Make Yourself Amazing in April...and Beyond!: Day 11

Hello again!

Last week I had a not-so-fun stomach bug, and I didn't have any energy to even think of blogging (or cleaning the house or working or exercising or just about anything...). The last couple of days have consisted of me playing catch up with work/life/everything, so I'm just now getting back here. Since I'm slightly behind on this, I've decided to change the name to Make Yourself Amazing in April...and Beyond! Now, barring sickness, floods, famine, major life interruptions, plagues, and Internet outages, I should be done with this series around mid-May.

So, let's get (re)started!

Today's chapter is called Exotic Surprises

Source for original photo

Focus Verse: She's like a trading ship that sails to faraway places and brings back exotic surprises. (Proverbs 31:14, The Message)

God is a God of surprise. You think you have something figured out or that a prayer is going to be answered a certain way, and then BAM...God surprises you! There are many stories of surprise in the Bible, such as Gideon's and Samson's. God used people like them- ordinary men- to do extraordinary things. And, God can use you for extraordinary surprises as well!

To allow God's surprises to come into your life, you have to remain receptive and ready. Sarah suggests spending daily time with Him, preferably in the morning, so then you will be more open for His surprises all day long. I like this idea, and it's something that I need to get a lot better about doing. I'm a snooze button-a-holic, and that habit cuts into quiet time or just about anything else in the mornings!

Sarah also suggests being spontaneous. As she says, the difference between average and amazing is the surprise factor. I'm sure we all have people in our lives who surprise us sometimes and just make us feel good because they care. A couple of special ladies at work brought me a magnet today that they said reminded them of me, and it was such a nice surprise after some un-amazing things happened today.

With that in mind, today's challenge is to surprise someone at work this week with a cup of his or her favorite coffee, some chocolate, or a magnet that talks about the difference between dogs and children. ;-)