half.com

for starters, this is not a review for half.com. if you popped in for that, i'm very, very sorry and i hope you forgive me for my semi-false advertisement.  to make you feel better, i have had great success with selling my books! you should do it too!

ok...on to the real reason.

a month ago, i put a handful of my unused nursing books up on half.com to get rid of some clutter. this weekend, i received an email letting me know that one had sold.

hooray! so i threw the book (not really. it's still in perfect condition per description!) in the car yesterday and had every single intention of stopping by the post office on my way home from clinical yesterday afternoon. when i walked up the steps to my house, exhausted, i stopped halfway up the stairs and remembered that book.

darn it!  i pivoted and looked at my car, then pivoted one more time and looked at my door. door to the house won! i had until tuesday [today!] to ship it.

i stopped by the post office after leaving school today, and was greeted by a friendly man with an australian accent. he saw me put the book into the padded envelope and asked if i had success with the experience. "sure!  i have more money now than when i woke up this morning!" he told me that my optimism was infectious, and that he wished he had it. "you can," i said.  "just take it!" he told me that he could never be like that and that he had already made up his opinions. "everyone is a work in progress," i smiled back at him.

"listen to you..." he said, "what is that that you have?"

"it's jesus," i smiled.

"i thought that might be what it was..." he trailed off.

"T, i am going to pray for you," i told him.

"you will!?" he lit up.

pause. this smile that was on my face was literally stretched from ear-to-ear. it was taking every ounce in my body not to leap for joy at the divine intervention that was occurring.

"of course!" i told him. he went on to tell me that he doesn't think anyone but his "mum" has ever said that to him...and he thought she had said it because she was worried about him. i thanked him, and smiled some more as he made more comments about how i was just standing there and "jesus-ing" him". hmm...he can say whatever he needs to understand it, i suppose! he told me he just wasn't sure, that he had so much that had happened to him. "everyone has stories!  trust me, i've got plenty," i reassured him."i guess you're right," he commented.

i smiled even bigger at the amazingness that was unfolding in front of me. he and i both probably had no idea that one could smile so big. i waved goodbye and thanked him, and scooted on my way, thanking God for redirecting my paths today from my exhaustion yesterday.

The Lord is so purposeful with His work. every rejection is a redirection.  every crooked path is to divert you to something better. and you just never know who He is going to place in your life each day.

that postman said he had never had anyone (other than mom) tell him they would pray for him. he had to have been at least 50. in fifty years, just one person. but he needed to be here, in my city, and at work today! so that i could tell him that even he was a work in progress.

NOTHING is pointless with God. every single moment, time, and meeting has a purpose! He is working for our good and His glory.  we just don't know what that looks like when it's right in front of us...only when we are able to take a step back and see why everything had to fall in place the way it did are we able to get even a glimpse of His plans! even still, we must learn to trust in His plans for our lives and allow Him to write our stories, and be intentional with the time He has given us on earth!

Proverbs 19:20 - 21 says, "Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.  Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

thank you, half.com!