I think we just made the best deal EVER!!

I am an avid follower of http://www.craigslist.com/. It's a nifty site that you can pretty much find ANYTHING that you are looking for. It lists garage sales in your area, estate sales and just general items that people have for sale. I am currently in furniture seeking mode, so I have been checking it daily trying to find a few very specific pieces. We are in dire need of a dining room table...right now we eat off of TV trays in our nice big living room. It's not bad when you have a fire in the fireplace, but it does make candle lit dinners a bit difficult.

We also need a new couch and accent chairs. I'm leaning toward leather, but don't really like the price tag associated with it. So that's where Craiglist comes in. I check each day and scroll through all the new listings just hoping for that really good deal.

As far as a dining set goes, I have very specific qualities I'm looking for. First, I would like a pub height table. I would also like it to have a hidden leaf...no need to go searching for said leaf when company comes. I would really like a cherry finish, but I can pretty much work with any color...it might just require more work on our part. And lastly, I would really like it to be solid wood...none of this veneer stuff. I want it to be good and solid...we tend to be a bit hard on furniture.

So yesterday here I was searching on Craigslist and I came across a posting for a pub height table with 6 stools....and a hidden leaf. There was a picture listed, but you couldn't really make out much. So I made a quick call and we decided to go see it last night.

(Insert glorious music here) When we walked in and saw the table I knew right away....this was THE ONE! It is THE table that I have been dreaming of. It's beautiful...and it was only $200...WITH the 6 stools included. Seriously, God gave us this table. I had prayed about it and He blessed us. And to top it all off...the sweet people we bought it from also delivered it to our house for us...we didn't even have to rent a truck.

It's SUPER heavy...the legs alone weigh about 30 pounds each. The woman's son had gotten some type of stain on the table top, so she stripped it down to bare wood. She was going to re stain it cherry like the rest of the set, but just never got around to it. So I think I'm going to re stain it a glossy black to match the rest of our kitchen. So the legs and trim will be cherry and the top black... We have black iron light fixtures in the kitchen along with cherry cabinetry...I think it's going to be fun to make this beautiful dining set our own. I kept walking in to the kitchen last night just to look at it... I'm so proud that we waited on the Lord. We had gone looking at several furniture stores, but we never found anything that we just loved.

And what we did find was ridiculously priced. So I started praying and thrifty shopping. I think I've been to every garage sale, Church rummage sale, and Craigslist posting out there. And low and behold we finally found THE ONE.

It's quite a lesson for me....to wait upon the lord. And I don't really know why I still get amazed when God works through our obedience... He always blesses you when you're faithful. It's become a little game for Bill and I, to give a little more here and there to see what God does. I can remember watching my parents write checks to the Lord all the while knowing it was the last they had in the bank...but not worrying because they knew God would bless them, that He would provide. And I'm here to tell you, that is THE TRUTH.

Bill and I did a little experiment not too long ago. We write our tithe checks every two weeks...that's how often we get paid, so we tithe accordingly. Well, Bill had accidentally written tithe checks two weeks in a row.... and we talked about it and decided to just let it ride. And I actually said, "oh don't worry honey, if there's one person I don't want to short, it's God. So let's just make that an extra gift to God. He says to test Him in this, so let's do and see what happens".

Now all the while I was saying this I was thinking to myself....I don't really see how God could bless us with any extra money... We don't have any refunds coming and there's really nothing for Him to use. But in spite of that, I wanted to see what God would do. And within a week, we got a check in the mail. I honestly thought it was a joke. We got a $500 check for some type of insurance refund that we had overpaid when we bought our house.

Some might say that was just a coincidence....but I know better.