I had an experience this week that I wanted to document.
It starts with my crazy vision of creating a "Narnia" porch for my kids and their Halloween Costumes. Knowing that I was being a little much, I tracked down a beautiful wardrobe and several used Christmas trees on KSL to decorate our porch and take pictures with. It turned out exactly as I had hoped, and I told myself that it was okay to spend the extra money on the porch decorations because I was just going to sell them on KSL afterwards. Dutifully, I posted and sold the wardrobe and also posted this Chrismas tree that I had gotten just weeks earlier on KSL.
I had a few people reach out about it, but hadn't had great success in selling it. I had messaged with someone who said they wanted to come look at it, but then hadn't responded in over 6 hours. Typically it's good manners to wait for 24 hours before moving to the next person in line but I was feeling particulaly antsy about selling it, and without thinking too much about it, I decided to reach out to the next person. When I opened my phone to find the next person in line, I felt like I should actually reach out to the person who was 3rd or 4th in line, and I just did it. (This is fairly out of character because I have feelings about the appropriate procedures for online buying/selling.)
The lady said she could come that evening, but when she showed up and saw the size of box her face fell. I totally understood, because my face was the same when I bought it initially. The tree is a 6.5 foot tree, but the box is pretty small. It's clearly not a dense, fluffy tree, which is fine because it's a cheap tree on KSL and could be fine for lots of families/situations. I was prepared for her to tell me that she didn't want it, or ask me to lower the price, and she very delicately explained what she needed the tree for and asked for my opinion on whether this would be a good fit for her.
She was in the middle of a nasty divorce and her ex-husband was fighting her over who got to keep the Christmas Tree. The tree was sentimental to her because her coworkers had purchased the tree for her family when their last child was born, but the husband wanted it, too. She had gotten him to agree that she could keep it if she provided him with a different tree.
When she asked if this tree would meet his needs, I had to tell her honestly, "No." This tree would be good for someone, but not for this situation. I felt bad that I couldn't be of more help. She said, "I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I feel prompted to share with you. I'm a religious person, and I have been praying about this for days. I only have a very small budget ($35) and have been praying to find a tree that could help resolve this so that my kids can have a tree for Christmas. I felt so strongly that this was going to be the tree and that Heavenly Father was leading me to you. But it's clearly not the tree, so I will just keep looking,"
Her faithful attitude touched my heart and I wished so much that this tree could have been the one. Originially I had been hesitant because I thoguht she was going to ask for the tree for free, which would have been fine - but I really wanted to get the money for it to cover the extra spending I had done for Halloween. But at that point, after hearing her story, I even considered going down to our basement and giving her our Christmas tree! It would have been weird, and I'm not sure our tree even would have been the tree that she needed - It's about 10 years old, too. I told her how sorry I was that this wasn't the tree and I told her that I was also religious and that I would also pray for her to be able to find a good tree.
She thanked me and as I shut the door I said a prayer in my heart on her behalf. Almost immediately I felt chastised by the Lord. The words weren't clear, but the feeling was very simple. Why should I pray that she would be able to find the help that she needed when I had the ability to help her? Then, forcefully, I heard the words enter my heart. "I sent her to YOU."
The Lord knew that sweet woman needed a tree. She thought that tree was the one that I was selling, but in actuality, the Lord was sending her to ME and he wanted me to help her. I wandered to where David was in the house, briefly explained what happened, and then told him that I felt like we should buy her a tree. He agreed, saying that we could do that if I felt like we needed to. I did some quick online searching to see how much a nice tree would be, something that would meet her needs while still being affordable and then reached out to her. Thankfully I had her contact information and was able to text her telling her that I felt prompted to contribute to her "find a tree fund". Initially I was planning to send $100-150 thinking that would be enough for most of a tree, but I felt the spirit prompting me to stretch myself and give her a full $200.
I learned a long time ago that the money we have isn't ours, its Heavenly Father's, and sometimes He wants us to spend it differently than we might otherwise have chosen. David and I try to be good stewards of our money, we save, prepare, give a full tithe and a generous fast. After taking the Personal Finance class put on by the church, we started a "CARE Fund" where we save a certain money every month, separate from our charity budgets, dedicated to donating or helping people. Sometimes we use this for simple things like flowers for a neighbor, or donating to a good cause. We hope that eventually we will have enough money in there to be able to help on a larger scale (pay for someones car repair). But the money in that account is literally dedicated to helping people the Lord needs us to help. When the Lord prompted that woman to come to our home, He knew that tree wouldn't be what she needed. But He also knew that He had prepared us to help her. I'm so grateful that we were able to do so.
I asked for her Venmo and after a few texts assuring her that I really wanted to help and that I didn't need her to pay me back, she sent it to me. I sent her $200 along with a few links to trees that I thought might fit her needs. I told her that she could keep whatever extra she had if she found a cheaper tree and add the extra to her kids Christmas gifts.
She was incredibly grateful, and this was clearly a huge miracle for her and her family, but I don't feel like I can take any of the credit. I think that the Lord puts us in the path of others and sometimes they help us and sometimes we help them and always both are blessed. I'm humbled and grateful that the Lord trusted us to act in a way that would bless this family. It seems like such a small thing, but it mattered to them. I know that the Lord cares about the things that matter to us and I hope that David and I can continue to be relied upon by the Lord to make a difference to those around us.
The next morning I messaged the next person in line about my Christmas tree, and it had been picked up and paid for within an hour. It's just a really incredible example of how the Lord knows and loves us.
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