The grass isn't always greener.

It's amazing how God can reveal some of life's lessons in the simplest forms to us. For example, one of our favorite restaurants, Surin of Thailand in Crestline has started serving whole bowls of their yummy coconut soup instead of the usual cups that come with their lunch entrees. You know that wonderful, delicious just spicy enough soup that I'm talking about. And for years that was my favorite part of the meal. I would tell the server, just go ahead and bring me my soup before I order so I can just take longer to savor every last drop of it. And of course by the time you finish the cup, there is always the comment of, "I could eat 4 more cups of that stuff." It's addictive. But by the time you are finished and before you seriously give thought to ordering another cup, your piping hot entree arrives and you abandon the feeling of ecstasy that you had when your soup first arrived and you move onto your Thai Noodle. But now we find ourselves in a very awkward and strange predicament. Because what we had hoped for all this time, more soup, has actually now come true and the cup itself has turned into a huge bowl but with less tofu and less mushrooms, and now it's just mostly broth. And the sheer excitement that ensued when it was first issued to us has now died down as we realize that we don't really want that much soup and we don't even finish the entire bowl when once we thought it would be an easy feat. And so now we realize that the thing that we always wanted is not what we really want. We want our small cup back. And really isn't it always that way in life? So many times the things that I thought I wanted, the dreams and visions for my future were not only not God's best for me, but sometimes the package they arrived in was a huge disappointment. It's all about expectations now and keeping an open mind. People keep asking me are you going to have a natural birth or get the epidural? Are you planning for a c section? And my resounding statement is always, "I'm keeping an open mind." I'm not going to set myself up to expect this labor and delivery process to go a certain way and then only to be disappointed by my own unrealistic expectations. But this doesn't only apply to labor and delivery but to everything else in life remembering that God is our true provider, our Jehovah Jireh. The Lord gently reminds me of this when I start to place too much emphasis on Steve meeting my needs and not the Lord. The Lord has been showing me over and over again that if I need something to come to Him. Steve may be the vehicle or vessel that he funnels his provision through but ultimately, it comes from the hand of God. Every good and perfect gift comes from heaven above (James 1:17). And so if I need some new make up or I'm out of my favorite cleanser, then I go to God with it. Yes, I let Steve know but he just replies, you need to believe God for it, and so I do. In fact two of the things that I was believing God for this month, a breast pump and new skincare, he has answered. That is just how faithful our God is. He cares about me having my skincare products and provides a way for me to get them. Let's not put Him in a box. He is bigger and better than we can earthly imagine and he has plans to prosper us in ways that we can't even fathom if only we will believe him for it. But if we have no faith, we are like a wave of the sea being tossed about back and forth in the wind (James 1:6). So ask God. What is it that you need or simply you want? If your earthly father who loves you is willing to give you good gifts and take care of you, how much more is your heavenly father willing to do this (Matthew 7:11).