Gratituesday: A Story On Provision

"You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance." Psalm 65:11

"You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance." Psalm 66:12

"Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?" Job 48:41

I have a story to tell today for my

Gratituesday

post. I have a story to tell about the last few weeks and how God truly does know me, and how He provides, even when it seems impossible. We've been under a pretty major financial crunch this last month. Andy's been working hard at work, and his paychecks have been enough to pay bills, keep current, and maybe allow for an extra small expense if it came up. Yet we've still been paycheck to paycheck, and eagerly desiring to start working on our nest egg for the winter lay-off season. Well, at the beginning of June, my van stopped running and needed a new transmission put in. Transmission equals thousands of dollars, which we didn't have, and didn't foresee getting. Yet, the transmission was necessary- we simply can't function without our van. We can't even get to church without it, so it had to be repaired. We had the mechanic go ahead with the repairs, and spent a lot of time during the week it was in the shop, praying for God to provide.

When the van was ready to be picked up, we went to the mechanic and asked if we could pay him in installments, because we just weren't able to come up with what we needed at that time. He agreed like it was no trouble at all, and so we wrote out a series of checks for him to take to the bank for a few weeks and took home a happy and well-working, like-new van.

While we were thrilled the mechanic was more than willing to work with us, it still left us in a bit of a pickle. All our income was going to the mechanic. The amount we paid him, plus our July rent was going to eat up an entire months worth of income. We did the only thing we could do, we started praying. We've been praying for God to make a way- and a way has slowly come about.

First, a tree job came in for Andy. That first job he did this month gave us such hope- he didn't get paid much, but with that check we were able to take care of a few other small bills and put gas in our vehicles to get back and forth to Appleton and work for Andy. It was a real blessing that these people had called us completely out of the blue!

Then, two weeks ago, I was looking for something in the basement, and I looked around at all the stuff we had down there that simply was sitting there, and I felt a sudden need to have a rummage sale. I shared this with Andy, let family know I was doing this and if they had stuff to unload, they should bring it over. So we got busy planning for a rummage sale. The added benefit for us in having the rummage sale was that with the proceeds, I would be able to go do some grocery shopping, as the larder had been running dangerously low. While we were preparing and pulling things out of the basement to the garage, Andy found some utility equipment from an old job that had never been used. He was going to put it in the rummage sale, but a quick look online told us that we were going to put it on Ebay. So we did that, and a few days later, we made a sale and a nice little sum was deposited to our bank account!

Our rummage sale ended up being pretty successful. We unloaded a lot of stuff- and it really made our day to see people loading up on super cheap name brand kids clothes and be so excited with the deals they were getting for their kids. We also made a small profit for our efforts, and combined with some sales of cookbooks I'd made through Amazon, we had made enough to make Andy's car payment, as well as allow a small amount for me to go stock the pantry back up a bit. Hooray! I'll have to admit that this whole while, there was a part of me waiting for a miraculous answer to our desperate cries to make ends meet. I was waiting for that magic check to appear, and while I'll readily confess that I still wish that had been the answer, God did provide in other mysterious ways. Like the rummage sale, and the strange utility equipment selling on Ebay. But then it got a little more fun last week, and we did get to see a touch of the miraculous.

Not having any expendable income this month has been a little trying. It was tough during Abigail's recital week to not be able to lavish her with flowers or a nice dinner out. And it was tough on Father's Day to not be able to take Andy out for a nice dinner, or even pick up a couple of steaks for him to grill. One of the hardest things though came after we hit a deer with our newly refurbished van. Yes, just three days after we'd gotten this sparkly new van back, we hit a deer. We were able to drive it okay, it seemed fine other then missing a grill, and a dent in the radiator. But a trip to the mechanic confirmed for us that the radiator and other things needed to be replaced. They work okay for now, but could go out at any time. The problem came in with this coming Independence Day weekend. We have plans to travel 3 hours to the west of us to spend time with family, and there was no way we were going to be able to get the van repaired before then. Andy's car was an option, except that he needed new brakes, so we'd at least have to have that repair done. After discussing it with other people, we decided to have the brakes done, only Andy connected with an old friend who used to take care of our cars, and took his car to him.

