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
