“Birthday Presents from my Abba-Father” Entry 2 of My Spiritual Serendipity Notebook

“Chronicling the amazing and unexpected ways the Holy Spirit of God works in my life.”

I have been planning for this “Vintage Birthday Tea Party” of mine and at the beginning of this week I had a problem: everything was ready--china and linen, props and pretty things but  for the food. I needed scones and tiny bites, pastries, etc.. and a cake or two. For goodness’ sake, what is a birthday party without a birthday cake? So I had a major problem. A few days into the Birthday Tea party  I have no Tea-party food, and  no Birthday cake.

Two days ago, my mission was to visit two bakeries to find me a cake and tea pastries. The highly  recommended one turned out to be a disappointment.  I drove away empty-handed and planned to go to the other bakery many miles away. I wasn’t that excited since it had bad

online reviews.  I had driven away a few yards, when the Holy Spirit gave me a glimpse of a sign-- “British Marketplace and Tea Room.”

 “Say what, again, Lord?” How did I miss that shop when it was just a few doors from the bakery?

I turned around and dropped by to see, and amazingly, they make fresh  English scones with the clotted cream, the British sausages, and everything British, including a newspaper and a flag. I thought to myself that I had won a prize! I would never have found this place on my own.  I went out of that store and “Voila!”-- next door was  a “Cupcake Galleria” place where I was delighted to find not just one pretty cake but two for a decent price. Just the kind of cake that I wanted. I could jump for joy!

Yesterday-- my birthday-- my mission was to find me flowers, since they say, “What is  a tea party without fresh flowers?” My sister-in-law had said that I should have lots of flowers. If it were up to me, I  would use plastic ones from the dollar store. When my mother heard about the plastic flowers, she agreed, that real flowers it should be. So the majority opinion, and the Book of Manners dictate -- it cannot be plastic.

My request to my heavenly Father that morning of my birthday, was to give me cheap flowers. On my third stop for flowers (the first two were disappointing), I finally got me some roses ... lots of roses...too expensive for this cheapskate but hey, they say, “A tea party should have lots of flowers!!” I was counting my cash on the cash register, grudgingly. Two dozen roses cost too much. I was a few feet from the cashier when I found a mistake on my receipt. It said $14.99 on the sign and I was charged $19.99 for each dozen. I went to Customer Service hoping to get a refund of the mistake--which was what it was-- but to my surprise, the lady said the roses were free, and I get a refund of the real price of the two dozen. Publix store policy: “Any item that is  mispriced, you get the item for free.”

My Heavenly Father was working in cahoots with the Holy Spirit to give me my birthday present-- two dozen lovely, fresh roses. Not plastic.

God’s Truth for me: “He who spared not His own Son but delivered  Him up for us all, how shall He not,  with Him also, freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32

The Holy Spirit talking: God is the God of the minutest details of our lives. He cares about a swallow that falls to the ground. How could He not care that I get  my scones, my cake and my flowers?