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Memorial Box Monday is a time of remembering all the things God has done. Huge, gigantic things as well as things that might seem insignificant to most. God’s word is clear: We are to cast every care upon Him, because He cares for us. (I Peter 5:7). “Every care” means just that – every care!
Many years ago we were pastoring outside the Richmond, Virginia area where we had planted a church. We had a home on 15 acres and really wanted a swimming pool as we had six or seven kids at home at the time. Not a fancy pool, just a pool to splash around and cool off in. We started praying for one. We asked the Lord to provide a very specific pool. God’s word also says, “You have not because you ask not.” Based on that scripture we decided many years ago that when we bring our requests to the Lord we need to ask specifically.
So we asked for a pool that was shaped like a figure 8 and was used (but in great condition), so it would be very affordable. There was a used/swap kind of newspaper that was for Richmond and surrounding areas. I started checking that. Before long I realized that that little used/swap paper covered many miles. Some places advertising could be hours away. So I changed my prayer – Lord, you know how busy Dw is, could you please provide a used, figure 8 pool right here in our neighborhood of our little town? Now if you knew how rural and little this town was, you would have laughed. Dw did. Come on, what are the odds that a used, figure 8 pool right was right nearby? Odds in the world’s eyes? Slim! But in God’s eyes? *giggle* =)
Before long we were leaving to go to Western New York for our family vacation. Just before leaving I saw an ad in that little used/swap paper. It was for a used, figure 8 above ground pool that had only been used one season. It was for $700.00. And where was it listed? In our little very rural town!!
I called the man and left a message, but didn’t hear back. =( We left on vacation. I thought about that pool and asked the Lord to hold it for us till we got back two weeks later. When we got home there was a message on our answering machine. It said, “Don’t know if you are still interested, but my pool has not sold.” =)
Dw had already gone to the church office, so I called the guy. He explained that he had just bought the house, the pool was in the backyard, he didn’t want it and he had the receipt that it was only one year old. The previous owner had paid about $5,000.00 for it!! I said I would call my husband, but just before he hung up he said, “Listen, I just really want it out of here…I will sell it to you for $500.00” I was so excited (as I despise negotiating – ugh!!)
I hung up and called Dw. I forgot in my excitement to tell Dw that he had lowered the price to $500. Well Dw called the man and was talking to him about the pool and said, “My wife told me about the pool, but I can’t even remember how much you are asking.” He said, “I started at $700. but really I just want it gone. I will sell it to you for $300.00.” When Dw called me I was whooping, come on now friends – it started at $700.00, was just $500 and in the time it took for me to tell Dw and have Dw call him right back he had dropped it by $200 dollars!!
Dw called me to tell me we were going to look at it and it was $300. I was laughing – come on dude, we aren’t even there yet and you are dropping the price like a crazy man!! We said we would come to see it the next day. Where did that guy live? *giant giggles* Being there is rural farmland – he lived approximately 60 houses from us! =) We went to look at it the next day. He wanted to show us the receipt. It had just been installed the year before by the previous owner for over $5,000. It was a figure 8. It was wonderful!!
Then the man said, “I really think you will need a new liner because of the heat shrinking it (or something like this)…I just don’t feel comfortable selling it to you for $300, how about just for $200.?” LOL So for $200 we drove away with an almost brand spanking new pool which we didn’t even have to negotiate for – it brought us boatloads of fun for the years we pastored there and it daily reminded us that God is into the details – if we just ask!! Yippee Jesus!
And so in our Memorial Box there was a little rubber ducky representing the swimming fun of a pool (picture taken prior to fire)….A Memorial Box is explained in detail right here. Last week I started a Memorial Box giveaway (which I am happy to say I am having a blast looking for one to give to one of you my bloggy friends). Please drop a comment on this post or this one if you want to be included in the giveaway – which we will have in a few weeks.
Ok this is truly bizarre… My almost 2 yr old just found the base of his ducky game under the couch this morning. It moves and makes a quacking sound when on. The plastic ducks are scattered between the bathroom and a toy box. So he ran off to get some ducks. He brought some out including one out JUST LIKE YOUR DUCK! It’s a bath toy so has a little hole in it’s beak (perfect for squirting!). After he went down for a nap, I tidied up and found the duck leaking a little (remember he just got it from the bathroom toy bin) so I put it on the kitchen counter.
I read your blog, turned around, and it’s the same duck, except ours has a purple crown and wand.
So would you like me to pop it in the mail to you? Let me know and I will!!! What a weird little thing!
Linn,
Oh how I love God’s faithfullness to the details-if only we ask Him! Love the pool story, especially the falling price!
