Praise Him with the Strings!

That is...the strings of the piano!  I don't have much time right now, but I absolutely cannot wait to write about this.  Two days ago I went to a music store to purchase piano books to start teaching Lukas piano lessons.  He has been begging to take lessons for at least six months, and we decided that I can teach him the basics this year and get him started with a "real" piano teacher next fall.

Anyway...while at the store staring at several gorgeous pianos, I couldn't help but think about the fact that all we own is a keyboard.  No weighted keys.  No pedals  No 88 beautiful ebony and ivories.  However, God reminded me to be grateful for this keyboard.  It has helped me teach many lessons, practice during my college and post-college years, and just been lots of fun to have. 

At any rate, I couldn't help but wonder how I was going to teach my son to properly play the piano on a keyboard.  I know there is no way that we will be able to purchase a piano in the near future, so if we were going to have a piano in time for Lukas to start with a "real" piano teacher next fall, it was going to take a lot of prayer.  I have been praying about this for two days at this point.

Let me pause in this story for a moment to take a short tangent.  In the past I have found myself selfishly wondering "When will God bless us with..."  fill in the blank.  Why doesn't he give us blessings on our time table?  I guess we can never know that answer this side of heaven, but we can always count on God's infinite wisdom to give us exactly what we need exactly when we need it.  I am so thankful for that.  I can't imagine having to trust myself with such a task.  I'd have everything I ever wanted yesterday!

So back to my original story...my personal timeline for getting a piano was twelve months from now, eleven would be better, but twelve would be fine.  God had a different plan, and it is a plan that actually brought me to tears this morning.  Our pastor's wife called and asked if we had a piano because someone would like to donate an upright piano to anyone in the church who would like to have it.  Now remember, I have only been praying about this for two days!  God has answered my prayer faster than I ever imagined He would.  We aren't going to get a piano in September of 2007.  We're getting a piano now!

I'm still tearing up thinking about how wonderful our God is.  He cares about the little things in our lives more than we can ever know.  Could Lukas have learned the basics on our keyboard?  Of course he could have, but he'll be able to learn them even better on the real thing.    I think I will be telling everyone about this for a very long time!  Praise God with the strings of the piano!