Impulse Buy

I was in love!  Browsing the antique store, I spotted a dresser.  An old-fashioned one with a padded bench in front of the lovely mirror.  Just what I had been wanting!  I could imagine the piece re-done in the new/old style with chalk/milk paint!  Wait! What's this?  A bed!  A charming headboard with curlicues carved into it, gingerbread style!  Then I spotted the matching chest of drawers and a night stand!  All in great condition.  The associate said they were from the 40s!

Where was my husband? I finally located him at the back of the store poring over old musical instruments.  "Look!  Isn't this amazing?" I asked when I pointed out the bedroom set.  To his question of "How much?" I showed him the ticket with the original price slashed to half off!  He walked away disinterestedly.  Well, I knew even at half off, it would be a stretch, so I didn't press the issue.

But I couldn't stop thinking about it!  The bedroom of my dreams!  Then when I got home and realized how much furniture I would have to move and rearrange to make room for it, I was a little uncertain. I've always subscribed to the theory, "If you love it, you'll find a place for it!"  Still, I kept calculating in my head how we could afford it.  Finally, before I went to sleep, I prayed a prayer that God would make a way to get the set, or that He would give me a sign it wasn't for me.

Yesterday, I accompanied my husband to town so he could get a watch-band adjusted.  When he came out of the jewelry store, I  realized that the antique store was just down the block.  "Let's go in and look at that bedroom furniture," I ventured.  "I want to take pictures of it."  My idea was to show them to my daughter to get her opinion.

We walked in, and I had my iPhone at the ready.  "Was it in this section?" I asked Howard.  Then I stepped down to the display where it was.  This is funny, I thought. Everything had changed.  In the headboard's place was a scrolled, metal headboard.  And there was no dresser, or anything else!  Just an odd assortment of antiques.  The same bright quilt covered the present bed, but my heart sank at the thought that it was gone.

"Did that white bedroom set sell?" I asked a clerk, to which she answered, "Yes, it sold!  It's been moved to the back."  I walked out of the store numbly.  My dream was up in smoke.  But I felt a nudge of conscience when I thought about my prayer.  God had answered it!  I didn't expect it to be this way, but in my spirit I felt the confirmation that that was indeed the answer.

Perhaps God has something better for me in mind, or perhaps he sees something in the future precluding the purchase.  Whatever it is, I know I have a prayer-answering God!  Sometimes his answer is Yes, sometimes it is No, and sometimes it is Wait.  I will wait and see.