I prayed a couple of weeks ago for the Lord to help me find my “Mother of the Bride” dress (My sweet Taylor is getting married on May 23rd!)– I asked that the dress be navy blue and at an affordable price (please Lord). I found it at Ross last week for $19.99! That’s what I’m talkin’ about! Today He provided a brand new flower girl dress, beautiful, for $24.99! Thank you Jesus!
Thanks Linn for sharing. Love the duck!
Blessings~
Tina
I think I will pray for the Lord to help you find the perfect Memorial Box for your giveaway . . . and then pray that it finds a new home in San Antonio. *giggle* xo
Your stories, especially the Memorial Box ones, are SO inspiring! I have been wanting a new camera. I have an OK camera that’s on the fritz, but I really want a new, nice Canon SLR. We are hoping to travel to Korea to pick up our little girl, and the camera we have doesn’t take very good pics. I guess I felt kind of guilty wanting something I didn’t really need. As of now I am praying for a NEW CAMERA! I just need to ask! Now I am. I thank you for your inspriation and wonderful stories that help us all to ask and trust.
Wow- that’s amazing!! I am so blessed by that story!
I need to remember more to pray THE DETAILS. So often I’ll just shoot off a vague prayer (which of course the Lord knows our needs) but I really need to get in the habit of being specific with Him- he deserves my time after all! 😉
I just wanted you to know I am so blessed by your family. The other day when you posted about Isaiah accepting Jesus, I went back and started reading your blog from when you were on the journey to bringing him home. I have only gotten to like your 3rd day with him, but it is so awesome to see how God has worked in your lives!! Your family is becoming so special to me! 🙂
Oh wow, we also lived in Richmond—actually, Midlothian, for 3 years. We loved it, miss it heaps.
What an amazing story—doesn’t the Father just so care about the things we want/desire? I love it.
Have been thinking about your Jubilee waiting in China. Any idea when you will have your TA?
AWESOME, AWESOME God. You know I want to be included. Hugs…I love being able to read this. It so encourages us.
I love this weeks Memorial Box! You are so right, God is in the detail…if it is ok, I would like to share a “God is in the detail” story with you….
I am a two time Breast Cancer survivor and money is ALWAYS tight, since I am up to my ears in debt from my illness. I had not had my own place in 8 yrs, as I had been a live in Nanny. Sept. 2007 I moved out of the house that I had been a Nanny at for 8 years, and into a great three bedroom apartment. When I moved in I had NOTHING but a bed and a T.V….
I slowly bought things like dishes, glasses, towels, etc. I was blessed with a friend who was moving out of state and already had a house full of furniture in the other state and here…and she kindly provided me with two bedroom sets, a dinning room table and a coffee table. What she didn’t have was a sofa. I looked everywhere for a sofa that I liked. I didn’t want to just settle for anything…What I really wanted was a red couch. I mentioned this to a great friend of mine and she asked me if I prayed for a RED couch, I said of course I prayed for a couch…she again said, did you pray for a RED couch. I had not….soooooooo, I began to pray for just what I wanted, a RED couch that sat three. The catch was that it had to be in my price range, since I don’t have much money and can barely buy groceries most weeks. One day I was clear on the other side of down, an area that I NEVER am in…I decided to go into the Salvation Army store to see what they had. What they had on the floor was so gross, and not what I wanted AT ALL….I asked the manager if they had any other sofa’s in the back…he went on to tell me that one JUST came in, but he was not sure that I would be interested because it was not a good color. I asked him if I could see it…(grinning from ear to ear), I walked into the storage room and standing on its side was, yes, you guessed it, a RED COUCH!!! I asked him if that was the couch he was talking about, we were still standing across the room from it…he said yes, and before I even walked over to look at it I told him that I WOULD TAKE IT!!!! He looked at me like I was crazy and said that I had not even seen it yet. I explained that I had prayed for a RED couch, and that I never would have been on that side of town to go into his store, but that I did…and that God had provided me my desire! As we walked closer to the couch, I relized that the couch was BRAND NEW!!!! It still had the tag on it. He said that a woman had brought it in and said that she bought it, put it in the living room, her husband saw and and HATED it…so she decided to just donate it!!!! I walked out of there with my RED couch and only paid $200.00 (which a dear friend let me borrow)!!!!
Yes, my dear friend, GOD IS IN THE DETAILS!
Sorry this ended up being so long…and I would LOVE to be considered for your Memorial Box giveaway…
i love all these stories. it’s such a great reminder that God cares about ALL things… even swimming pools!! such a blessing your blog is!! you guys are continually in my thoughts and prayers!
I love this story! Thanks for sharing it!
