God Wrote a Mattress Story

Well, I'm here to tell you a story.  I didn't write it, God did.  I'm just writing it down to share with you one of the many ways God has provided for our family over the years!

About two months ago now, Natalie started to realize that she could climb out of her crib.  At this point, I realized that our two-year-old finally needed to transition to a bed.  The problem was, we didn't have a bed for her!  Zachary was sleeping in our only toddler bed, and we didn't have a twin bed for him.  So one morning while I was feeding Davey, I spent some time talking to God about needing a bed for Zachary.  And I remember saying something along the lines of "Oh, and, God? Bunk beds would be really cool, too."

Within the next 24 hours, a friend mentioned to me a set of bunk beds that they did not need!  (Doesn't God work in amazing ways?  Just like Him to wait for me to ask, and then immediately provide.)  However, these bunk beds did not come with any mattresses.  I figured we should just get the beds, and the kids could use their toddler/crib mattresses on them for now.  So that's what we did.

We looked online and talked about shopping for mattresses, but I felt very strongly that God was going to provide the mattresses we needed, and we just needed to wait for Him to bring them to us.

I posted a 'want' message on Freecycle, and a couple of days later, a lady responded, and we drove about 35 minutes to her house to pick up a twin mattress, complete with mattress pad and sheet!  While I was there, I was able to share with her that God had used her to provide for our family!

So now Natalie had a mattress in her bunk, but Zachary did not.  He was VERY good about being the one to wait for the second mattress, but I felt bad for him.  I asked my Sunday School ladies to pray for God to provide Zachary's mattress, and I said, "I know He could just provide the money for us to go buy a new mattress, I know He works that way sometimes, but I really just want Zachary to know that this mattress is from God.  I really want Him to provide it in a cool way that shows so clearly that it's straight from Him!"

Well, we waited...and waited...a couple of weeks went by, and I continued to remind God of our mattress need, and trust that He would provide in His timing...

As we were driving to a bounce house MOPS playdate last week, we were re-routed due to bridge construction and had to drive through the heart of a nearby town.  It 'just happened' to be their yearly "put out your junk day" when everyone can put out big trash for the garbage men to come and take care of.  As we drove through town, I noticed twin size mattresses everywhere - several nice looking ones on people's lawns.  But I dismissed it, thinking they were probably wet and nasty, and went on to our playdate.

On the way home, all the mattresses were still there, and as we were getting to the edge of town, I noticed a really nice-looking mattress sitting in someone's yard.  And I just felt that I was supposed to stop.  So I turned around and brought it home!  The bottom was wet, and I felt like a complete weirdo loading it into my van, but within a day or so, it dried up very nicely, and it is actually in really good shape!

So, tonight, both the kids have their new mattresses, on their bunk beds, straight from God!  And I'm so excited to be able to share the bunk bed story God wrote just for us! :)