a tale of two polishes

Giveaway winner is Lydia! Message me your address so I can get it to you! {Will be going to mail it tomorrow morning- you may get it by V-day?}

As you know, Meredith hosted a polish swap and today is the reveal. :)

Before I get to that let me share with you some sad news about a one of my polish friends which had to be laid to rest last week.

I had just painted my nails with my brand new nail polish and it decided to show off to its friends in the cabinet and try to fly. *sigh*

It sure was pretty though, huh? Now it was only $1.99, so it won't be that painful to replace, but still it is the principle. Why have to buy something that you just bought, right? Oh, and I have a nice stain on my wall too.

For my partner, Jo, I got her this polish. I liked it because it looked like my Milani polish that got many compliments- so I hoped she'd like it too!

While buying that polish, I also picked up a red glitter and the white. While checking out the lady told me that if I bought two, I got two free! SCORE! So I ran back and grabbed the lavender and blue. Totally made my day!

Yesterday my day was, eh. My back is still in pain, and Mr. Incredible is back to his whacked out schedule, so it squashed out Valentine's plans. So he was going to take me to the mall to at least do something I would want to do. Well, with the off hours he was too tired. So, he said we could eat a Chick-fil-a and then get a cup cake at Ooh La La Bakery. *sigh* ok, that will work. Well, Ooh La La was out of my red velvet cupcake. The night just kept getting more and more bumming.

On our way home, I picked up the mail, and found my polish inside...

Are you as excited as I was? Let me tell you this, you may have been aware of my "friend" that "passed" last week, but Jo was not. We are not friends on facebook, so she had no idea. This polish is almost identical to the polish that broke, except I think it is even prettier.

Talk about turning a frown upside down! I felt like God was giving me a huge hug.

Oh, come on now Cinderella, you honestly think something this small was a gift from God?

Why, yes, I do!

I think we are quick to put God in a box. As I said yesterday, He literally holds the whole world in His hands, and yet we think He is only in control of the big stuff. He is in control of EVERYTHING! He cares for all of us, in every way. There are no coincidences!

I share this verse often, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Matthew 5-7, (aka the Sermon on the Mount), is my favorite part of the Bible, but Romans 8:28 is my favorite verse.

Y'all, the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE cares enough to make sure that my partner will send me the {almost} exact polish that broke the week earlier. Not only was it the same, but it was even better.

Ok, losing polish was not that bad, but it was an illustration.

When something bad happens in our lives, (death, accident, whatever), we are crushed- usually. If you understand Romans 8:28, then you won't be crushed- you will be sad for sure, but you know that God is in control and there is good to come of this.

Had my polish not broken, I would not have been quite as excited by this polish swap.

Also, as I mentioned the polish was even better than the polish that broke.

We hold on to things too tightly sometimes, and God uses the loss of them to bring in something even better.

When we lost Woody and Buzz we were heart broken. We were planning on them being our only children. When they left it opened us up to the possibility of getting a daughter as well.

Had they not left, we never would have met Sweetpea.

January 2009, we were pursuing an adoption of twin boys that fell through. Why would God have us pursue these twins, knowing they would not be ours anyway?

Well, in August 2010, I received an email about a little foster girl that would, "bless someone someday." It was about Sweetpea. It was from the twins mom.

We may not see it quickly, (like the polish or when my boys left), it may even take years, (like the twins and Sweetpea), or we may never fully understand it until we get to Heaven and ask God- but we can know that He works ALL THINGS for GOOD! For our good and His glory. Praise God for our everyday miracles and blessings! Praise God for Romans 8:28!