Providence

Providence: The protective care of God or of nature as a spiritual power

A few days ago I received a mass email from a woman in my ward who I don't know at all. The email said something like, "We recently adopted three children and you've all been so sweet offering your help and we've said no to everything so far. But now I realized that the kids need Sunday clothes. The boys are 4 and 2, the girl is 3. If you have any clothes that you can pass on, we'd greatly appreciate it."

When I read that I remembered that I had just noticed a spare pair of Sunday pants in Isaiah's drawer. Sometimes Asher and Isaiah are the same clothing size for a few months, so I have to buy doubles of Sunday clothes. I knew I could help at least with the size 4, so I shot her back an email right away. I found that spare pair of pants and a shirt in size 4, no problem. Then I went to the boys closet to see how available the 2T box of clothes was. It was not easily reachable - way behind and under a bunch of other stuff. But right in front was a grocery bag labeled "2T". So I glanced in and sure enough, there was 2 Sunday outfits right next to each other. How convenient! As for the girl, I was sure I wouldn't have anything to offer her since Naomi had been out of size 3 before we moved into this house. All those boxes of little girl clothes are in a storage unit across town. But I glanced into Naomi's closet anyway. And hanging there, next to several size 6, 7 dresses, was one size 3T Easter dress. A little purple fluffy miracle in my opinion.

As I dropped off these clothes I couldn't help but think back to how that dress ended up in Naomi's closet. And how those two 2T boys Sunday outfits ended up right in front, together, so that I knew I had a spare. It seems to me that something like five years ago, God planned for this day. Five years ago God lead me to leave that dress in Naomi's closet. Heck, that little girl wasn't even BORN yet! But He knew that she would need that dress today and he got it ready for her. Through me.

Isn't that kind of amazing? Truly miraculous! The definition of providence.