The Paint Job

I looked up this morning and saw a nice size cobweb hanging on my bright yellow wall. I decided it was time to get the dust mop and rid my home of unwanted guest. As I cleaned I had an overwhelming gratefulness pour over me as I remembered God's faithfulness in helping me get my home painted two summers ago.

Heating by wood is not the cleanest means of warmth. The inside of my house really needed a good paint job. I asked God to help me figure out how to get it done. The estimates I had received from painters were not in my budget. I wrote my request in my prayer book and prayed about it all summer but it was as if God hadn't heard me. Winter came and my walls were still dirty.

The next spring I wrote the request in my prayer book again and asked God to please lay it on someone's heart to help me. I had all kind of ideas on who might be able to help me but I knew from experience that it is best to keep quiet and let God take care of it.

On June 24th, I received an email from a man I hadn't seen in many years. His daughter had been in my daycare when she was young and now she was grown and married. The email said, "Hi, Pat. Jim B. here. Was just talking with Lynn and we would like to send a work blessing crew to your home. This would be crew of 4 adult men, three of whom are working their way through various addictive/destructive behaviors....good guys that made wrong decisions. Let me know how this group of hard working guys could help you....inside or out....all different skills are represented. We will handle all cost of this."

I sat in shock for a few minutes. I would never have guessed in a million years who God had chosen to help me. Jim, Lynn, and the men came early one morning and by the end of a long day they had primed and painted the inside of my home, as well as made some other needed repairs.

While the men were painting, I told them stories of how God had miraculously taken care of me. Jim later told me that God had not only brought us together to get my house painted, but also because these new Christians needed to understand how much God loves His children.

I asked Jim what made him call me. He said while he was doing his devotions, God spoke to his heart to give me a call. God put together a man wanting to serve, a widow desperately needing help, and some young men trying to get their lives together, even though we lived an hour and a half away from each other. What an awesome God!

The Bible says, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1 The year earlier, when I so desperately wanted to get the paint job accomplished, God knew about three young men that needed another year to get their lives ready to hear a grandma's stories. I am not a patient person, especially with spiders in spider webs on my walls, but I pray that when it comes to waiting on God, I can learn to say, "But I trust in you, O Lord: I say, 'You are my God'. My times are in your hands...." Psalm 31:14,15