“God will provide… don’t worry.”
by Kevin Wolf
This is always easy to say, but it is not always easy to live out. Worrying about our responsibilities is a very human thing to do. Worrying about how we are going to pay for things is a very common conversation.
Philippians 4:6
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
As a kid I was taught to pray over big decisions, and if God thinks we need it in our lives, then the means will be provided. I still live by this. Although I am finding very often that even if I have not prayed over a particular situation, that God seems to step in and provide even when we don’t know we need something.
Philippians 4:19
“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
I could go back many years giving examples of things that were somehow “taken care of”. But I only have to use this past year to give a couple solid examples.
As the weather in Virginia was trying to decide if it wanted to turn cold or not, we held off as long as we could to switch over to heating the house. When we finally decided it was cold enough, we did turn on the heat. Guess we should have tested it before we “needed” it as it did not turn on. My neighbor is our go-to guy for fixing things that we can’t. I knew I needed to clean a path to our unit, and knew if I called him, he would come right over. So we decided to wait till the next week to call. Over the next days, the house did get cold, but was manageable with the fireplace, and blankets. As we worried those days how we would afford to replace it, I tried as many things as I could that I thought might fix it. I changed the filter, checked the breaker, and just tried turning it on and off a couple times. The night before I was going to call, I turned it off and back on, and heard it fire up! Maybe it was just tired of me poking and prodding, but I do believe that God had a hand in it coming to life.
…
After months of watching grocery prices go up, and dipping into savings to help pay our “normal” bills, we got to a point of saying, “I don’t know how we can keep this up”. The next week we got a refund for our town taxes that was a complete surprise. While it may not cover everything, it was an unexpected income that will help.
…
All of our kids are involved in things, from college, to sports, and flying. All of which require payments, which means we don’t always know how we will be able to sustain their activities. In all circumstances, we have been able to keep them involved. For Hayden, his job offers tuition reimbursement and has paid for all of his classes so far. Owen has been able to receive multiple scholarships to pursue his goal of becoming a pilot, which he is now pursuing in college. Lauren had a surprise donor that helped cover the cost of switching uniforms and other equipment for sports.
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
You could not convince me that God did not have his hand in all of this, and so much more. Just like the folklore of children believing in Santa Clause, all you really have to do is believe – God can, and does, do amazing things!
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Find our ’22 Advent devotional archive online. haymarketchurch.org/advent
