Don't Miss Your Gift Card.
Sometimes when something happens that requires me to wait patiently I haven't always done it with the gracefulness that I should. I, like everyone else, want things to be right now, today. But recently I am reminded of the times when God has shown us that sometimes waiting is so worth it. One particular time comes to mind, not because it was something of necessity but because it was a gift, one of the little things that God does for His children, just because He loves us.
We had been out of town taking our oldest son to a doctors visit. When he was a baby he had to have surgery on his hip. He has since had to have check ups periodically as he grew to make sure his hip and leg were growing normally. This particular visit the doctor said that he could see no reason to continue the check ups since everything looked perfect up till now. He said he was releasing him but should anything come up that caused concern to let him know.
This was wonderful news, definitely an answered prayer and we wanted to celebrate at our favorite restaurant, only problem was my husband had been put off work by his physicians due to his heart. Problems he has had since birth but now they had become much worse, so much so that any strenuous work or activity could be life threatening to him. They had told him that he absolutely could not work anymore. So in all honesty a forty-five dollar meal was something we really couldn't afford.
We were all kind of bummed that we wouldn't be able to stop there but we had decided to just eat somewhere less expensive and celebrate when we got home. We drove a little further down the road and my husband turned back. When I asked what he was doing he said he was going to take us to eat at our favorite restaurant. We seldom go out of town and who knew when we would get to again.
We pulled into the restaurant and I said, "Are you sure?" He smiled and said, "I think it will be okay this one time." So off we went.
Never before, at this particular restaurant, had we ever had to wait to be seated. As busy as it always was it was usually just a minute and someone came to seat you. This time we were asked to sit in the lobby until a table came open. So we sat, and we sat, and we waited, watching many leave and come in. There were bigger parties than ours being taken back to be seated and yet we continued to wait. Now our youngest isn't to keen on sitting still for very long so needless to say he was becoming disruptive and my husband became impatient as well. Finally, he looked over at me and said, "I'm going to see what the hold-up is." I said okay but inside I was hoping we would be the next in line, we were here and I didn't really want to leave.
In a few minutes my husband came back and said they told him they were sorry and someone would seat us right away. In just a minute we were on our way back to be seated, but as we entered the dining area me and my husband cast each other a confused look . . . it was almost empty.
(this is where it gets sweet)
After we were seated my husband looks over at me and said, "I'm not understanding why we had to wait so long." I didn't quite understand that either until a few minutes later when the manager came out. He walked up to the table and immediately began to apologize. He said he couldn't understand why the computer had erased our name out, that this sort of thing never happens. He then handed my husband a twenty-five dollar gift card that we could use today or at another time. I had to do everything possible to keep from crying. That gift card made our forty-five dollar meal a twenty dollar meal, just what it would have been if we had of went around a fast food restaurant instead.
I believe with all of my heart that God, our loving Father was in every minute of that. No this wasn't something we had to have or even something we needed, it was just one of those loving things that our Father done for us.
So, had our impatience got the better of us we would've missed that gift card and a great lunch with our family that God so freely gave to us. Our Father owns it all, it is all His, everything.
Psalms 103v1,2&5
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
v2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
v5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so thy youth is renewed like the eagle's
We had been out of town taking our oldest son to a doctors visit. When he was a baby he had to have surgery on his hip. He has since had to have check ups periodically as he grew to make sure his hip and leg were growing normally. This particular visit the doctor said that he could see no reason to continue the check ups since everything looked perfect up till now. He said he was releasing him but should anything come up that caused concern to let him know.
This was wonderful news, definitely an answered prayer and we wanted to celebrate at our favorite restaurant, only problem was my husband had been put off work by his physicians due to his heart. Problems he has had since birth but now they had become much worse, so much so that any strenuous work or activity could be life threatening to him. They had told him that he absolutely could not work anymore. So in all honesty a forty-five dollar meal was something we really couldn't afford.
We were all kind of bummed that we wouldn't be able to stop there but we had decided to just eat somewhere less expensive and celebrate when we got home. We drove a little further down the road and my husband turned back. When I asked what he was doing he said he was going to take us to eat at our favorite restaurant. We seldom go out of town and who knew when we would get to again.
We pulled into the restaurant and I said, "Are you sure?" He smiled and said, "I think it will be okay this one time." So off we went.
Never before, at this particular restaurant, had we ever had to wait to be seated. As busy as it always was it was usually just a minute and someone came to seat you. This time we were asked to sit in the lobby until a table came open. So we sat, and we sat, and we waited, watching many leave and come in. There were bigger parties than ours being taken back to be seated and yet we continued to wait. Now our youngest isn't to keen on sitting still for very long so needless to say he was becoming disruptive and my husband became impatient as well. Finally, he looked over at me and said, "I'm going to see what the hold-up is." I said okay but inside I was hoping we would be the next in line, we were here and I didn't really want to leave.
In a few minutes my husband came back and said they told him they were sorry and someone would seat us right away. In just a minute we were on our way back to be seated, but as we entered the dining area me and my husband cast each other a confused look . . . it was almost empty.
(this is where it gets sweet)
After we were seated my husband looks over at me and said, "I'm not understanding why we had to wait so long." I didn't quite understand that either until a few minutes later when the manager came out. He walked up to the table and immediately began to apologize. He said he couldn't understand why the computer had erased our name out, that this sort of thing never happens. He then handed my husband a twenty-five dollar gift card that we could use today or at another time. I had to do everything possible to keep from crying. That gift card made our forty-five dollar meal a twenty dollar meal, just what it would have been if we had of went around a fast food restaurant instead.
I believe with all of my heart that God, our loving Father was in every minute of that. No this wasn't something we had to have or even something we needed, it was just one of those loving things that our Father done for us.
So, had our impatience got the better of us we would've missed that gift card and a great lunch with our family that God so freely gave to us. Our Father owns it all, it is all His, everything.
Psalms 103v1,2&5
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
v2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
v5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so thy youth is renewed like the eagle's
Love it,!!! :-) what a sweet God we serve!!
ReplyDelete