God answers prayer in the most unexpected ways sometimes. I have been praying all year about our finances and how we were going to meet this tuition payment for private school. Months went by. Over the years of homeschooling I would sell my educational materials online and replace them with the next batch of necessary curriculum. BUT I am not homeschooling anymore. This is my first time to have all three children in school for a full day after 16 years...WOWZERS, definitely a new chapter in my life. One day as I was posting all this material online I started to go through our own bookshelves to get rid of books we had outgrown mentally or spiritually. And the books sold and sold and sold. Light-bulb moment! This selling books gig was a breeze for me. First of all, I love books! I want to be a librarian when I grow up! Second, my graduate work in college was literature-based so I have a bit a background knowledge on authors and materials. My prayer was answered! Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
I started scouting yard sales and the local library for used books. It has spawned new bookshelves, another gift from the Lord. My sister emailed me about her office getting a new filing system and they needed to get rid of their old cabinets...ding ding ding!!! I have enjoyed pouring through all kinds of material. I found a gal selling over 500 books she needed to unload after cleaning out her fathers house. That was quite an undertaking, but I was up for the challenge. That is just how God works, when we seek Him first and wait (sigh) for His direction He comes up with the best fitting plan imaginable!
The journey of going through 500+ books from another persons life was a thoughtful experience. I learned a lot about someone I will never meet. His interests, hobbies, and beliefs were all right there before me. He must of had an aquarium, was interested in martial arts, coins, cocktails, and wars. He liked poetry and lottery tickets (lots of those shoved between the pages of random books). He had lots of bibles, books on the saints, and other spiritual seeking books. Our home libraries reveal a lot about who we are. It got me looking at my own shelves of books to see what different genres line them.
"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books."
There are books that are life giving and challenge you to grow. There are books that teach you how to do something. There are books that tell a story, some with a moral some with questionable themes. There are books that tell the story of someone's life and there are books that reveal things about you!
What's story do your bookshelves tell?
Coram Deo,
E.W.
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