Birthday Surprise

I was at home doing dishes, while waiting for the cake in the oven to be done. I was planning on taking the cake to my mother's house, to surprise my sister when she came home from work, as it was her birthday. I'd never done this for her before.

Earlier I had washed laundry and taken it to my mom's to dry on the clothes-line. My plan was made. I would take the cake there, and while it was cooling I would take down the clothes from the line. When that chore was finished I could frost the cake just in time before anyone came home from work. The frosting was in the car so I wouldn't forget it.

As I put the last dish away, I thought, "It's going to rain." Peeking out the window, I shook my head and thought, "It's not going to rain."

Again I thought, "It's going to rain."  This time I went outside, looking up at the perfectly blue sky. Not a cloud in sight. "Nah, it's not going to rain."

A third time, the thought came, "rain's coming."  Finally, it dawned on me that the thoughts about rain didn't originate from me, because I had already checked the situation outside.

I checked the timer. Thirty-five minutes to go. Five minutes there, five back, plenty of time. I got in the car and headed for my mom's. I pulled into the driveway, got out with the clothes basket and began to pull the clothing from the line.

I barely got started when big drops of rain began falling!  I had a lot of clothes to take down. I looked up to heaven, and said, "Okay, God, I'm a bit slow, but I am here. Can you hold the rain off for a few minutes?"

Immediately, the rain quit.

I hurriedly took down the remainder of the laundry and as I ran to the car with the basket it began once again to rain, pouring down faster than it was before. That was the first time I knew loud and clear that God was talking to me. ME. It was my sister's birthday, but my surprise.