The Gift!

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."  Psalm 37:4

This is just one of the wonderful scriptures that come to mind as I'm telling you this story of how God used a thoughtful and generous person in my life to remind me of just how much He knows me.  He loves me. 

He loves us.....

God truly cares for even the small details in my life.  Really.  This shouldn't be a revelation after years of serving Jesus Christ as my Lord, but there are times in my life that He-- as any loving father-- wants to surprise us with something that we never expect.

Anyone who knows me very well at all knows that my husband and I have been struggling for years trying to have a family.  

(No, I'm not pregnant (yet!) so that's now what this blog post is about...but I assure you that day is coming!)

We have been blessed with a beloved baby girl in Heaven that we'll spend eternity with!

I'm not extremely open about this subject, because it's a very personal and delicate issue between my husband and I. It's huge that I'm sharing even this with you all right now, for this is something I can't help but feel very emotional about.  Wanting children is part of the core of my being.  I wanted to share this with you, just to give you all a bigger picture of why this story is just so special to me.  The past 5 years have been filled with the most extreme highs and lows in my lifetime.  I won't candy coat that there have been many hard times my husband and I have encountered together in our short married life, but I can still confidently say with a shadow of a doubt that, God is still good!!!

I'm a very optimistic person, and all of you who know my parents know that I was born that way!   I love my family and I love my husband and have an amazing life with them...I love cooking, baking, beautiful days, snowy days, holidays, I really love life!  Everyday is not an easy one, and the past 5 years there have been more bad ones than good.  Thankfully, I serve a God who not only knows my future but also has plans for me.  Awesome plans, that are better than we had ever dreamed about.  When you follow Christ and seek Him for guidance in your life, and tell Him that "my life is for Your glory"... I believe that He will turn the plans we envision for our life into something far better than we could ever hope for.  I want my life to be a testimony of the Mighty God I serve!

So anyways, God has not forgotten about my hearts desire to have children, and last week He reminded me of that by showing us that He knows and cares about even the smallest things that we care about.  The things that we can live without.  The things that are definitely trival in the grand scheme of things. 

...Because He wants to pour His love on us.

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October 9th, I put as my Facebook status, 

"You all can have your new iphones, but all I REALLY want is a candy apple red or buttercup yellow Kitchen Aid stand mixer with a glass bowl!!  One day..."

Simple! No biggie, really!  Just saying that I've basically been pining to have one for years now, but I don't want to complain because I have a fine hand mixer. (Fine as in okay, as in, gets very hot when mixing meringue or anything else for over 3 minutes.) With Mr. Cozy in Med school, needless to say, our funds don't really give us everything we want.  

Thankfully, we have a Heavenly Father that will supply all my need according to HIS riches in glory! (Phil. 4:19)

I have never prayed for a mixer, I have never even asked for a mixer (from anyone at all!) and I haven't put much thought into dreaming about one when I knew there was no need to wish for something so trivial.  Although my mind would occasionally wonder, how much easier and even more fun would it be to bake in a kitchen with a beautiful stand mixer, like on Dessert First or Barefoot Contessa?! :) After all, I do consider myself an avid baker and would get so much good use from something as wonderful as that!!!

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October 13th.  I got off work late that night, as I always do on Thursdays.  When I pulled into my driveway it was dark outside and I was making sure all my little kittens were okay as they frolicked around me.  

What was by the back door?  What was in this enormous box?  Did Mr. Cozy order, I don't know....a book?  A whole lot of them?? Umm...confused.

I'm actually on the phone with him as I'm walking up to the house.  He has no idea what the box is.  It says Bed, Bath & Beyond and looked like some postal service dropped it off.  Weird, I thought.  I tell him and he still doesn't know!  I'm getting a little excited just from the mystery of it all.  I open the door and put him on speaker just so I can bring the box in.  It's heavy! VERY heavy!!  I wasn't expecting to have so much trouble trying to get it through the door!  Hmmm.

I open it up and stand amazed.  It looked like another box inside with the picture of a Kitchen Aid stand mixer?!!  I'm squealing, and I'm sure he thinks I'm frightened when in fact I'm quite the opposite. Mind you, there is no return address, note, name, or any facts whatsoever to link back to the giver of this gift. 

This is unbelievable.  I open the box to find a Candy Apple Red, Kitchen Aid stand mixer with a glass bowl!!!!!!!!

Ok.  "Oh, Honey!!  I love you, thank you!!!!"

How can we afford this right now?

"It's not from me.  Seriously...I'm confused.  I know nothing about this!" he claimed with sincerity.

Hmmm.....I'm baffled  and thrilled at this point and so is he!  After getting off the phone with him, we both call our parents.  I'm pretty sure that mine probably wanted to surprise me with an amazing gift of my dream mixer!

No. They were excited, but clueless. Really.

(Friends, trust me I know my hubby and parents well enough to know they're telling the truth, and they were!)

To this day, we have no idea who the very wonderful person is that secretly sent me my heart's desire, a Kitchen Aid stand mixer!  We do know, however, that God used that person to restore hope.  He gave me something I thought I would probably have to wait years before getting--and I would've been okay with that--but He had other plans, better plans than I had for myself!  Miraculous!  

This gift felt like a big, warm hug.

I only hope that one day we can do the very same thing someone in need, or want.  I'm assuming this person doesn't want us to find out who they are.  What a huge gift, this humble and kind person gave to me. God knows who you are and will bless you in return!  THANK YOU!

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So there you have it, Folks.  Thanks for listening to my story!  I'm excited to bring you recipes with help of my new mixer!  It seriously takes baking to another level of joy!!!

God works in mysterious ways!  

See how it sparkles on my counter?

Have a blessed Autumn weekend!

~Leslie

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