James 1:17 – Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (NIV)

In 1989, my husband Marcelo was offered an electronics engineering position, and we moved from Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, to Arizona.

During our first winter here, we chuckled when we saw people dressed in winter coats, gloves, scarves, mittens, and warm hats. Coming from cold Colorado, we really thought that the winter was quite mild.

The following summer, Arizonians faced record-breaking high temperatures with the highest being 122°F (50°C) on June 26, 1990, causing us to rethink and question the wisdom of our move, but we adjusted and have called Arizona our home for the past thirty-four years.

When our second winter rolled around, my husband and I were compelled to dig out our Colorado cold weather survival attire and to join the locals who had amused us the winter before. We had become acclimated to the summer heat and had lost our tolerance of the mild Arizona winters.

However, the Arizona winter memory that Marcelo and I will most remember happened this past December when, just three days before Christmas, we had the opportunity to open up some early Christmas "gifts".

The first gift that we received turned out to be a broken heating system. This gift came wrapped up in gratitude, for we were reminded of how we should not take things for granted.

The heating repairman came promptly and diagnosed the problem. He informed us that the part that we needed would have to be ordered, and that due to the holidays, we should expect some delays. Gift number two was having to wait in discomfort, and it came wrapped up in patience, adorned with a lovely bow of longsuffering.

It took a week for our heater to be repaired, and yes, we slept in our Colorado winter survival attire. Our third gift, bitter cold and inconvenience, was beautifully wrapped in God's goodness and love.

The cost for the heating system should have been over $2,000.00, but our home was only three years old, and the replacement part was under a five-year warranty. Therefore, we were charged only for the labour. This fourth gift of God's mercy and grace came wrapped beautifully in thanksgiving and praise.

Finally, when the workers had completed the job, the fifth gift that Marcelo and I received was the opportunity to share the gospel with them. The amazing, precious, sacrificial gift of eternal life is covered in God's omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience and wrapped up in His agape love.

It is not always easy to receive God's good and perfect gifts from above with trust and thanksgiving, for we do not understand His thoughts and ways, but we can trust His heart, for we know that He is holy, just, perfect, loving, and good. Therefore, He has an eternal purpose for whatever He allows to come into our lives, though it may be unbeknownst to us. Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

Prayer: Father God, You are a good God, and You love us so much. Help us to remember that You are always working things out for good according to Your perfect will. Amen.

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About the author:

Cheryl Mariano (Cheremiah) <cherylmariano@gmail.com>
Casa Grande, Arizona, USA
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