The Gift.

I love God. I mean, the more I get to know Him, the more He surprises me and delights me. His ways are definitely not our ways. I recently found this out in the most unexpected gift.

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My birthday was last month. It was nothing major - just another year older. I didn't do anything to earn that year. And quite honestly, I don't know why we put so much emphasis on birthdays and so little on wedding anniversaries. Now those years, those years are MAJOR accomplishments! Anyway, I digress. My parents gave me a birthday gift that I would never have purchased for myself. And honestly, I never ever would have wanted. The gift? The Nook.

Nice right? Why wouldn't I want something so awesome? I guess because I have a romance with books. Or maybe it's the pages. The smell. The type. The tiny little paper particles that settle on my nightstand as dust. It's something that digital books can not duplicate. Ever. So when I received my Nook, I honestly thought of returning it and using the money to buy some clothes or accessories. I can not begin to tell you how glad I am that I opened my Nook that day. Upon the first rip of the cellophane, I knew there was no turning back. And because I had a road trip coming up, I thought I'd download a book or two. Book one - Redeeming Love.  Book two - The Shack. Both of these books had been mentioned to me countless times, but I had never thought to purchase/read them. Instead I focused on books that my husband and I could both read. Books by Francis Chan, Tim Keller and the like. (The hubs is not a romantic... more of a realist.) For some strange reason, downloading the books to my Nook made me feel like they were more... mine. All mine.

I read through these books with such desire and intensity. Highlighting. Crying. Jotting down notes. Drawing nearer and nearer to Him. I know this may seem really silly - both of these books are fiction. But I tell ya, they spoke to me. God used these books to open my eyes to a relationship, a romance, with Him. I would have never in a million years thought I could find that in a fiction book.

He is so surprising. And nothing is out of His grasp. He can, and will, use anything to get our attention and draw us nearer to Himself. And oh how grateful I am for that truth. I guess my reason for sharing this with you today is in hopes of opening your eyes to possibility. Possibility in even the smallest things. For nothing is to great and nothing too small. Just as I was looking to escape and retreat into a book, He was there. Waiting.

Happy New Year friends.