I recently accompanied her, and while I found some "treasures" I was pretty pumped about, (Disney DVDs for 50 cents: SCORE!) I was taken aback by the amount of times I heard her excitedly chatter "Oh, I can DEFINITELY use this!" and "I know EXACTLY what to do with THAT!"

You might think it odd that a retired kindergarten teacher would be sitting in the back seat of a car saying with all seriousness "I'm so excited that I found ...." But it did happen and it showed me something. Items that the original owners no longer needed and even seemed a little ashamed of having in the first place were a great find for her. The "find of the day" or "F.O.T.D" as she calls it.

This experience led me to reflect on the difference between

how the world can see us and how God sees us. People may view us as useless, of no value to them.  Maybe we seem like the wrong size or style, but God doesn't look at us that way!  What others may see as broken and unwanted, God sees something he can USE!

My favorite scripture in Jeremiah tells us that He has a PLAN for us and it's a GOOD one! What one person would quickly sell or give away, He has a PURPOSE for. I challenge you to commit Jeremiah 29:11 to memory and to remind yourself of it when you may be feeling like a worn-out orange sofa tossed to the road.