It was the last straw.

It had been a crummy week:  forgotten and missed appointments, repairs to the eldest’s braces (again), planning a birthday party, cranky children and cranky momma.

When I found that I was out of shower gel, somehow that sent me right to the edge.

I couldn’t see how I would be able to get to the store to get more any time in the near future.

I was whiny about it.  Oh poor Liz! (extreme eye roll)

Then…God intervened.

My sweet friend Judi brought me a gift …of…you guessed it…shower gel!

How amazing that the God of the universe cares so much about little whiny me as to give me just what I needed just when I needed it.

But God was not done there.

Here is the shower gel she gave me:

Can you read the title of it?  Yep.  Amazing Grace shower gel.  There was a greater message here, and one I needed to hear even more.

Oh, Father!  How Your love soothes me!  In the midst of the turmoil, knowing I would be kicking myself for all the things that have fallen through the cracks, You gave me a message of hope and redemption to set me back on track.

While these troubles I faced this week are really, truly, light and momentary, there are always bigger struggles lurking around the corner, times and places for me to lose my focus and my way, times for me to strike out instead of wrapping in to the Lord.

I know I will remember this gift…from Judi and from God…while I still have the bottle of shower gel.  But I pray that I will remember it always, especially on the hard days.

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  – 2 Corinthians 12:9