mysterious ways.

so i got some money in my account today. got caught up on bills. that feels good, but not as good as i thought it would, mainly because i still have so much debt to attack and it feels overwhelming. i'm not discouraged...i just felt really sad today.

but you know, i believe in god, and i believe in signs. and i feel like sometimes god is telling me, "everything is going to be fine. you have to go through trials to make you stronger, and i will never lay a greater burden on you than you can bear, nor will i let you lay a greater burden on yourself than you can bear. and i'm looking out for you. we're going to work together to make it through this, and it's all going to be okay."

his words, not mine.

i haven't yet talked about our dogs. sam and i have two sweetheart dogs. arthur is about 70 pounds, and henry is about 10 (although that's really a bit too much for his breed; he's a little fatty. he likes to eat. he gets that from me). they are best friends, although they do have spats like any other set of siblings. arthur thinks he is a lap dog, while henry thinks he is as big, fierce, and scary as a rottweiler.

anyway, to go back to the first topic, i got a big sign today. after i paid all my bills, i started making a list of things we need in the house. one of the things was dog food. i wondered to myself if we should buy the biggest bag available, which is the better value, but is, of course, more expensive. i could have spent less than half on a much smaller bag. on one hand, i knew that we should buy the biggest bag, but i didn't know if i was willing to lay out all that money just then.

sam and i headed out on our shopping trip while i was still mulling this over in my head. as we reached the bottom of the stairway, we saw a large, nearly full bag of our exact brand and exact variety of dog food sitting next to the door. there was a note taped to the bag that read, "if you have a dog, please take this food. my dog died, and i don't want it to go to waste."

well, my heart broke. i can't imagine what i would do if anything happened to arthur or henry, and i wished i knew which neighbor had left the food so i could visit them and express my condolences and thank them for being so kind as to leave out the food for someone else. sam hauled the bag up the stairs to our apartment. we were both incredibly relieved to not have to worry about dog food as an expenditure for awhile. i took out a notecard from my desk and inside i wrote, "we are so sorry about the loss of your dog. thank you so much for the food. our dogs love this food, and we are all very grateful. thanks again, your neighbor."

i left the card in the spot where we found the bag of dog food. when sam and i got back home, it was still there. i hope the neighbor who left the food finds the card soon, and i hope that he or she is doing okay.

god has a plan for each of us. i truly believe that.