For those of you who follow my blog, you have often heard me say that when times are tough, I always believe that the Lord will put someone or something in your path to lighten your load if you only ask for his help. That was proven to me once again today. We have been struggling financially so we are preparing to move to a cheaper apartment in a few months. Along with that move, we are also selling off quite a bit of furniture that we will not need in our new place. We don’t have the room for it and we need the money so I decided to list the items on craigslist.
I have always been a little leery of craigslist because you never know who may be coming to your door when you list items for sale on that forum. All you ever hear about is all the crazy stories like the “Craigslist Killer” or the people who want to haggle with you about the price of your items until you have to politely kick them out of your home. Despite my concerns, I had to get rid of these pieces of furniture so I didn’t have much choice.
The other thing that was so upsetting was that one particular item was quite sentimental to me. I was finally parting with a cherished movie collection that had belonged to my late father. He had collected VHS movies for years and they were stored in two beautiful oak cabinets. I know that no one ever watches VHS movies anymore so I thought that they would be difficult to sell. However, they meant the world to me simply because they were one of the few items that I had left that belonged to my father. I wanted them to go to someone who was going to appreciate them as much as I did.
To my surprise, I was contacted by a man who I will call Joe (not his real name for privacy’s sake) on the first day that I posted the furniture. He originally responded because he was interested in my desk. He was the second in line so I had to ask him to wait until the first woman did not reply to my emails. After 48 hours, she had still not replied so the desk was Joe’s if he wanted it. When he came to the house today with his wife they were the nicest people I had ever met! The story gets even more interesting…
As we walked up to my apartment, Joe asked me why we were leaving our beautiful apartment and I informed him that I had gotten “sick” so we could not afford to live here anymore. He then commented that he had just been sick a year ago when he got a blood infection from a TICK BITE! I nearly fell over when I heard that. He had endocarditis and needed IV antibiotics in the hospital through a PICC line. When I told him that I am sick with Chronic Lyme Disease from a tick bite and that I had just spent 9 months with a PICC line on home IV antibiotics, our friendship was solidified based on our common experience.
As he examined the desk, he was pleased with the condition it was in. I showed him the bookcases that I had for sale which matched the desk and also the video cabinets. I told him that he was under no obligation to buy them but that I wanted them to go to a good home because the movie collection meant so much to me. He asked me how much I wanted for everything and then he made me an offer that was only $15 less than my asking price for the entire lot. I was so pleased that these kind people would take good care of my things that it was very easy for me to say, “Yes, please take it all.” We even gave him a lamp that was on the desk which he had taken a liking to when he saw it.
As I helped Joe put the furniture on the dolly, I could tell that they were going to take good care of my beloved furniture and it made me feel good. His wife talked about their grown daughters and it turns out that their oldest daughter works in the same profession that I did before I got sick. There were so many coincidences with this couple, that I knew fate had brought us together. I gave them the address of the blog so they could follow along with my progress. Every moment we spent together was a blessing.
We were supervised by their beloved pet who was watching from the back of the SUV to make sure that everything was tied down safely for the trip home! Once we had his approval, they were off with the desk, a chair, a lamp, two bookcases and the two cabinets of movies that had brought so much happiness to my family over the years. I could feel that my Dad was looking down on me with acceptance for my decision.
I started out writing a post on craigslist with great trepidation to list furniture that I had to sell and in the end I met two wonderful people that I will never forget. His wife even told us that she was going to list our names with her church prayer group so special prayers would be said for us in our time of need. Once again, my theory was proven. When you think that you are alone in your struggle and you simply cannot take any more, simply ask the Lord for help and he will send someone or something into your path to lighten your load.
This time it was Joe and his wife who were my “Craigslist Miracle” and I couldn’t be more grateful.