The coolest thing...

Yesterday the coolest thing happened! It's been one of those weeks where all these crazy "coincidences" keep happening. Our Father really is amazing. Let me begin at the beginning, about 5 years ago, when I was in seminary I had an incredible ch. history professor who made history come alive to me. I absolutely fell in love with ch history. Part of the love affair was with the books we used for the class by Justo Gonzalez. I guess I just borrowed the books from a friend or the library to save money and so I didn't have the books once the class was over. Well, ever since then I've thought to myself that I should try to find those books to buy them. Trust me, they really are interesting! :) But...knowing me, I never got around to ordering them or remembering exactly what the authors name was, etc. And for some crazy, random reason I thought about those books yesterday morning as I was getting ready for work. And I had one of those fleeting thoughts/prayers that wisps through your mind just like a leaf. It's in and out before you know it. Well I just kind of said to the Father that it would be great to have those books, but I can't really buy them now because I really need to save my money so that I can go to Turkey later this year, and I just asked if He wanted to provide for me to get those books then He could. That was it - end of thought! As it turns out, when I got to my desk yesterday morning there was a thankyou card sitting on my desk with a gift card to our new bookstore. I was delighted, although I wasn't even thinking about my thought from earlier in the morning. When I finally pulled myself away from my desk about 3:15 in the afternoon, I went to peruse the bookstore and chatting with the saleslady about how hard it would be to pick out what to get. I wanted it to be something fun, something special, just the right thing. I even looked for a church history section, but didn't see one (the bookstore is kind of small), so I just kept looking. I looked at fiction books (but I hate to spend money on fiction!), I looked at music, I looked at gift stuff, I looked at all the other books, and nothing was grabbing me, ya know? And then the bookstore manager came in and I was really feeling the pressure to find something - today! And plus, I really needed to get back to my desk...Well, then I had the thought, "Ask the manager if they have any Christian books." And because I'm such a dufus I almost didn't because I just didn't want to, and didn't want them to feel bad if they didn't have any. Well, sometimes I learn to listen to His voice and so I went ahead and asked her. And she said, " Well, we just have these two books right here." And BEHOLD, there was the two-volume set of the books I've been looking for all this time -the church history books by Gonzalez. I yelled, "These are the books!" And of course, the price was absolutely perfect for me to get both of the books and a teeny bit left over to get a Mother's Day card! Whoopppeee! I was so excited to tell the ladies about my crazy story! Isn't that the coolest thing? Wow, sometimes He is just so very nice to us, just because. I love that about Him, don't you? As I was curled up in bed last night I began reading the first chapter, and I'm already into it.