God Cares About Stretch Marks
While washing my belly in the shower, I was amazed at how round it had already become. It was the end of October and I was only 3 months pregnant. However, this baby was making his/her presence known much faster than my first daughter did.
“I really need to get some belly butter, ” I thought as I continued my shower.
I was nervous. I was rushing. It was the day that I was leaving for a christian women’s blogging conference, Relevant. I had never been to a blogging conference before. Although I had made many connections with other attendees through Twitter, I was feeling very anxious.
“I hope someone is handing out free samples of belly butter or there is a giveaway.”
I was going to be handing out samples of organic cleaning concentrate from my sponsor Andrea, an Independent Shaklee Distributor. I heard that others would have samples from their sponsors also. Just maybe someone would have free belly butter!
“Well, they say that you should pray about everything…”
I’m not one to pray about the tiny things. I’m not one to pray about the trivial things. I am not one to pray about belly butter.
But I did.
“Dear God, please bless me with some free belly butter at Relevant this weekend. Amen!”
Later that day I pulled up to the conference hotel just in time to meet some of the bloggers at a restaurant for lunch. I was feeling jittery. Jumpy. Nervous.
I gave myself a little pep talk and walked into the restaurant alone and unsure of who I might meet there. I was hoping to connect with Stacy Karen, a fellow frugal and green blogging friend whom I’d never met. I tried her cell phone right before I left my car, but she didn’t answer.
It wasn’t hard to pick out the group of blogging ladies. They were lively and excited.
I was still nervous.
I made my way over to the long table and picked a seat. Within moments someone sat next to me.
“Oh! Rebekah??” she asked. “It’s me! Stacy!”
It was perfect! Stacy just happened to sit down right next to me. I instantly felt more comfortable and relaxed.
“I have something for you.” Stacy handed me a small container wrapped in tissue paper. I knew what it was before I even opened it.
Belly butter. It was homemade, glorious, green and safe belly butter.
*deep breath*
“Stacy, thank you so much! You have no idea. I just prayed for this!”
I was barely there for 5 minutes before God answered my prayer. I was blown away, thankful, and very aware of this gift from above.
I still don’t understand why God chooses to answer some of our most simple prayers, yet others…. others that are so much more important seem to go unheard. It is confusing. It is hard. Even frustrating.
But…
On that October day God told me he cares and he is still listening to me.
God gave me belly butter and I am so so thankful.
Stacy Karen writes at A Delightful Home where she strives to encourage moms to live healthy, happy lives. She shared her recipe for Homemade Belly Butter in a guest post for Keeper of the Home. Definitely check out Stacy’s blog if you are interested in other recipes for homemade beauty and cleaning products. She recently released the eBook Simple Scrubs to Make and Give, which gives instructions for 20+ sugar and salt body scrubs.
I want to say THANK YOU again to my Relevant sponsor, Andrea. If you are interested in trying any of Shaklee’s products, you can get 15% off your purchase of Shaklee purchase here.
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I just love the story behind this belly butter! Who knew?
I’m so grateful you were at Relevant. Finding you at the restaurant was a relief for me too.
I wish we were neighbors 🙂
If we were neighbors then you could give me real-life demos on how to make all your cool stuff!!! Let’s work on moving someday. 🙂
I.love.this. {And both you and Stacy. And of course the mighty orchestrater.} Awesome story!
Aw, thanks! It was good to meet you at Relevant, too!
What a great story! How I wish I could meet you both in real life!
And, God really is truly amazing, and so good to us!
It would be fun to meet! I guess we’ll have to stop having babies to make that a possibility. 🙂
I love this story! God works in mysterious ways so it never hurts to ask.
So true, Dorothy. I need to remember to pray more about the little things.
“I still don’t understand why God chooses to answer some of our most simple prayers, yet others…. others that are so much more important seem to go unheard. It is confusing. It is hard. Even frustrating. But…”
I love this, embracing the mystery & learning to be thankful for the good.
That is such a great story! I love it!
What a neat story. We truly serve an AWESOME God!
I love when God answers our prayers like that. I love that he cares about all the details of our lives. What a fun story!
Thank you, Krissa. It was definitely the encouragement that I needed.
I am laughing while reading your article. I love the prayer you made. Not long, not short but of direct approach. I am one of those people who love freebies. And I am one of the few women who managed to not get stretch marks during pregnancy and after giving birth.
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Linda