Birthdays!
This can be one of the hardest things when you have small children and are serving in a country that is without many shopping options. Missionaries usually plan ahead and bring with them things that they think their children will want. Sometimes, when a team is coming out, we can ask them to bring a special item that our child has requested. But I know what it is like to have that day approaching and the options are limited and packages that should have arrived in plenty of time, have not. So when the mom of a seven-year-old began to tell me about her dilemma with her daughter's birthday, I was in full sympathy mode. She said, "We had brought out some gifts and thought everything would be fine, until yesterday when she said that all she wanted for her birthday was a rolling office chair!" And with tears in her eyes she asked, "Where could I possibly get a rolling office chair?" And feeling all the emotion of that mom, I said, "You won't believe this, but we actually have a rolling office chair in our garage and we haven't known what to do with it!" There passed between us, one older mom whose children are grown, and one younger mom, still very much at the beginning of the journey, a special look, a feeling of wonder at a God who even thought of a rolling office chair for a little girl on her birthday. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:9-11 "If you parents know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him." Philippians 4:6 tells us to "make our requests known to God." What a kind and generous God we have who loves to give gifts and to bring joy to His children. How thankful we are to have this important truth brought to life to us by a rolling office chair!
