Jehovah Jireh - Our Provider

More than usual lately, our budget has been tight. Last week, The Mortgage was due, meaning that we would have a very slim budget for gas and groceries. Add in rising gas prices and unavoidable back-and-forth driving to different places and that equals a nearly non-existent grocery budget! Even worse, Jeff told me that next week wouldn't be any better. I did my best, buying only essentials that would take us through the week, possibly two weeks, with minimal cost and maximum nutrition. (Praise the Lord we had some meat stocked in the freezer from a deer-hunting friend and past sales at Kroger.) So, armed with our little bit of groceries and a lot of prayer, we headed into this week prepared to (probably literally) tighten our belts.

Last night, we had our usual crowd of "college people" over to hang out after church. The first blessing we experienced was that one couple brought in a whole pizza plus a few more slices that were leftover from their dinner. I had been standing in the kitchen wondering what in the world Jeff and I would eat! (The kids were already eating.) Next, one of the young men entered carrying a black trash bag and I teased him about bringing his laundry over. He just smiled and put the bag down out of the way. A few minutes later, he handed Jeff an envelope with our names on it. Inside was a letter from him thanking us for the ministry that we have for the college and career group. It was very sweet and thoughtful and it made me tear up. Jeff and I hugged him and thanked him. Then he reached for the garbage bag and pulled out the most enormous ball of yarn I had ever seen. Seriously. This thing was huge! Turns out there were something like 21 different colors of yarn wrapped around our gift inside - from dark to light! I started unrolling, then the young man showed me how to go about it much more efficiently, and eventually I made it to the white yarn wrapped around the blessing in the center.  It was a gift card to Wal-Mart!

We never cease to be amazed by God's provision in our lives. He is Jehovah Jireh - our Provider - in so many ways to us. We had prayed that God would give us grace to get through these next couple of weeks, to give me wisdom in making the best of what we had, and to simply provide enough for our needs. We are inexpressibly thankful to Him for tender care over us.