13 Blessings

One of the reasons I am keeping this blog is that I want to remember and praise God for the good works He does in my life no matter how insignificant or great.  I want to remember to give HIM glory for the blessings and provisions.  I want to remember to teach my children to rely on HIM for their needs. 

Friday, I was excitedly making dinners for the weeks ahead, feeling like I was finally on track with being a good steward of my time and money.  Because I didn't properly prepare for the two weeks leading up to this day, we had been wasting a lot of money by eating out.  I made Pork Chops and a Chicken dish.  They both cook at the same temperature, but the pork chops have a shorter cook time.  I was preparing another meal when I heard a zzzttt sound.  When I turned around, I saw small flames in the back of the oven.  This happened to be my day of fasting, and when I saw the fire, my first thought was to get the kids out of the house and I worried because Mari was napping.  The very next thought I had was peace.  I knew it was going to be fine.  I turned off the oven and prayed that the smoke didn't ruin the food.  I waited until the fire was gone and then waited for the very small amount of smoke to clear, then I opened the oven door.  The Pork Chops were done!  The chicken wasn't done and I started to worry that I would have to throw it away.  Then, I remembered our gas barbeque.  I quickly called Kevin to make sure I didn't have to do anything to prevent the oven from catching on fire again and to ask about the best way to bake in the barbeque and then got to it.  About a half hour later, the chicken was done as well!  The barbeque worked amazingly.

I was so thankful that all my hard work was not wasted.  I had one more task at hand, though , and I had accidentally burned my finger pretty badly when I pulled the pan out of the barbeque.  Thankfully, at that moment, my mom stopped by and finished up for me.  I just had to cut some meat to get into the freezer before it spoiled, but that job would have been really painful to do with my burned finger. 

So, now I have a broken oven and a burned finger.  It doesn't sound great, but I was praising the Lord.  I was so excited that He would have this happen at this time!  Kevin and I had just been talking about what to do with the kitchen if we move.  It has worked well for us, but it wasn't exactly what most people would want, and if we left it how it was, it would have made the house less desirable as a rental property.  (Which is what we plan to do with it if we move.)  So, we knew we needed to do something.  The oven was (at one time) a double wall oven.  When we moved in, the upper oven was missing so we put a broken microwave there to fill in the space and we used it as storage for dry goods.  The lower oven was the oven we used.  Also, the range top has been broken for years and the back burner is really the only one that works well.  As I said, it worked for us, but not everyone would call this the ideal kitchen.

We spent much of Sat. looking for a new oven and a better way to arrange the space.  I really didn't want to go too long without an oven, but knew it wasn't too much of a rush because I just cooked a bunch of meals!  The trouble was that our oven seemed to be a weird size.  We measured, called, remeasured, had other people measure, looked at instruction manuals, etc.  Finally we came to the conclusion that we were going to have to rebuild the cabinet. (NOT something Kevin feels confident doing.)  We found double ovens on craigslist and then we were blessed to find double ovens AND a range top for a third of what new double ovens would cost!  We picked them up Sunday afternoon and Kevin had them installed by Sunday night.  The best part (like all that isn't good enough)?  They fit perfectly!  Absolutely perfectly.  (And no, they are not the same ovens - not even the same brand!!!)  What an amazing blessing!  I am so thankful that God just saw us perfectly through all of this.  The ovens look great, I LOVE having two ovens. (I feel so spoiled.) And they were super cheap!  The only bummer is that I have cooked all of our meals for the next week or so, so I have no reason to use them!!!  HA!  Only God!  I did dig out a package of brownie mix last night.  I just couldn't resist.

Let's count the blessings:
1.  Was fasting and praying
2.  Was trying to follow God's will in being a good steward of my resources
3.  The food was cooked
4.  The food that wasn't cooked was able to be cooked on the barbeque
5.  My mom stopped by just at the right time to help me finish
6.  The fire was uneventful
7.  The food didn't get ruined by the smoke at all.
8.  The answer to "what to do with this kitchen" was crystal clear.
9.  Due to the size of everything, including our kitchen, without a major remodel, there was only one option
10.  We were able to find the ovens for about 1/3 of what it would cost new plus we got a range as well!
11.  They fit perfectly - even though every measurement and cut-out guide said they wouldn't
12.  We were not in a hurry because food was already made.
13.  Kevin is able to install these things willingly.

Just a note...as I was "counting" these blessings, I realized that I came up with 13.  Funny, because all of this happened on Friday, August 13th.  I love to see the way God shows Himself in every little detail.  He is so good to me! A passage from Ezekiel, repeated over and over again:  Then they will know that I am the LORD.  36:38

Praise God!  You are the Lord.  You make it known, over and over again.  Thank you for providing the small and great blessings.  In Jesus' name I pray!  Amen!