Life is pretty exciting with God as your Father!

I was telling a friend last night how we have made some changes in the finance department in our house and one of those changes involves living without a credit card. Yep, you heard me. Scary I know...or not? After we paid off the credit card debt we decided to live life on the edge and cancel the card. Wow! It was a bit scary for me but it was also extremely freeing at the same time? Why the new found freedom? Well, I wasn't going to be indebted to some lender, I wasn't going to be paying a lot more for a "good deal" anymore (you know, when you find a good deal, buy it with your credit card and then end up paying a lot more for it because of the compounded interest you can't pay off every month?), I was freeing up money every month since I know longer had a credit card payment, and we were going to be living frugally in faithful dependence upon God, my Father. And, here we are 10 months later and I don't regret getting rid of the credit card. What if we have an emergency though??? Well, I might be tempted to panic for a second, but then I remember that first I ought to go to God in prayer about it and secondly, I should be saving money every month for just such a time. (which o.k. we need to step a notch here!)
Anyways, Carter was in need of black dress shoes size 12 and Carlee really needed slippers because our floor is on a slab and gets VERY cold in the winter. I had figured I would just have to wait till we got paid and then go buy these at the store. However, I was planning on going to a Mom2Mom sale in our area when Adam asked if I could find them there. I said, possibly, but it's doubtful because it's hard to find anything nice for older boys there and I don't remember ever seeing slippers that I liked either, but we would all pray about it. So, I got up early this morning, kissed everyone good-bye and reminded them to pray about the shoes and slippers. As I was shopping at the different tables I found some great Stride Rite shoes for Carlee for about $1-2/pair AND the right size slippers! The shoes were too big for her, but a good deal so I was just going to hang on to them. While I was looking at them, my friend came up and said I should go check out this other table because they had great clothes for really cheap for Carlee. In my excitement I forgot to tell the lady I'd be back for the shoes...So, I went and bought a ton of stuff for only $15 and then continued to shop a bit more when I remembered THE SHOES!!! I hurried over there and all that was left of the shoes I wanted were THE SLIPPERS and one of the pairs of shoes. I was heartbroken! How could I have been so dumb?? But I paid $3 and thought I'd browse a bit more. At least I got the slippers! I was almost out of money and kept thinking about the shoes I still needed for Carter. I reminded the Lord about them and said I would have faith that He could provide them there if he wanted to. I wasn't really interested in stopping at the other tables that I had not looked at for some reason, but I did feel prompted by the Lord to go to this back room where they had more tables set up. I walked in and YES there were the black dress shoes, size 12 that I needed! They were $4 and as I looked to see how much money I had left, I had....$4. I told the mom that it was an answer to prayer that I found those shoes and had the exact amount of money. (don't keep your faith to yourself!) So, had I bought the Stride Rites that Carlee didn't need, I wouldn't have had the money to get the shoes that Carter DID need! I loaded up all my stuff and drove home and when I started to think about how awesome that was that God cared about such a "little" detail I teared up. God does care about the little things in our life just as much as the big things. I think my faith is increased more when I see Him take care of the little things because then I know He cares so much about the intimate details of my life that might not seem big to someone else, but to God they're still important. Matthew 7:31ff "So don't worry about having enough food or drink or clothing...don't be so deeply concerned about these things. Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern." Honestly, I think today it was more than about getting a good deal for the shoes and the slippers. It was about increasing my faith in a Heavenly Father who delights to show Himself to me in such special ways. It was also a great opportunity to show the kids a very specific way that God answered their prayers too. We took the time to thank Him as a family. When I went upstairs to put Caleb down for his nap I could hear how excited Carter was about his shoes...and that he got the perfect thing...just what he needed--a shoe box! (He's saving shoe boxes to wrap presents in for Christmas). Too funny to hear him rejoicing over that!
So, in what ways have you seen God work and provide for you? Please share!