God-Things

There are moments when things in the universe line up too perfectly for it to mean anything other than God. In this story, it starts and ends with a book.
            My husband and I binge-watched “Russian Doll” on Netflix. In the show, two characters keep reliving the same day and have to team up to figure out why and how to break the loop. The main character, Nadia, wants to give a book to her ex-boyfriend’s daughter: Emily of New Moon. As we watched the show, I thought to myself, Self: I have this book somewhere. I bought it at an antique mall in El Paso (IL) years ago. It’s a beautiful hardback copy and as I searched up and down for it, I realized a horrible truth: I probably decided since I hadn’t read the book, it was time to pass it on. Though I can’t remember specifically doing it, I can picture myself putting the book in the box to give to the church yard sale. But because of the show, I want to read the book.
            Neither of my local libraries has the book. It’s available on the library’s digital borrowing services, but I’m trying to use my screen less, especially at night. My knee-jerk reaction was what it usually is: go to Amazon where I can order it both quickly and cheaply. But, my goal this year is to use Amazon very sparingly. I could order it through the local children’s bookstore. I decided to sleep on it.
            It took about a week to give up looking for the book in my house and decide what to do next. I ended up going to a coffee shop before a Mom-date in New Jersey and while I was there, I looked up bookstores near my location. I came across one called “The Bear and the Books.” It’s a locally owned children’s bookstore that started about five years ago.
            While driving there, I almost talked myself out of it. It’s a children’s bookstore. Is Emily of New Moon even a children’s book? But I went. And they had the book! They had a beautiful paperback copy of Emily of New Moon right there on the shelf. I bought that. And the second book. And a really cool looking book on Norse Mythology. The shop owner and I talked for about twenty minutes and I found out that she actually has a really, really cool mission that she makes a part of her business practice.
            She calls it “Bear Mail.”
            It works like this: someone comes in and wants to send books to a child in need, or a relative, or a school on a routine basis as a gift. They leave their card info on file with the shop and the owner, a really cool woman named Bobbie, will pick out a book to wrap and send the child or school teacher as frequently as the customer requests. Kids in need get books. Schools in need get books. Books by authors who may never see the light of day of a best seller’s list but are awesome writers find homes. I loved everything I heard about this mission, and I asked Bobbie to sign me up. Once a month, she’ll send a book to a fifth-grade teacher at a school in need. I get to be a part of this mission, and I’m so excited. I asked Bobbie to let me know what books she sends out so I can keep up with the stories.
            If I hadn’t gone to El Paso…if I hadn’t gotten rid of the book…if I hadn’t watched Russian Doll…if I hadn’t faithfully decided not to order the book online…if I hadn’t googled this children’s bookstore…if I hadn’t talked to the shopkeeper…who’s to say how life might be different? But the stars lined up just perfectly and the universe was well-balanced.
            You can’t tell me that’s not a God-thing.

Proverbs 3:27, "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act."

            What are some God-things that you’ve gotten to see lately? Share them with me in the comments below!

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