These Boots are Made for Talkin’

boots & Bible

I was going to sit down and write a grumpy post about how I hate daylight savings time, and how it is so dark by 6:00 p.m. every night that I just want to give up and go bury myself in a hole until spring. BUT – then I thought – who wants to read that? So I decided to think about what I was thankful for.

I am thankful for my new boots.

A few weeks ago at BlissDom, I made a new friend, Laurin, of Laurin and Kelly Talk (she also writes for Blissful Style.) Laurin is way cool and stylish and she, like me, has to share writes her blog with another person. We pretty much hit it off, and over the course of our convo we started talking about boots. She had on some pretty kickin’ (pun TOTALLY intended) ones and I was in need of a pair of tall, brown boots. (We all know I didn’t really need boots. But I didn’t have any and would have loved a pair.) So, I challenged her to find me a pair, a nice pair, that I could afford.

The next Sunday, I saw a $30 pair of tall brown boots in the Target ad. They were cute, and I had a $25 gift certificate to Target, so I decided I’d get those. Then a couple of days later I got an email from Laurin with some different boots she’d found for me. They were awesome, but they were all like $189. I basically have no clothing budget for myself, I just shop after Christmas and my birthday and whenever else I have a need and we have the cash. So, these beautiful boots were out of the question. (But seriously Laurin, I appreciated your scoutin’ them out for me!) I emailed Laurin back and said “Hmm, maybe if I get any money for Christmas…” but I was pretty sure I was just going to buy those $30 Target boots. I DO love Target, after all, and they were cute and in my price range.

Then, not two hours later, I got an email from Alli, aka Mrs. Fussypants, the owner of Blissfully Domestic, aka the World’s Best Boss. The good folks at You by Crocs had asked her to review their new boots, and she said, “Sure, I’d love to, but I’d like you to throw in a pair for my editor at Blissful Style too.”

We got to pick ANY PAIR WE WANTED.

The pair I picked was $300.00. Ok, $299.99. But seriously. I was going to buy the $30 pair and I got a FREE PAIR worth TEN TIMES as much! You can read my full review of them here at Blissful Style. They are amazing, but once again, this is not about the boots. This is about things that happen to me that I don’t deserve, that are not coincidences. This is about how God gave me a nice, expensive, high-quality pair of boots two hours after I’d confessed to a friend that I was going to have to settle for cheapies.

And once again, I didn’t NEED the boots. I could go on living a very good life without tall, brown boots. But I have a God who does this crap for me just to show his amazing love. It’s all about the little things. My dad recently told me that he used to keep a list of the little things that God did for him, and I think I’m going to start doing the same! In my previous post on this subject, I received a comment from someone who found my faith a bit ludicrous. She conjectured that if there was a God, he would certainly be too busy to care about my little needs. But I argue that He is a God who can and does handle it all – big or little, needs or wants, joys or sorrows – He’s big enough. He gives us good gifts just to show his love – and I’ve got the boots to prove it.

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God’s Love in a Bottle

johnsons

One year ago this week I started couponing. I discovered CVS, I got paid to buy Glade candles at Target, and I basked in the wonder of it all! It was truly exhilarating to be able to get stuff I needed for free and to get paid to buy other stuff. I really felt that coupons were a gift from God, just one more way He had provided for us since I decided to quit my job and stay home with the kiddos full-time. The first week of December, whilst still in the throes of CVS-newbie excitement, I discovered that my kids needed baby wash. So, I thought I’d go to CVS to get myself some Johnson’s baby wash and pay for it with my CVS ExtraCare bucks. I had a $1 off manufacturer’s coupon as well. Alas, when I got to CVS, I discovered the baby wash was $4.29. $4.29!?!? No way was this new-couponer going to “spend” that much of her ECBs on that. I decided I would just save my coupon and use it to get some reasonably-priced Johnson’s at Target later in the week.

The next day, CVS put out an e-mail coupon for $2 off Johnson’s baby wash. I am not lying. Hot Dog! I was excited! With my $1 off manufacturer’s coupon and my $2 off CVS coupon, I could get the price down to $1.29. Now THAT is a price I was willing to spend my ExtraCare Bucks on! So I went in and bought a bottle. And guess what happened? There, on the bottom of my receipt, I got a $1 ExtraCare Buck BACK for buying the Johnson’s. It was an UNADVERTISED special that I knew nothing about. So, between my $3 in coupons and my $1 ECB I got for buying it, I paid 29 cents for the baby wash.

The limit on this deal was five. You KNOW I got my coupons together and went back and got four more!

I went from not having any baby wash to having enough for months, and I got it all for just pennies. Wow!

So, that’s a great story, right? Super-neat how that worked out, eh?

To me, it’s not a story of a great deal. It’s a story of God’s great love for me.

You see, November 2007 had been a tight month for us, and with Christmas looming that first week of December, there is a reason I was being tight with those ExtraCare bucks. But God is my provider, and He meets my needs because I have placed my trust in Him. I needed baby wash, and I truly believe that God gave me that great deal to encourage me on my couponing path. He provided for even my kid’s most basic needs through coupons – the day after I walked out of CVS not willing to pay $4.29 or even $3.29 on for the baby wash, I got a $2 off coupon in my email! And it was CVS coupon that I could use with my manufacturer’s coupon. And THEN I got $1 back for buying it! Not a coincidence, people. (In this post, my Bloggy BFF Jill calls this “God Showing Off”.) God worked that out for me and used it to empower me. I think when I first started couponing, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to stick with it, but after the Great Baby Wash Heist of 2007, I have truly never looked back. I ask God to bless my couponing efforts, and He DOES! My most recent CVS receipt tells me that my year-to-date savings there are over $6200. And to that I say, THANK YOU LORD!

I mean for real, how cool is it that the Creator of the Universe cares what I pay for baby wash?? FREAKING COOL!!

What do you need today? Why don’t you ask God and give Him the chance to meet your needs in an amazing way?

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WFMW: Perspective

Yesterday I had the honor of speaking on couponing at Nurture, a local moms group. It was WAY fun. The Nurture moms are a great group of women and were so sweet and welcoming to me and my friend Andrea who was nice enough to come with me (in case I made a total idiot of myself and needed someone in my corner). After a yummy breakfast and some coffee, we read some Bible verses and had some discussion about what it means to be responsible with what God has given us. One of the verses the Nurture leaders had included in the discussion was Luke 16:10-11. Coincidentally, I had been going to read those verses in my talk.

10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? (New International Version)

When I was reading those verses in preparation for my talk, it was like a lightning bolt hit me. Most of the time I think that God has put me in the “very little” category, but the reality is, I have so much. Compared to most citizens of this world, I am a millionaire. My three-bedroom 1917 urban home probably seems like a palace to so many who live in just one or two rooms, or worse yet, have no home at all. It has clean, warm running water and beds with soft mattresses. I drive a car that offers the highest luxury of its class (*cough*in 1994*cough*). My children are well-fed, happy, healthy, and bright. My sweet husband is gainfully employed. He works long hours, and we wish he was home more. But when he’s not with us, he’s working hard. He’s not out at the bar, or anyplace worse, he’s working hard using the talents God gave him to provide for us.

I have so much, and I am so thankful.

Having a little perspective is what’s working for me today. For more helpful insights, go visit Rocks in My Dryer.

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