God’s Continually Providing Hands

 

    Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.

(Malachi 3:10-12 ESV)

 

 

 

    I felt like this was so incredible that I had to write about it. In the past month God has shown our family that He will always provide for us. I previously mentioned how God had provided for us financially when we needed it which included a job that should allow us to meet our basic bills and gas expanses. I had also mentioned that we were asked to go with some friends to the beach and we were really hoping to go. Everything we were seeing told us that God was providing the opportunity. We unfortunately ran into a snag. Right after we made the decision to go to the beach we found out that Crystal's parents were going to her grandmother's 90^th birthday party and would be unable to watch our dog. He is getting older in years and we did not feel it would be right to ask anyone else to watch him so the only way we could go would be if we kenneled him. When I looked into the cost I found that it would be anywhere from $250-$350. When I added that to the gas it would cost us to go we were looking at as much as $700. I was nervous about spending that much because it was about all we had from the various gifts we had received and that would be assuming that Crystal's last check and my first partial check would be enough to cover our bills that would be due at the same time and the gas money we would need for our normal use. I knew how much the girls could use a vacation and our family could use the time together, but did not think it was prudent to use every dime to go. Crystal and I decided that we would wait and see what happened before we would make a decision one way or another.

    Saturday night after Hannah's birthday party we sat down to eat dinner together. When we prepared to say the blessing Alyssa claimed she wanted to which tends to be par for the course. I asked her to thank God for the gifts we had been receiving, for our friends who had invited us to go to the beach and to ask God to sort out the gas and kenneling costs. She did so and we proceeded with dinner. The next morning I subbed for Robert Courson in Sunday school so that he could attend his son's graduation service. After class a friend of ours told me someone had asked him to give us a card. I thanked him and hurried of to run the power point for the 11:00 service. During the service I opened the card and found a very encouraging greeting card. It told us that they were praying for us and had faith that we would continue in God's work. Inside the card there was another envelope. I opened the envelope to find $1000 in cash. I was blown away at the generosity of God's people and the speed at which He answers prayer especially since I have been reading a biography of George Mueller; the apostle of prayer. When we got to the car after church I asked Alyssa if she remembered what she prayed for yesterday. She said she did. I asked her if she wanted to see how great God was. Crystal still did not know how much we had been given. I handed the envelope to Hannah and asked her to count it. She announced that it had $1000 in it. Crystal could not believe it and asked me if I was serious, as if I had announced the amount. At first I felt a little strange about the idea of using this money for a vacation but the more I thought about it I realized that God mentions the need for rest several times in the Bible and requesting help for that purpose is not against His will and I also realized that this money had come as a direct response to prayer and that I should treat such a response in the same manner one would treat and offering towards a specific purpose.

    In the time I have been at school God has made sure that we have always had our bills paid, food on the table, a roof over our head, gas in our cars, and medical care for our children. He has gone beyond that to providing the means to pay off all our outstanding consumer debt and now has even provided the means to allow some rest and relaxation time for our family as well as an opportunity to grow closer with friends that He has placed in our paths. I don't know for sure if God has another purpose in store for this vacation but I plan to keep my eyes open and ask Him to show me anything He wants me to do while I am there.

 

 

Thank you, Lord, for all you bountiful blessings and for you abounding grace. In the great and powerful name of Jesus we thank you, Amen.