Little Mercies

It's taken many years but I've finally learned that God doesn't grant us grace and peace and joy and other blessings in one big lump payment, but rather doles them out day by day--sometimes hour by hour or minute by minute--as we need them. While I like it when He shows up in a great big miraculous way, in some ways I get even more encouragement in the seemingly little things that He does for me. Perhaps those little acts remind me that no part of my life is insignificant in His eyes.

Take today, for instance. I woke up in a funk. I've been wrestling with my identity, with what I am meant to be doing with my life, and where I'm meant to be, figuratively as well as geographically speaking, and this wrestling and uncertainty is taking a toll on me. I needed some encouragement, yet I'm not the best about asking for it.

Midway through my day, I received an unexpected email from an acquaintance who I only see and email with a few times a year. She is a very dear, sweet person who I always enjoy visiting with, but we're not close friends and she doesn't know what I've been wrestling with lately. In her email, she said that she was thinking of me today and praying that I'd be filled with peace and joy. There was no question in my mind that God put me on her mind today and prompted her to pray for me and to email me.

Once again, I was reminded of how infinitely perfect God's timing and ways truly are. Little by little, day by day, He is strengthening my faith in Him and teaching me to trust Him with ALL areas of my life--the really big areas as well as the seemingly mundane areas. Sometimes it's these little moments that help get me through the day.