Answered prayers

A couple of years ago I was having a day where I was feeling a little bit sad. It was my fathers birthday who had passed away and I was struggling. I prayed that I would be happy and that I would get through the day. I busied myself with a breakfast with a friend who came to Provo, some shopping for a photo shoot with a good friend and Halloween details for my kids. I came home from getting the kids from school to find these beautiful flowers from a friend "Just Because". She didn't know it was my father's birthday, but they immediately filled me with joy and I felt the spirit of a God whisper, "See joy, even on a down day." I sent a prayer of gratitude to God for good friends who had seen me through the day and text to my friend who had done this sweet service. Later, my husband brought in the mail. There was a package for me and I was surprised to see that it was from my cousin and his wife who had just had TWINS a few weeks ago. They enclosed a card with kind thoughts and this little plate with my favorite saying on it. Tears threatened there in my kitchen as I thought not only about the gift, but the effort it takes to mail something in this day and age! Why does it take such effort to get a package, drive to the post office, wait in line and pay for postage? But I appreciated ALL the effort and not just the gift. When I texted a meager thank you, my cousin said, "Every time we looked at the darn thing it screamed right back "MAKE IT HAPPEN."

"OK fine," he replied, "I'll take you the post office and send you to your maker."

He also said that they had had it for a month.

Let me be clear, I would have loved breakfast, a shopping outing with a friend and both of these kind gifts on any day, but I'm grateful to a loving God that knew I would need them on Friday, and I'm SO grateful for good friends who answer seemingly insignificant promptings and become an overwhelming answer to my prayers. Today, in addition to a prayer of gratitude, my prayer is that I may be equally in tune for special people in my life.