On his way out of the shop with his car, he was literally flagged down on the road by someone who wanted him to come do some tree work for them. Andy had just found out the repairs to his car would be minimal, and had scheduled to have it done Friday afternoon. Well, the tree job would be done earlier Friday afternoon, so before Andy even had the work done to his car, God provided the finances to pay for the job! And then it just got better from there!

During the rummage sale, I'd been talking with my sister a few times, and on Friday, as she stopped by to help me clean up for the day, our conversation turned to strawberries. I mentioned how I just didn't think we'd be able to go strawberry picking this year, because we just didn't have the extra money for it. She lamented right along with me, because she's gone with me the last few years. We take the kids and load up on strawberries, and then I come home and process them into jam and berries for the freezer for the year. The irresponsible thing for me to do would have been to go pick berries, but I conceded that it probably wouldn't happen this year. My sister and I agreed though that if the money came up somehow, we'd still be going. So she left, and about five minutes later, Andy walks in the door, fresh from getting his car repaired and the tree job done. He brought along proof positive that God knows me personally and knows my heart.

Because when he walked in the door, he showed me the invoice for repairing his car. And then he showed me the check he had for the tree work- and the two did not match. Then he proceeded to tell me that the people he had done the tree work for were people I knew from many years ago, and when the man wrote out the check, he gave specific instructions that he was writing out the check for a little extra, and that Andy was to give me the extra money specifically so that I could go buy strawberries!!!! Honestly and truly! I ran to the phone, and called up my sister, giggling the whole time,and we all were amazed at how God provides the desires of our heart. God was providing strawberries, which I had already decided I wasn't going to have this year, because I needed to stay the course on being responsible with out finances.

Of course, God doesn't do anything small either, because then later on, I was thinking in my mind, and not saying anything to anyone, about how I was going to pick strawberries, but I wasn't going to pick a whole lot. Because I was also thinking about our upcoming weekend away, and I knew that would need gas money. So I'd planned that I would still pick strawberries, but just not pick as much as we usually do. Well, apparently, God had other plans for us, because later that day, after a fun evening of fellowshipping with friends, we found cash in our van. And not just a dollar or a few dollars, but more than enough to put gas in our car to get us back and forth on our trip. I think I've been glowing ever since Friday night, because I'm just amazed at how God provides for all our needs, and at how much God knows me personally. And He knew how much picking those strawberries meant to me, and He knew how much the family weekend meant to me, and He just decided to make it all more than possible!

So yesterday, we did pick those strawberries, and God provided a beautiful overcast and cloudy day to do so. It was windy, so there were no bugs to deal with, and it was cloudy and cool, so while we were picking it was very pleasant, and not hot and stifling. And then as we got home and I started making jam, this cool breeze kept blowing through the house, so it never got all hot and sticky like it usually does on jam day. God provided start to finish! And I swear that those strawberries were multiplying themselves as I sliced them up for jam- I made five batches of jam out of one flat of berries, and I had three to work with! We had strawberries to eat all day long, and some went into the freezer. I still have a flat of berries to work with, but right now, we're enjoying eating them. And I'm greatly enjoying the fragrance of fresh berries wafting through the house- it's a reminder to me that God doesn't just provide enough- but he provides in abundance.

And I can't wait to see what's going to happen next. We're still in a bit of a crunch financially, and our van still needs repairs from the deer hit, but for now, we're riding a bit of a high from all the provision we've seen thus far. The biggest repairs are fully paid for, and I was able to send out the rent check without breaking a sweat-the money was there for it. There are still other bills to pay yet, some of them more urgent than others, and right now, we're just praying for patience on the other end, as they will be seen to in due time. We can trust in knowing that God knows what is going on and will provide in every way possible. Today's whole story, and the strawberries on the counter are a fantastic reminder that God does care, and He is watching over us each and every day.