God never comes up short

The new office I moved into last week had to be remodeled from floor to ceiling before it was ready to occupy. Part of the landlord’s terms required me to choose carpet out of a small stock of floor coverings he owned. Three months ago, when I signed the lease, I had found one acceptable color and design in his warehouse, and so consented to his deal.

But lo and behold, what happened last week? Two days before I am to take possession, I get a call at 10 a.m. from the contractor telling me the carpet layer was coming at 2 p.m., and he had just discovered that there wasn’t enough of the carpet I had chosen to cover the space.

“Would I come over and choose another design?” He asked.

This was not good news! I knew the other choices were ghastly, 20 years outdated, and very ugly.

A bit forlorn, I agreed to meet him at the warehouse and decide what to do next.

As I drove over to Richland, I reminded myself that divine Mind was carpeting my office with the graces of Love, and there could be no mistakes, no oversights, no shortages, and no lack of every right quality necessary to finish the project with splendid results.

When I arrived at the warehouse, two men were waiting outside with a roll of carpet in the parking lot. Unsure what to do, they pointed to the bundle and said it was 6 feet too short.

We went into the building, and as I had suspected, the only other choices were two gross colors that obviously were in storage because no one would want to use them, including me! I wasn’t sure what to do except stand, listen, and be patient until a solution appeared.

It would have cost me $1500 to buy new carpet at a store, which was an unnecessary expense since I already had a deal with the landlord to do the job.

At the moment, the situation looked hopeless. The two workers stood around with the attitude of, “Now what?”

I stalled. I just couldn’t stomach saying yes to the other choices and knew there had to be a better solution.

At an impasse, and unwilling to accept a compromise I would regret for years to come, I stood silently and listened to God for an answer. I insisted in my prayers that there was an acceptable alternative, and that God would reveal it to me.

Be patient! I affirmed. Listen. Don’t act in haste.

Finally, I was impelled to ask the men if they had any other carpet in the back rooms of the warehouse. They shrugged their shoulders in doubt, but said they would look.

Five minutes later they came bounding back down the corridor to tell me they had found a remnant roll of the exact carpet I had chosen to begin with that was almost to the foot what we needed to finish my office.

Alleluia! I thanked God for telling us what to do.

Sure enough, in a dark forgotten backroom was the perfect answer to my prayer. It was new carpet in the proper design. Only God knew it was there, and He told us about it.

The carpetlayers came on time, did their job, and the carpet looks terrific, if I may say so myself. I enjoy it everyday now, and am so happy to have learned the lesson, “Never give up!” There’s always an acceptable answer.