At home, I work at a Christmas shop. Some people laugh at this, some people are confused. Well you see, it’s open year round, and does has relatively steady business even in the off season months. People are often confused by this as well. But, think of it this way- if you were leisurely walking down a street and happened upon a nice little cozy looking place that said, “Ye Olde Worlde Christmas Shoppe”, you would probably go in right ?????? Like, almost a definitely. Out of curiosity or out of the Christmas spirit that lives constantly in your heart !!! For me, It’s fun meeting tourists from all around the U.S. who often come in just to look or even sometimes come to the shop to find more fancy pieces, the collector type people.
My favorite part about working there is my manager. Her name is Laura, and she is one of the sweetest most genuine people I know. She laughs at pretty much everything, loves Christmas so much it’s almost scary, and has a heart on fire for the Lord. She was always someone I could come to and celebrate things with, or work through things with. She helped me decide on plans for this year and prayed through everything with me.
Around last June, I found a lifeguarding job and had to leave the little shop for a while. For my graduation gift, Laura gave me a bible. Its really nice, a journaling one actually, esv. Exactly what I needed for this I think.
Anyways fast forward to last week. I pick flowers a lot and when I want to keep them I stick them between the pages of my bible to press them. I realized that I should probably take them out and put them somewhere I wont lose them. SO Im leafing through the pages of the ot, (which, isn’t nearly as marked down as the nt)and I see some writing in pink pen. I dont have a pink one, and it doesn’t look like my handwriting, so I flip back through until I get to that page,. I look and see that im in Zephaniah, and I see Lauras loopy script:
“You found it! One of my favorite verses. These words are so so true. Praying this over you often my dear !”
Wow, I thought. How sweet. Then I remembered …
One day over the spring, I don’t know when exactly, I was at work. Behind the counter, just finished wrapping a nice big fancy santa for some people and had a second to breathe. Laura comes running down the stairs from her office and hands me a sticky note. Zephaniah 3:17 is written on it~
“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
She was literally so excited about this verse. So joyful about the fact the very lord of all creation literally sings over us and rejoices over us!!!!!!! Almost half a year later, I found it again, and it hit me with even more power than it did on that random day. I think I found it again exactly when I needed to.
The Lord has shown me intimacy over the past few months more than he ever has. The beauty, the passion, the mercy he shows us has no bounds and im still trying to wrap my head around it !!! I think this verse captures his heart towards, me, towards all of his children, perfectly. He’s a good good father!
