Saturday, January 1, 2011

Fulfilling Already

[1.1.11]

Firsts all around with the beginning of this new year. And not even half-way into the day God showed his hand in the promise of this year and gave a gift ... or two.

Background: I've been wanting to upgrade to a smart phone for years now. Anthony had the iPhone back in 2008 and then switched over to the Evo this past September. Justifying his for business was easy. Justify the cost for me for personal use was not. So I chose to wait until we would have $200 or so that we could take from our usual bills and apply towards and 'not necessary' desire of mine.

When Anthony got his Evo last year, I vowed to find a way to save for mine, once and for all. Around October, when our move was in full force, money that I thought could be used for this purchase ended up having to go elsewhere. I was not happy. As a matter of fact, I was downright ticked and made sure Anthony knew it. It wasn't his fault the hope of upgrading was put on indefinite hold, but I let the fact that I was tired of waiting for something he'd had for over two years be known!

Well, God got a hold of my heart soon after and settled me with this thought, "Your time is coming. Good things come to those who wait." So I refocused my perspective and once again was thankful that I had the privilege of a cell phone, when some can't afford it all.

Around the end of November I began regularly checking the Sprint site for phone discounts. I had earned a $150 instant upgrade bonus for being a long-term customer and wanted to see what kind of difference it would make. Needless to say, smart phones don't come cheap, and even with the upgrade discount, the price of one was still out of justification range. So I settled on this: Anthony gets an expense reimbursement every month. I'll take some out of that until I have saved enough to cover the difference. That meant knowing it would be April 2011 or so before we could afford it.

Then some financial news changed that plan when we learned the expense reimbursement would be cut come January. The whole "good things come to those who wait" took on another meaning for me. Wait was not anywhere in my near future but somewhere down the long and winding road.

And then came January 1st. The kids' phone also had an upgrade bonus attached to it and eventhough I knew we couldn't afford to upgrade them to a smart phone, the thought to check out Sprint's site for text phones for them popped into my mind ... just like that.

I grabbed the laptop and pulled up the online offerings. About three phones down I noticed a new phone had been added to Sprint's line up. I'd never seen it before, and I had been on Sprint's site looking at text phones just a couple weeks prior. Not only was it new, but it was an Android phone. Not only was it an Android phone but it was also ... what??? ... FREE!

Okay, not really free to anyone, but free to me! With our $150 upgrade bonus applied, that left a remaining out-of-pocket expense of about $175. BUT, get this, for online purchases only, they were offering an instant savings that took away all out-of-pocket expense. I was shocked and asked Anthony to get some info on the phone to see if it was worth its weight. Sure enough, it was reviewed really well.

So in a span of 10 minutes from initial prompting to discovery, I went from looking for a newer texting phone for the kids to ordering a smart phone not only for me but also for them. Two smart phones for the huge price of ZERO dollars ... no phone cost, no shipping fees and no activation fees. How God-crazy is that?!?!

And all that kept running through my head after the purchases were made was:

"Your time is coming. Good things come to those who wait."

All praise goes to God for not only fulfilling his word, but choosing to do so on the first day of the new year. I know it was his way of confirming to me, "I gotcha, kid." And he did it through a gift!

1 comment:

  1. I am excited for you! Have you mastered it yet? We switched to Rumors last week. Isn't that what Teighlor had? I haven't figured anything on it out yet so maybe she can give me some tips when I see you next.

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