Consolation Prizes

I have been praying for a really, really long time for something and it seems like it will never come!  I know that It wasn't meant to be and all that stuff, and that there's Something better down the road, and that where God closes a window, he opens a door, but sometimes I'm just like, Dude, where's the door?  I'm human. Shut the Front Door!
But God does have a sense of humor.  I think last year I blogged about running shortly after my brother's funeral and crying and not knowing where to go, to stop by a friends or keep running home and then I looked down the street and saw this great Chair!  I'm like Cool chair, and I stopped crying and got myself together.  God was like, Get it together, I have great things in store for you, starting with this great Chair!  I ran home, got in my car and as I turned the corner, someone Else was lifting the Chair into the back of his car.  I'm like, Dude, that's my chair!  But the chair had served its purpose for me and I easily let it go, laughing to myself.
God sends me Consolation Prizes like this all the time.  Yesterday while running I was thinking of a lattice I want to make for the garden out of sticks.  I saw this idea up in Massachusetts in a garden and my garden needs one, so it has been on my mind.  So I'm running and I'm thinking about sticks and then I look up and there are a pile of Sticks!  And they are exactly the right diameter and length for my lattice thing.  God's like, Look how quickly I answered that prayer!  And I'm like, Wow, Thanks, God!  (The sticks were still there when I went back to get them.  Go figure.)
So this week I got two other consolation prizes.  I can almost hear the voice of Robin Williams in my head, saying, "AND FOR YOUR CONSOLATION PRIZE.. WE HAVE..." like I'm on Let's Make a Deal and Monty Hall is up there with a microphone...
Anyway, my consolation prizes usually have to do with decor.  So here's what I found:

A practically new overstuffed white chair IN THE TRASH!  Only it get's better!

There were two!  The slipcovers slipped off and we washed them and they came up really nice.  There is a big paw print right smack dab in the middle of one cushion, but I like it.  I feel like I know the dog everytime I sit down.  Practically new.  Good prize, right?

Then we started planning our bathroom renovation and there was no way we could get a new clawfoot tub but I REALLY wanted one.  So for the first time ever I got on Craigslist and did some research.  I found a few but nothing looked promising.  I went on ReStore's website and they had one listed for a few days but it seemed like a lot of trouble. When I went back to Craigslist, there was a tub but no pictures but it was right in my hometown, less than a mile from my house.  Without going into the whole long story, this was delivered to our house last night:

I love it!  Needs a little work, has a lot of Character, but I'm sure it will clean up nice.  Cool clawfeet, right?

The chairs cleaned up too.  I added these cushions so the kids can sit here in wet swimsuits.  Plus we needed a little color.

I added the accessories... I'd been saving these little San Pelegrino bottles (Can you decorate a whole room around a label on an old glass water bottle?) and why is it that in summer we always need napkins?

The bench underneath needs work too.  I'm going to try something I saw on pinterest, where you take off the rushing and use fabric or webbing to make the seat.  I'll let you know about the progress.
So, I've taken my mind off of my other as-yet-seemingly-un-answered prayers and I'm focusing on the good stuff. Monty Hall had some good consolation prizes behind all those doors.  I'm just praying God shows me the way to the right door that will answer my Real Prayer.
In all seriousness, I know that God doesn't send us sticks to answer our prayers and I am praying very seriously for a lot of special people right now that God answers their prayers and for their health and happiness.  My need is trivial in comparison to theirs.  There is some heavy-duty praying going on all around, I'm certain.  My Real Prayer today that everyone finds some Consolation, whether it's a prize or just some peace.   I hope you find some too.