I told you we celebrated our son’s 16th Birthday at a friend’s island home with his buddies. The fact that we have access to such an amazing beach house is a gift from God (and our friends!), but His Birthday gift to our son went beyond what we could have imagined!

The island house is a kid’s paradise—ping-pong, foosball, bumper pool, kayak, ocean and bay views, beautiful sand beaches, and we can’t forget the golf carts on steroids! Accessible only by boat, it’s an adventure just getting there! The one thing we couldn’t come up with was a jet ski. Keller really wanted to jet ski, but the cost was far beyond our budget. I really felt the jet ski experience would be the perfect final touch to Keller’s Birthday Bash but couldn’t imagine how we could make it happen. So we started praying…

The day before we were to leave we received refund checks in the mail…maybe that was God’s way of providing for the jet ski! However, when Brad and I talked about it we were uncomfortable spending that much money for a couple hours on a jet ski when we needed to use the funds elsewhere. We continued to pray and later that day He answered big time!

I received an e-mail saying that our friends had purchased a jet ski and they were going to leave it by the dock for us to use while we were there! God didn’t provide funds for a couple hours, He provided a jet ski for five full days!

Brad and I were soooo excited to tell Keller about the jet ski gift. I wish you could have seen his face when he heard the news! Do you know who else was excited? The Gift Giver—God! Can you imagine how excited He must have been, knowing how abundantly He was going to provide? He loves to give good gifts to His children… just like we do.

I think the joy on my son’s face every time he was on the jet ski was a small reflection of the joy that must have been on God’s face as He watched our son zoom across the ocean!

Brad and I could have “made” the jet ski happen by putting the rental on a credit card. I confess that I was tempted to do it. If I had, I would have cheated our son out of seeing God provide an amazing gift.

I’m not a “prosperity gospel” person. God won’t say ‘yes’ to every request we make because He cannot be manipulated, controlled or put into a box. But I do think He wants to shower us with His love, and sometimes that means He gives us tangible gifts to say “I love you.”

How about you? What gift do you desire from the Lord? For your kids? For you? For your spouse? Pray about it and watch God provide in ways you never imagined!