion about it before purchasing.
My mind started down the, “but what about.. !?”
Thankfully, the Lord reminded me of the prayer before I said anything.
So, I began to pray for God to help me get my attitude sorted out.
When I received the pictures of the unit, it became more difficult.
It wasn’t a dirty unit, as some are really gross.
But I honestly couldn’t see much in the way of furniture.
There were two nightstands, but those don’t sell well.
There was a cute metal outdoor table and chair set.
It was weathered and would need paint.
Other than that, I couldn’t see anything we could turn.
There was a bike, a plastic and pressed board shelving unit, and what looked like two flat panel doors, all of this would cost us a fee at the dump.
But God had spoken and I kept praying.
The next day we went to get the stuff.
Imagine my emotion as we pull in with our truck and trailer only to discover it had 6 parking spaces (all full) and a drive, no place for us to be save the side of the drive.
When my husband came back from the office, he also told us the unit was on the third floor of a very clean building.
I would have to stay in the truck, because I can’t handle the odor from cleaning products.
I did a lot of praying.
As we loaded things into the truck, my struggle increased.
Since I was stuck at the truck, I got to start going through the boxes.
I really don’t like going through boxes.
The Lord was so faithful, and continued to remind me to trust Him.
Thankfully, nothing awful had been boxed up, although there wasn’t anything of value either.
When the table and chairs came down, I knew we would be able to make our money back.
They were nice and wouldn’t require much work, we hadn’t wasted our money or time.
It was the proof I needed, God was in this.
Which was perfect timing because the black plastic and pressed board shelving unit was less than exciting, then there was a bunch of weird shaped metal pieces, and the “doors” turned out to be heavy and difficult to load.
By the last load I wasn’t struggling anymore, and God was just beginning my lesson in humility.
It began with a surprise.
A large sleigh bed which matched the nightstands.
“Well, praise God! What a blessing!”
My husband was happy too.
He told me until it had gotten uncovered he was questioning if he’d heard the Lord correctly.
I felt badly, because I hadn’t been as supportive as I should have.
In fact, I was sure my attitude was what had caused his doubt.
I asked him to forgive me and told him about my prayer and how God was teaching me.
In my heart I again repented for my struggles with distrust and thanked God for His faithfulness.
The next day my husband came from looking everything over.
“You know those two heavy pieces? The ones that look a bit like doors? They are tables and we have all the pieces for them, that’s what those weird hunks of metal are. I’m really glad, we can sell both of them. It means we don’t have to sell the outdoor table and chairs.”
“Babe, why wouldn’t we sell them? They will look really nice once we paint them.”
“They match your chase lounge.”
I just started at him, not really sure what was happening.
“Honey, I know how much you miss having a table and chairs outside, that’s why I wanted that unit in the first place. They will look so nice with your chair once we paint them to match.”
I hadn’t even told my husband how much I was missing having outdoor dining!
I’d prayed about my desire more than once, turning it over to the Lord and asking Him to help me be content with what He has provided.
Talk about a lesson in walking with the Lord!
Here my hubby and the Lord were simply trying to bless me and I’m having an attitude, because I completely miss what’s actually occurring.
I thanked my husband and the Lord.
And I prayed again that my heart would learn to trust.
I can only imagine the mess I would have made if God had not already been working.
Instead of shame and regret, my heart was and is full.
Full of peace, that God is guiding us, full of love I don’t deserve, and so thankful for His patience.
I’m so blessed.
And by God’s grace I’m learning to walk in humility.
Proverbs 29:23 KJV — A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank You so much for Your faithfulness, patience, and guidance. Lord, thank You for speaking to my husband and leading our family through him. Lord, please continue to teach me to put off pride, fear, doubt, and distrust. Lord, continue to draw me back to Your ways of love, trust, truth, humility, and peace. I know You are so good and there’s nothing I need besides You. Thank You for this lesson in humility. Thank You for showing me my pride and distrust. Please continue to”remove the dross”. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.
patientlyhopeful 