What Do Downy and A Car Have In Common?

God blessed us with both of them last Friday!

One of the perks of being in pharmaceutical sales, is that they give you a company car to use while you trek from office to office; however, even before Jeremy lost his job with Abbott in July, we knew that eventually we would need another vehicle to get him from place to place-- or to a new job. We also knew that we've gotten ourselves into a heap of debt purchasing vehicles and we are committed to living a new lifestyle. Meaning: We would not purchase a vehicle that required payments.

If we didn't have the cash, we didn't have the car. Period.

So Jeremy made a list of prayer requests and posted them on our refrigerator. One of those was for a vehicle, but when he was hired on with inVentiv for the Bristol Meyers Squibb contract it delayed the necessity of a vehicle for us, and we really didn't think much more about it.

Fast forward to lay-off numero dos...(you can figure out the need again, right?)

Well, simply stated, we just weren't worried about it. We resolved to be wise and we resolved to trust God to provide whatever we need, when we need it. And He did.

On Friday evening a friend showed up at our house with a title and keys to a new vehicle. They didn't know that we were praying for one until after the Lord had already told them that they were to give the car to our family. Ah-maze-ing.

We've never personally experienced the Lord moving quite so obviously to meet our needs, and I don't think that I even possess the words in my vocabulary to express my thankfulness to either the Lord or our friends. But my heart is filled with gratitude.

Oh yeah...As for the Downy? Well, my friends, God is in the little details too, because that same Friday morning I was throwing a load of laundry in the washing machine and realized that I was almost out of Downy...and I detest paying for Downy, but I really love the results (and I haven't had the same results with generic, I've tried; However, I do make my own laundry detergent. I digress...).

In any case, when I took Parker over to my parents to spend the night, my mom just happened to have a HUGE bottle of Downy waiting for me-- and she didn't even know that I needed it. (And contrary to popular belief, just because she is a cleaning marvel, she is not typically in the habit of gifting cleaning products to me!) Cool, huh?

So friends, be reminded today that God is in the details. He loves me. He loves you. And most importantly, He loves it when we love each other. He can perform miracles...and He does. But it makes Him especially overjoyed when he uses us to do the miraculous work of blessing one another.

It is well...

"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life." Philippians 4:6-7

I'm Jack

I assume that you've all heard the phrase, "Jack of all trades, master of none." Well, sometimes that little ditty just sing-songs it's way throughout my mind for better part of any given day. It's annoying. Moreover, it's annoying because I can't stop thinking of myself as Jack. Something about it just doesn't sit quite right.

And frankly, I think that being "Jack" is depressing.

Something in that phrase leaves me feeling lacking. Like even though Jack dabbled in a lot, he somehow still came in last place.

I promise that I'm not on a quest for perfection. That would only leave even the best of us feeling inadequate and disappointed. But as 2010 sweeps in, I am on a mission to live with Intentionality. It makes me wonder whether or not Jack was an intentional sort of fellow.

What does intentionality mean anyway? For this wife, mommy, daughter and friend, it means that I commit to live with intention and purpose. I commit to ask the Lord what His purpose is for me and then live intentionally to see that purpose through.

Do you know what the opposite of intentional is? Haphazard.

Jack just seems to be a little bit haphazard to me. I don't know why. It's not a fair judgment, but that's just how that jingle plays out in my head. The idea being, "Lots to do with little purpose in doing it." Yech. Ugh. Eww.

It really has nothing to do with how good we are at doing anything; It has everything to do with how intentional we are in doing everything.

I guess I'm just fine with being a "Jack of all trades" as long as I'm doing life with a Live.Love focus. At the end of this year, the only thing that I hope and pray that I've mastered are my own intentions. And that in doing so, I've set aside or thrown out my ideas and efforts in exchange for His.

Because He is the master of all trades-- and I'm just Jack.