12/24/2025
A year ago, on Christmas Eve, a new friend of ours came over to visit. He told me that December 24th was his birthday, and that instead of receiving gifts, he preferred to give on his birthday. Then he asked me to look up a brick bread oven that I’d been wishing for and he immediately pulled out his credit card and bought it for me. 🥲🥹
…………
We “randomly” met in the aisle at Menards when Paul and I were discussing a small project we were interested in. Our new friend (who asked me not to share his name here) had overheard our conversation and decided to offer us some materials he had sitting at his home nearby, just to be nice - he said he felt God wanted him to share with us. That was the beginning of a lovely friendship! We gratefully accepted. Then, when I asked if he liked sourdough bread (as I thought a thank-you gift would definitely be in order), he told me sourdough was his favorite - and that his late wife had loved to bake as well. Then he offered me the large industrial mixer she had purchased but never used. I felt maybe it was too big of a gift but by then he was decided and insisted we take it…when we went to pick up the other items from him, he made SURE we took the mixer. Then I had to figure out what to do about my kitchen, because I had no place to put such a mixer. 😅
God provided flooring from my brother who had redone his kitchen floor (nice LVP used only for a year). Then he provided free kitchen cabinets from our friends Mike & Chris who generously gave us everything they took out when they redid their kitchen. Then I worked all year and God provided the money through that and other means that we needed to live and come up with a little extra to invest in what was necessary to do the kitchen.
Eventually we were able to do the kitchen project. Like life, things did not go according to plan (we discovered a huge bathroom leak and had to make an insurance claim AND now we’re finally almost done and ready to finish the last 20% of the kitchen 😂), but we were able to renovate the kitchen to fit our new bread oven, almost entirely doing the work by ourselves, and then I sold the floor stand mixer and was able to use that profit to buy one that will eventually fit on my countertop (once we remove a cabinet. Sacrifices must be made 🥲😅). Throughout our friend has cheered us on and checked in to see how it is going. It’s been such a pleasure to share the progress with him!
Last year I was hustling and we were struggling financially and wondering how we would find a way forward. God provided in EXTREMELY improbable ways and continued to show us that he does not even need our participation to provide for and love on us.
Nothing I do can make God love or like me more. Nothing I do is necessary (inherently) for God to work! If God asks me to do something, I’m happy to do it because he does not NEED me. He WANTS me. ❤️🙌
Anyway, today is a year later and I can’t believe the “dream come true” projects we’ve been able to do or mostly do in the house this year. Things I envisioned 15 years ago finally happening. But this house? It’s just a thing. A tool. It’s something I can use to bake bread in order to prosper my family and feed them and others. But it’s a gift from God. And you know what? God gave me an even greater gift in Jesus.
So please wish our “new” friend (now a family friend for more than a year!) a happy birthday today, on Christmas Eve, and thank God with me for his sweet generosity and friendship. And if you have Jesus in your life and ruling in your heart today, thank God for that as well. And if you don’t - today is the best day to change that. I’d be glad to share more about how God has helped, changed, and ultimately saved me if you want to talk more. I have plenty of time to sit down and chat about it this week!
Merry Christmas 🎄❤️
