weeekend review and clarity....

God's wisdom is so infinite so powerful I am not even worthy of trying to figure out his master plans. I was knocked to my knees hard over the weekend not once, not twice, but three times. Not in pain or anguish but in utter astonishment over God's perfect will being played out before my eyes. Here's our weekend in review.

Friday the Mr. and I ate dinner in downtown OKC and went to see "The Producers" at the Civic Center Musical hall it was awesome with original costumes and sets from Broadway and many members of the original cast as well. It was fantastic and I don't think I've laughed that hard in a very long time. It solidified my dream to one day see a show live on Broadway in New York City.

Saturday I spent my morning doing what I love decorating cake which got a little worse for the wear on the drive to the birthday party on Saturday and I had to play quick fix doctor with some icing but you couldn't even tell when I was finished that it had been bumped around.

For clarity and because I don't want to mention names of people on here without prior approval we'll call one couple D and one Couple S. The wife I met at Borders is from Couple D and we went to the movies with Couple S.

After cake delivery I met a new friend at Borders had yummy iced chai tea and proceeded to talk about anything and everything and discovered we had a lot in common and so did our husbands. We had randomly bumped into them at Michael's Craft Store the week before and stood in the aisle near the frames and talked for a good hour.

She shared with me at Borders on Sunday that they much like us had been praying for a couple to be placed in their lives that they could forge new friendships with in which the guys and girls got along and all 4 got along. She also shared with me some details about our meeting at Michael's the week before. See they had actually gone to the frame shop the day before and were unable to get the framing done and had to come back the next night when the MR. and I just happened to be there.

As I sat there listening to her words and hearing my own thoughts I realized that God had orchestrated our meeting. But as I was driving away nearly 2 hours later and having left only because I had a prior engagement that I was going to be late for if I hadn't I began to think back over the course of the last year. I began to remember the hurt feelings of a situation I had finally begun to forget, I remembered the uncomfortable thoughts of just simply not fitting where we were, and I remembered the stress and scared feelings of a loss of my faith if I couldn't let this grudge go, I remembered crying out to you all here and asking for prayers to help me overcome my own demons and I remember you all delivering with an outpouring of affection, I remember feeling as though our prayers for fellowship were going unanswered, and I remembered on more than one occassion wondering what was wrong with me that we were left so alone.

I began to ponder the happenings of the last few weeks and I remembered deciding to visit at a church we pass by often but never really paid attention to, I remembered leaving that service and being stopped by the leaders of our age groups sunday school class and the encouragement we felt after that meeting, I remembered meeting couple D at the very same meeting, and I remember being so impressed that they remembered our names the following week. I remember praying hard after that first sunday school class that maybe just maybe we'd found what we were looking for, and finally meeting them at Michael's and exchanging phone numbers. I remember being excited when she called and asked me if I'd like to meet at Borders on Saturday.

Later that same evening as the Mr. and I were driving to meet more new friends Couple S to go see the movie and eat dinner on our double date I silently thanked God for his wisdom in bringing these wonderful people into our lives. As we sat there watching one particular scene stuck out to me in which Julie Powell was meeting her so called friends in the restaurant but they didn't even know who she really was and I remember thinking "gosh I have been there". The movie ended and we wound up eating Pho which is Japanese food the Mr. had never had it before and I'd only tried it once. It was delicious. About the second time the waitress came over to ask if we needed anything else because the four of us were chatting it hit me that we were having such a great time we weren't even paying attention to the clock. We went to the 4:20 showing of the movie and ate dinner at 7 something we didn't leave their house until 10:30 we sat around sharing stories and enjoying each other's company. We had a blast to say the least and we look forward to hanging out with them again soon.

On the drive home I finally started connecting puzzle peices. I met one new friend at work because I needed someone to talk to about the feelings I was experiencing and we've become great lunch date buddies, and I met another new friend after months and months of prayer for people the Mr. and I could be in fellowship with. We got home and prepared for bed after what had been a fantastic day and I thought about how genuinely happy the day had been it wasn't a fake happy it was a genuine smile from ear to ear can't stop grinning happy.

As we prepared for church that morning I thanked God for answering our prayers with not one but two fantastic couples that we were on our way to becoming good friends with.
But it wasn't until going to lunch with Couple D and again sitting and talking forever coming home and then later sitting at the laundromat washing clothes that the truth hit me like a ton of bricks what if God had orchestrated everything from the very beginning to put us right where we are now. What if everything that happened was all part of His perfect plan to bring these 4 amazing people into our lives.I began thinking of all the times I was angry with God for seemingly leaving our prayers unanswered when all the while He was really just preparing us for something greater.

Without this blog and the outpouring of love I received when down and out I don't know what would've happened over the course of the year. The encouragement of all of you and the Mr. kept me out of a deep depression. I know none of the wonderful people including you all that have been placed in our lives would be there if it hadn't been for enduring the hard times and that includes the hurt. I asked God so many times why I had to go through all of this and now I know exactly why so He could bring me to this moment and knock me to my knees in thanksgiving for the opportunities and friendships he has given us. I am finally free to completely let go of all the pain that has been holding me hostage for far too long.





Later Alligators....
Mrs. A