I received this letter today...wow!

Hello Tersia,

Wow, it was finally the 20th, ministry payday. I smiled as I gathered things together for lunch. We’d have rice and beans again and then maybe tomorrow, after our deposit went through, we’d buy some chicken or bacon and live it up a little. Thankfully the kids liked rice.

I reached over to turn on the gas for the stove. It clicked, and clicked, and clicked… but never ignited. I didn’t even smell gas. Odd, I thought. I turned it off, then turned it on and tried again. Still no flame. I wondered how long it had been since we’d had our LP tank re-filled. Could it be we were out of gas? I called my husband in from the office, and upon investigation, he confirmed that yes, we were out of gas. He put in a call to the gas company, but it would be tomorrow or the next day before they could come by to fill our tank.

In that moment, I had a choice. I was really tempted to pitch a fit and expound very loudly about the injustices of having to wait so long for service. I could have complained to everyone about how low our support was and how hard it was to be creative with our menu already, and now this.... Or how not only was our budget already stretched to the limit, but now we’d be eating only cold meals (beans and tortillas anyone?) for two days as well …

Or, I could be thankful that we had cold food options and enough money left to make a plan B for lunch today. I could be thankful that the Lord graciously allowed the gas to run out on payday instead of 2 weeks before, a miracle really, considering how long it had been since the last re-fill. I could choose to grovel in a poverty mentality, or choose to see the Lord’s hand providing for us again today, as he so faithfully does EVERY day.

I don’t know your work or economic situation at the moment, Tersia. Perhaps you also live by ministry donations, as we did at the time. Perhaps you are barely making it from paycheck to paycheck. Perhaps you are in between jobs or waiting for someone to pay something owed to you. Maybe you’re a one income family stretching everything as far as possible to afford to stay home and homeschool your kids. Or maybe you have a great job and a large savings account built up and don’t ever have days that seem as scarce as these any more.

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians. 4:19 (KJV)

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 (NIV)

Whatever the state of your finances is today, I want to challenge you to see them from the perspective of God’s faithful provision and praise him for it. Don’t see the glass half empty, see it half full. In fact, did you realize that even a glass that appears half empty is actually completely full? Science tell us that while half of it is filled with liquid that we see, the other half is filled with air that we cannot see.

God’s faithfulness and provision often takes the form of the unseen. It is there, he is working to provide your need, even when you don’t see it.

What is the poverty “thing” you’ve been complaining about, either in your heart or with your words, that you could be praising about instead? Won’t you join me today in setting the tone of happiness in your home by praising the Lord for his faithfulness and provision for you and your family, and watching expectantly for it?

Praising Him with you,
Katie

{Nou ja, daarmee declare ek dan "provision" en ek dank U, Heer, daarvoor. Amen}

♡TG