Provider

Over the past few weeks, we have seen God move in our lives in a very real way.  But before I tell you the miraculous stories of His goodness, I need to share with you a biblical truth.

The only thing we truly need is salvation from sin through God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  Romans 6:22 says, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”  If we have salvation through Jesus, we have everything – freedom from sin, a path to follow, holiness and life forever with our Master. 

 

God is also a good Father and He continues to give us exquisite, tangible gifts along the way.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:11, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” We tend to ask for many of His good gifts and then become highly disappointed when we don’t get everything we want. 

 

But did you know that suffering is one of those gifts? “Now if we are children, then we are heirs- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”  Romans 8:17.  Our family is coming through an intense time of emotional suffering and it has been a priceless gift to us.  God has shown us Himself, He has grown us through His word and He has spoken truth into our lives.  This suffering, though unpleasant, has been of greater worth than all the treasure in the world.

God, in His graciousness, has continued to guide our path by giving us a series of valuable, physical gifts along with everything else He has done.

He has given us a place to live.  We found a townhouse we really liked for the price that had been laid on our hearts, but they didn’t have any openings.  The manager told us to keep calling back, but she didn’t think they’d have anything until maybe the middle of August.  We had to drive to McKinney two weeks ago, unexpectedly, and got a chance to drive through the complex about 7:00 one evening.  Convinced this was the place for us, we called the office the next morning (only a week had gone by since we called the first time) and guess what – they had an apartment open up the evening before, about 7:00.   She asked us to come by that day and sign the paperwork and put down the deposit, relieved we were already in McKinney because she didn’t know if she could hold it for us.  She said we could move in mid-July without any problems.  The complex is also a 15 minute drive from the school. God’s timing. God’s provision. God’s gift to us.

That same week, an unexpected expense occurred that also had to do with our move.  This need was met immediately from two surprising sources.  A monetary expense over $600 was covered even before we actually knew we needed it because God worked in the hearts of His people to provide it.

Our home is almost completely furnished, including almost everything we need for the kitchen.  When we moved to Austria and then back to the US, we sold almost everything we owned as far as furniture and other housewares.  It’s too expensive and unrealistic to ship them back and forth.  God has used the graciousness of several family members to give us this special gift.

Several times over the last month, we have felt like truly spoiled children.  The instant God provides one “need,” we ask Him for something else.  But doesn’t every good father want to know the needs of His children?  Often it is hard for us to come boldly to Him because He has already given us so much and we don’t want to appear ungrateful.  God knows our needs before we ask, but He wants us to acknowledge that we can’t do anything or have anything without Him.

So we continue to ask Him for the right car and for a washer and dryer which are our immediate physical needs.  We ask Him for the funds to ship our remaining belongings from Austria and to set up our utilities, etc, in our new home because those are our monetary needs.  And we ask Him to provide new friends who are true Christ followers and build relationships of eternal significance in our new town as we continue to grow in Him because those are our spiritual needs.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”  2 Corinthians 1:3-4