Good Gifts
Mike Quimby
I love giving gifts to people. It’s fun picking out something we believe they will enjoy. I think I have said this before but I am shopping for Christmas presents the day after Christmas every year. Sometimes it is even hard for me to keep presents a secret from my family or friends because of my excitement. I love getting gifts or planning special surprises for my children!!! It truly is one of my favorite things. I have usually thought about their gifts for Christmas or Birthdays months in advance. And truth be told,I am much more excited for them to open their presents than I am to receive gifts. I really believe God loves giving gifts to His children too. I truly believe He is giving them all the time and we need to be more aware of them or maybe willing to accept them.
According to worldometers.com there are over over 7,459,107,955 people in the world. This is an extraordinary number! I am just one of those people here on Earth. So it’s pretty incredible when God does something just for me. And I’ve had many of these moments in my life and its makes me feel incredibly loved. To be remembered and thought of by anyone makes you feel special, that whole feeling gets magnified by infinity when the Creator of the World gives you gift.
So I want to share some of the amazing ways God has shown His love to me. They are truly gifts from Him because no person could know me the way He does. His timing is always perfect.
This first gift happens quite often for me and I really believe it’s Gods way of showing me His love. Traveling with three little kids for any excursion is always a bit chaotic. Going to the store is an adventure and finding parking can sometimes be tricky. Very often a parking lot can be very full and we’ll find one parking spot right up front. Whenever this happens I thank God right away. I
There have been some stressful mornings! I’ll be honest most mornings get a bit crazy here at our house. Some mornings I leave feeling so guilty because someone’s crying and I have to go work. During my drive to school sometimes a song will come on the radio and I know God wanted me to hear it. These moments usually involve me getting to school with tear streaks down my face. Other mornings I’ll see a magnificent sunrise, a red sky with beautiful clouds or a huge glowing moon. God shows Himself to me through nature because He knows it calms my soul. He knows exactly what I need and lets me know He’s with me.
During Mike’s time in the hospital, rehab and his transition home it was an incredibly difficult time for our family. It’s one of the times in my life where I questioned and doubted so much. I had no idea who I could really trust during this time. It was one of the loneliest times in my life. Because the hurt was so deep on many levels I pretty much isolated myself from the world. I needed time and God knew that. But even in my isolation He sent me people at the perfect time to show His love to me and my family. One day I had to go to post office and I tried to go everywhere quickly in hopes of avoiding talking to anyone. Yet on this day I was spotted by a kind women from church and she came over to my car before I was able to pull out. She looked at me with the kindest eyes and said, “Sweetie I was just praying for you this morning.” And then she asked how I was doing. She was genuine and had little tears in her eyes and I felt like God was letting me know I could trust her. This woman continued to be the hands and feet of Jesus to me. She would write me letters, drop off a meal or send me a small gift.
This past summer we had the joy of visiting Mike’s family in Maine. We absolutely enjoy our time in this beautiful state. I love the rocky coast and everything about southern Maine. It’s one of my favorite places ever. We decided at the very last minute to make a change in our trip and visit York Harbor. Mike and I had vacationed there prior to having children and we were so eager to share this special place with them someday. This was the peak of the tourist season and we were able to get a room right on the ocean by our favorite beach. But the part which completely confirmed to me God was blessing our decision to be there was when we had the entire beach to ourselves. We got to watch our three children run free on a beach, splash in the ocean, chase seagulls and have an amazing time. I remember sitting there, thanking and praising God for this day. Only HE could have given us this incredible time to have a beach to ourselves for just our family! That day filled Mike and me with such peace. We felt God’s love on our family in a big big way that day.
And now the whole reason the idea this blog post came to me today. Last night while I was looking on Facebook, I saw a post from a women who owns a boutique in Clarence NY. She was giving away a beautiful wrap. I love her shop and I love her. She has been a prayer warrior for my family. She radiates Gods light! She has unique items in her store and only a few of each. So I sent a photo of this item to my mom by email late at night with a short note asking her to see if she could find this item for me. Yes I am 35 years old and asking my mom to go shop for me (I promised to pay her). Well my mom had a day full of errands and hadn’t checked her email. I tried to explain this item to my mother over the phone when we talked around noon. She was going to try to get the shop later in the afternoon once she had done a Halloween event with my nieces along with some errands. So around 4:00pm my mom walked into this little shop in Clarence. Once she was in the shop she saw the owner of the shop coming out of the back storage room holding the exact item I sent my mother in to find!!!! My mother told her the reason she was in the store and both women realized it was a God moment! The owner had sold three of this item today and only had two left! One of which was the giveaway I saw online. I know to some of you this may seem silly but I feel Gods timing was in this. For the owner to be holding in her hands the exact item I sent my mother in for at that time!!!
For years I have loved the verse 1 John 3:1. See what quality of love the Father has given us, that we should be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! The reason that the world does not know us is that it does not know Him.
We really are His children and He lavishes us with his love and care. Even in the little things, like a piece of clothing! But truly His greatest gift to us is His Son. Jesus. He sent His Son to this Earth for us and for Him to be with us. And not only that, He watched His Son die for us as a sacrifice for every single sin we’ve done or will ever do. There is no greater gift of love than this. And all that God wants is for us to accept this gift. He wants you to make your own choice to pick Him. He doesn’t force us to choose Him because He’s given us free will. I hope and pray that if you have not made that decision to ask Jesus to be Lord of your life that you would consider to do so. I promise it will change your life. Please feel free to reach out to me personally if you want to make this commitment in your life. I would be happy to talk with you and pray with you.
Love and Blessings to you all. May you be more aware of God’s gifts to you.