I would be honored if you would include me in the giveaway for the Memorial Box…..
but I think Linda (from a few posts ago) should win it.
sherri
The princess rubber duck has had my curiosity up since I first saw the picture of it. Thanks so much for sharing with us. God is soooo about details!
hello, I am Katie’s ministry sister and in charge of her comments and i just saw your sweet comment to her… i have visited your site a couple of times and just wanted you to be one of the first to know that we just sent in our application to Amani Baby Cottage today in Uganda to bring home a son and daughter !!!
thanks for walking in faith and for showing some of us the way!!
What a great story of God’s provision!!!
I giggled. I can totally appreciate the amazingness of this all happening in our small town. Our God is an AWESOME God!
🙂
I just love to be reminded that God cares about all of the details of our lives, not just the big things, but everything we care for, he cares for, too.
Thanks for sharing that awesome God story!
Robbie
What a great gift of God story. He is so good that I can’t even wrap my mind around it. I love that we have a BIG God that cares about every little thing!!
Linn…I LOVE this story!! I will think of you now every time I see a rubber duckie! 🙂 We have some cool God stories like this..but you know what? It’s always SO GOOD to hear other people’s stories. We are being transferred–probably this summer–and I am going to start praying more specifically about the house He already has in mind for us. 🙂 Thanks for the great story of our AMAZING GOD!! 🙂
I just wanted to let you know that you have inspired me to start my very own memorial box.If you're interested you can read about the first thing I am putting in my box here:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=130512644&blogId=474442671
I also wanted to say thank you for sharing so much of yourself through your blog. I am in a weird situation in life right now that has been difficult because I have been separated from my spiritual mentors and at the church where my husband currently serves as youth pastor I have yet to find a a lady to look up to in that way. I have never had the privilege of a Godly mother to look to for spiritual advice or guidance so God has always placed different wonderful ladies in my life to encourage me, teach me, and inspire me to desire more of Him in every part of life. Right now, even though we have never met, God is using you in that way in my life. I can not thank you enough for your words, I am learning so much through your transparency.
How can it be that no one has commented yet on this AWESOME story?!! I love it because I always assume that prayer requests like that are kind of selfish, and God probably won’t answer them. I guess I am WRONG!! : ) I love how the price kept dropping! That is so awesome!!!
Being the organizational freak I am, I LOVE resting in the knowledge that God truly does take care of the details!
*splish, splash!*
Hello! I found your blog thru NiHauYall. I am loving following your family. I have been inspired by the Memorial Box posts and would love to be included in the give a way.
God is in the details!!
xx,c
I love the way God answers when we ask. This encourages me today.
I just love the idea of a Memorial Box and would be thrilled to be included in the giveaway! Linn-love your blog and you are such an inspiration! You help my faith to grow reading your stories! Jennifer
Okay, I’m hooked on this memorial box thing. I was just thinking about prayer and praying specifically for something, with you in the back of my mind, and then I read this today. And, really, you had me at “shoes”.
I’m not commenting to win the prize, I just want to tell you that your blog really ministers to me. My family met Dwight last year while we were in Durango for vacation. He really made an impression on us. We knew he was the real deal. I recently started reading your blog and have found it to be a great source of strength. You will never know how much your family has ministered to me and I have only met your husband once. Thank you for loving Jesus like you do.
I love your story and am interested in starting my own memorial box! What a great idea!
I just loved the story of the pool. When we started our adoption we did not have the money for our adoption from China. We prayed daily that our needs would be met and each time we needed money for the adoption it was there. We have adopted 3 children now and each time the money was there for their adoptions. I truely believe in the power of pray. If God leads puts it on your heart, he answers you and walks you through it.
Linn,
I love your pool story. My husband and I have a similar story about praying specifically to God. We needed a second car and had been shopping around for awhile. We prayed to God to lead us to the car we should buy and we told God we wouldn’t buy a car until the sales person said a specific statement to us. We prayed for God to have the sales person say “God Bless You” and that would be our sign that this was the car. Well, we shopped and shopped and found several cars that met our needs and fit our budget but no one ever said “God Bless You” to us so we kept looking. One day, I just happened to stop at a dealership that we had never been too and I was telling the person what we were looking for. He said we only have one car that a lady just brought in that may be what you need. He showed me the car and I told him thank you and that I would talk to my husband and as I was getting ready to leave he says “oh you are a stay at home mom, God Bless You!” I immediately called my husband telling him that God had showed me the car for us. It was so exciting to see that God was in the details of our lives and he had the sales person say the exact thing we had prayed to God for. I haven’t been very specific in my prayers lately so thanks for the reminder that God wants to be in the details of our lives.
Hugs,
Robin
Wow! That story gives me chills. I am only just beginning to realize that the details matter in prayer. Thanks for reassuring me that I need to pay attention to the details and specifics!