Impromptu Promptings

“Mom, I don’t feel good.”

It was NOT what I wanted to hear first thing in the morning.  As a parent, I knew what those words would mean – a day full of whining, possible vomiting, cleaning and laundry.

As I stumbled out of bed, I called to the Kid, in my best soothing voice, “Coming.”  I knew I would have to dig deep, deep, down into my soul to find my inner nurse.  I mean, DEEP down.  For the past two weeks I had been in an ‘emotional funk’  and with the Kid being sick, it would interfere with my time to wallow in my private sulk.  Having a sick kid wasn’t how I wanted to start my day.

However, after two hours of stomach pain, moaning, and tummy relief remedies, the Kid felt better and wanted to go to school.  Yippee!  I could run him to school and still have time to wallow in my mood.

The Kid’s school is about 20 minutes away from our suburbia homestead in a historical town that I would often visit pre-Kid.  I had made such great memories in this town with Mr. Small Town and various friends.  Now, my life consists of shopping for groceries, making the dinner, straightening the house, and managing our family’s life.  A job that I LOVE with the two most important PEOPLE that I love, but something was missing.  Mr. Small Town could see it.  I could see it, but I couldn’t put a name to it.

After dropping the Kid off at school, I felt a pull toward the downtown. Maybe it was the Benjamin Moore sign that I had seen that reminded me of one of the ideas I had pinned on Pinterest, but for whatever the reason, I decided to go with my impulse. I turned right and parked my vehicle to see what had changed since my last visit 10 years ago.

I toured a seasonal shop where Easter delightfully popped out from every corner of the store!  Next I went to the chocolate/dessert bar which was formerly Mr. Small Town and my favorite restaurant.  One step in the door, the smell of dark chocolate welcomed me.  One of the workers reminisced with me about the building as she showed me the dessert bar menu.   On my way to the paint store, I made a detour into a clothing boutique.  To my surprise, I found the perfect pink coat that I had been searching for on-line only the day before.  When I made it to the paint store I showed the sales clerk the photo of the paint color I liked.  She quickly located the paint number and gave me a paint swatch.  It took less than five minutes.  Feeling hungry, I found my way to a Vegetarian/Mediterranean café.  Not only did I enjoy my lunch but I shared a table with an elderly woman who was also exploring the town.

After realizing that time was quickly passing, I made my way back to my car – only to find a parking ticket!  I had parked in a 2 hour space.  I hadn’t realized that 3 hours had gone by.  I was only going to the paint store.  Thankfully, the ticket did NOT come with a fine!

As I was driving back to my little piece of suburbia, tears quickly formed in my eyes.  The tears weren’t like those tears I had been crying the days before.  These were tears of gratitude and joy.  It was then that it finally made sense about what I had been missing:  I needed an adventure.

God prompted that impulse that caused me to turn towards downtown.  He knew I would enjoy the seasonal shop full of decorations.  He knew I needed to reminisce about my former favorite place to eat.  He knew I wanted a pink coat.  He knew I would feel joy in finding that paint number and swatch.  He knew I needed to connect with new people.  He knew I needed an adventure even when I didn’t know what I needed.

God perfectly placed everything in my day to help me – a small town girl – who had been trying desperately to get out of her personal funk.  And it all happened when I decided to act on a prompting and make an impromptu turn.

The Bible says, “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”  (Matthew 6:26)  God met my needs that day, even when I didn’t know what I needed.

Have you ever been prompted to make a detour in your day?  You never know how God will meet your needs – even the needs you can’t even identify or name.  If He makes sure that a small insignificant bird like a sparrow gets fed and has shelter every day, you can be assured that He knows what you need and will meet those needs.

May blessings surround you today my friends!