Way back in February of this year my husband and I started looking for a full-size violin for our daughter. We knew this day would come: shopping for a decent violin, but we were reluctant to dive in and take the plunge for three main reasons. First of all, our daughter's attitude towards the instrument was teeter-tottering. Of course, money is a major factor when buying any instrument, and this was no different especially when her attitude showed little excitement about the idea. Finally, we were wondering since our daughter's passion is the piano, perhaps it was not God's will for her to play two instruments. Perhaps we were pushing our way, not God's way. What do you do in a situation like this? You do the logical thing. You pray. In fact I will quote the entry I made in my prayer journal on March 18, 2011. Request: "new nice violin for Heidi."
As my daughter continued with violin lessons, her teacher continued to mention to us the need for a full-size violin. I had no money and saw no way of getting any quick. I was praying, but as the prayer continued I realized I wasn't even sure if what I was praying for was God's will, so my request changed a little. On April 19, 2011 my prayer journal entry read, "If (God) you want Heidi to continue w/violin, please provide the violin." In addition to praying, I mentioned to my daughter my prayer request. Pleadingly I asked her to pray the same prayer with me. At first, she reluctantly agreed to pray the same prayer. She was reluctant to pray this way because she knew if God gave us a violin, then she knew she would have to practice and take it seriously: no arguments.
On April 25, 2011 my praying in this matter continued to change. I now was growing in my faith with regards to this so my entry became very specific. It read, "to know Your will free violin for Heidi ... by May 14, 2011." The deadline to sign up for the fall lessons was May 15, 2011. I shared all of this with Heidi, too.
As lessons continued the teacher told us that the violin is holding her back. May 9 was the day we had scheduled with the music school to sign our children up for piano lessons. Since there was no violin, we did not sign Heidi up for violin lessons in the fall. On Monday night, Emily, who is the music school's registrar, told us that the school may have a violin they could loan us for FREE. We would be responsible for maintenance, but everything else would be free. We would turn the violin back to the school when we terminated lessons there. We could see God working before our eyes. How wonderful!
On Tuesday, May 10, 2011. God kindly, directly and specifically answered my prayer. Heidi went to her lesson. The teacher went into a closet and showed Heidi two decent violins. Heidi choose the violin she liked best. Inside the case was a chin rest, rosin (a very expensive kind), and even a nice bow. God gave us for free a violin, a bow, a chin rest, a violin case, and rosin all before the deadline I requested of Him. Heidi KNOWS it is God's will for her to continue violin lessons. Do you see how good my God is? It is worth reading all about it. Extra: God also gave us on May 10, 2011 a extraordinary lead on a decent violin, bow and case for under $1000. Let me say it again: My God is so good!
