The Lord Provides

One of the main things my hubby and I learned or were reminded throughout 2008 was that the Lord provides!!! Our journey throughout 2008 was definitely a testimony to that fact. The last few months of 2009 I have been calling on that promise on more than one occasion... praising God for His constant provision, and for his abundant blessings.

What happened to us yesterday was a beautiful depiction and reminder that my God provides for us! Sometimes there are moments in life when you just remember the Lord's promises and what the Bible teaches you about Him, other times you see and get to experience such things in a way that makes you FEEL the presence of God in your life.

The latter was what happened yesterday.

First let me preface the story... my hubby and I are on a budget. We sat out Valentine's Day to save enough funds to allow us to treat one another for our 2nd wedding anniversary. I planned a trip to Gatlinburg for Kelly and I as a gift to my man, and Kelly surprised me with Ryan Adam's concert tickets for tomorrow night. The trip was GREAT, and I'm pumped about Ryan Adam's tomorrow!

We took a certain amount of funds on our trip to Gatlinburg, and went a bit over what we had expected to spend. Therefore, with the overspending involved with our vacation and a few odds and ends we did not budget for this month... I found myself hashing over the numbers yesterday afternoon to figure out how we were going to make it to the end of March without taking money out of our savings. As I hashed over those numbers, I wrote my second tithe check of the month. As I wrote out that check, I spoke to the Lord and thanked Him for his many blessings and His constant provision. I professed that although I was not sure how we would make it through the month without spending some savings, I knew this money was His and not my own and my first priority was to give to Him through my tithe.

Later that afternoon, once the check had already been put into the mail, I again found myself trying to figure out how we'd make some addition cuts to keep from going into our savings this month... and then I got home from work. There in our pile of mail laid four anniversary cards from some of our dear friends and family. With a smile on my face, I began to open the envelopes and dive into the sweet wishes and words of family. And within two of those cards I found a monetary gift made out to Kelly and me. Generous gifts of love for my husband and I were poured out to us, and I immediately broke into joyful and humble tears. THANK YOU LORD! You provided beyond what we could have imagined. This amount will get us through the rest of the month without having to dip into savings!!!

I began to pray out loud, a prayer of thanksgiving. Thank you! What a sweet reminder from our God that He's there... He calls on us to be a good steward with our funds, and while we do that He's going to take care of the essentials and beyond. We may not always live in a way that the world considers luxury, but we will not want... our God takes care of the flowers and birds, wouldn't He also take care of us?! (Matt. 6:25-34)

Lord, thank you for your precious reminder. Thank you for using our family to bless us abundantly. All the glory to you!