12 below zero can be a good thing!

The past few days have been cold.  Very cold.  Yesterday morning when my husband was leaving for work (at 8:30) the radio told us it was 12 below.  In the "heat of the day" it got up to 5 below.

While having a week of frigid cold is pretty typical in Minnesota, the past couple of winters have been warm.  And I didn't complain!  However... this week did have one benefit... I got to pull my miracle coat out of the closet.

My miracle coat is one that keeps me warm when the temps dip below zero. By the time the temperature hits the 20s, the coat is too warm.

My miracle coat has a story.

When I first moved to Minnesota 14 1/2 years ago, someone told me I needed to get a REALLY warm coat for when it got REALLY cold.  Looking back on it, I would have been okay without my miracle coat.  I could have just put layers on under a regular winter coat.  But I didn't know that at the time.  And tales from these hearty Minnesotans convinced me I needed a new coat.

One problem:  I had a tight budget.  Really tight.  And so I talked to God about my need for a coat.  I started looking in all the shops for this type of coat.  The price tags that looked back at me said things like "$375."  Ugh.  No way.

But the winter kept getting closer... and closer... and closer....

And then one Sunday, a friend at the end of church handed me a "friends and family" discount card for Eddie Bauer.  She told me that today was the last day of the sale, if I wanted to use it.  There was an Eddie Bauer close to church (in the Mall of America)... and as much as I KNEW I could not afford any of their coats, I decided to trudge up to the mall, just to see.

I had a gift certificate for any store in the Mall of America.  It had been given me by a group of friends in Illinois as a going away present.  Perhaps if I used that, I'd be able to afford a coat.   

I was tired after the service.  I was in high heels.  I didn't really want to be looking at coats I couldn't afford.  But... I kept thinking about how winter was getting closer.

Lots of sales were going on, with signs declaring percentages off.  My discount would be on top of that.  Still.... the prices on the coats made my head hurt.  I started trying to figure out how much the coat would actually cost me.  I couldn't think clearly to figure it out.  I had a headache.

Finally, I decided I'd pick out a coat I liked, go up and pay for it, and then I'd take it home.  I could take the next few days to figure out if I really could afford the coat.  I could always return it.  I figured that I would be.

And so, I picked out a deep green down coat with a hood and fur trim that was incredibly warm.  I brought it up to the counter.  I handed them my discount card.  I handed them my gift certificate.  I pulled out my credit card for the remainder that I'd owe... and I waited to see what that amount would be.

The final amount was one cent less than my gift certificate.

I stood there a bit stunned.  I even asked "are you sure?"  "Yes" said the smiling clerk as he handed me a penny.

That penny still sits in an inner pocket in the coat.  It reminds me that God is concerned with taking care of me... even in the details of life.

I know my coat and my story does not qualify for a "real" miracle.   But to me, standing in Eddie Bauer all those years ago, it felt like God had just parted the Red Sea.  It still does.

And that's why I like it when it gets 12 below!