This was a small event that God was using to do something significant in my life. He's been showing me how to live a more "relaxed" life in Him. Thanks to the guys over at the God Journey, I'm learning more and more each day how to live life in the affection of my Father. So, just what happened on a rainy day selling cupcakes that's so significant?
As we were planning to do the sale, my wife was talking with the children and said they should come up with some kind of goal. My son Jonah yelled with great enthusiasm, "10 million." After some further diliberation, they arrived at a goal of $300. The plan was to have some sort of meter to chart the goal throughout the day.
In the week leading up, the forecast was 100% chance of rain all week. We were a bit discouraged, pleading with God to move the rain, or hoping that the weathermen were wrong. As Friday evening came and I was sitting with the children, we were preparing to pray when I shared something. It had to have been the Lord, and I think I needed to hear it more than they did, but here is what I shared.
If one of you has a gift of faith, go ahead and pray to move the storms. But if you don't, let's pray that we'll be able to relax and just see God's hand at work tomorrow as He unfolds the day with us. Let's embrace the day.
So we awoke the next morning to a lovely, rainy day. My son's baseball game was canceled, so it freed me up to help the rest of the gang to prepare and setup. It continued to rain for most of the day. We had upwards of 28 dozen cupcakes laid out. I fought any sort of discouragement trying to rise up - the rain, our somewhat disorganized plan of attack, my to-do list at home awaiting me, etc. So instead of hurriedly rushing off to tackle another thing off my to-do list at home, I hung around, hoping to enjoy the company of the folks who were there. We made some signs. We decided against the meter - we wanted to see what God could do and not limit Him to $300. I watched my daughter, typically shy and introverted, jump around in the rain, getting people's attention to stop and buy cupcakes, all the while not voicing any complaint about the lousy conditions. She even went door to door later in the day! People I didn't expect to come or be overly concerned with such an event came out and donated. I was really blessed and astounded at how God worked and whom He chose. After 4 hours, we decided to pack up - we had 10 dozen cupcakes left. It began to POUR down rain. Later in the evening, we took the remaining cupcakes to church, and after 7 dozen remained, we sent them off with a gentleman who dropped them off at the local mission.
The gang made $616.34 selling cupcakes in the rain in 5 hours. What an awesome Father we have!
The old me would have prayed for that storm to move away. I would have prayed, even hours, for that storm to go. Saturday morning, I would have woke up, convinced God didn't like me and that the day would be a bust. I would have missed out on everything, being a total grump for having "missed the mark" somewhere along the way. Instead, He helped me embrace the day, and together we watched how He decided to have it unfold. This isn't to say that I don't believe in faith that moves storms, I just think I spent a lot of time trying to convince God and manipulate Him into my desired outcome. That's a tired life. Relationally engaging Him and finding out what He is up to is much more fulfilling. Embracing trials and allowing Him to be the lamp unto our feet - that's freeing! He does do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine!!!
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