don't you love how God works?

this is a story about a BOOKCASE.......or two bookcases, to be exact.

and a story about how God works things out.......in small, but mysterious and exciting ways!!

this picture is one of two bookcases that i have somewhat recently inherited from someone who was generously giving them away. they came from a friend of Heidi's who just wanted to find someone who could use 2 bookcases....and Heidi asked me if i would like them......i had been wanting bookcases for a LONG time.......even while living in Iowa i had been wanting a place to attractively put my book collection.....as opposed to the dingy, musty boxes they seemed to end up in........

books can't be used or seen in dirty , dingy boxes! that always bugged me to death! i would forget about them and they didn't get used as a result.......this dilemma went on for "years" for me.......so i excitedly got my bookcases in place, then went to those boxes and unpacked ALL my books! of course i had forgotten about so many of them.......like old friends, i delightfully re-visited some of them as i quickly flipped their pages...... while others i guiltily realized i hadn't even READ!!! i found many copies of old Bibles worn out and ragged, but loved nevertheless.....and old hymnals.....which my grandchildren won't probably even know what a hymnal even IS!

i lovingly got my books into categories:....MARY ENGELBREIT (of course she has her OWN category...duh)........CRAFTS.........MISC........

BIBLE STUDIES.........BIBLES...........DEVOTIONALS.........CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.......and neatly, but attractively mixed them into my shelves along with a few decorative items.......voila! done! how exciting!

ok........so i finally had bookcases and was totally LOVING them........they also were exactly what that big, blank wall had needed all along.....

now part 2 of this story:

i have a wonderful friend, her name is Sharon Hoffman and she was my pastor's wife in DesMoines.......she is an author and Christian speaker and now lives in Tenneesee........she recently wrote a book......well,she was speaking to a group of ladies in the area and we met for dinner and i got a signed copy of her new book! (and by the way, whoever reads this..........GET the book! it is great! and if you need a ladie's speaker......well..let me tell you........she is the best........she is so full of energy and love for God.........i am privileged to be her friend!!) whoo hoo! i was so excited that i had a PLACE to PUT the book!.......BUT i read it FIRST..........well.........it started me on a book reading journey........a GOD-GUIDED.....book reading journey, i might add.....i think the Lord had been trying to tell me i needed to read books that would help me to grow and that would help me to know HIM better, but because of my job i wasn't getting that done......well.....if you know me, or have read my blog from the start.....you know my job changed drastically........and guess what? i now have the TIME to read!!!! wow........and i now have books staring me in the face that i haven't read.........so after reading Sharon's book and being SO blessed by it.........i asked the Lord to direct me to the next book......and HE sent me to my BOOKSHELF and i picked up a book by my sister's pastor in DC........and started reading it.....oh my goodness......it was absolutely unbelievable, everything in that book was EXACTLY what i needed!.....it helped me so much........i have had the book several years, but had NEVER read it.........

so when it was done i asked God again to lead me.......and HE DID! and i read another book, and another........and guess what??? HE is still guiding me thru my BOOKSELVES and right now i am reading a book that PETER, my SON, the PREACHER, gave me many years ago, and i did NOT read it then............by Kay Arthur......"BELOVED".......it is a devotional, but i am reading it as a book..........and i am SO blessed as i read it and guess what again???? it is EXACTLY what i need right now, for this time!!!!! How great is that??????? just because i am in that book now......here is an excerpt:

"Have you realized that you can only understand that which God chooses to reveal to you? Have you accepted the fact that He is God and that you are mere man, and that because He is incomprehensible, there will have to be times when you will need, by faith, to cease trying to figure Him out and simply rest in His character and His sovereignty?

Oh, how good it is to become a child, to snuggle rather than struggle, to see that it is enough just to accept the fact that He is the Father and you are the child. Young children do not try to understand their father; they simply take him at his word.

Have you been struggling? Are you confused because you cannot figure Him out? Do you wrestle with "whys" and "hows"? Snuggle--just snuggle like a child. You are in His arms. When you do, what rest you will find for your tormented soul!"

oh my....i needed that this morning.......thank you Lord.......YOU ARE SOVEREIGN and YOU ARE GOOD.......thank you for my new bookshelves.....thank you for those books that were still waiting for me to read them in the EXACT time plan YOU had for them......and THANK YOU for the other books YOU will put in my path, as i continue to grow and love you more.

.