Jehovah Jireh

One of the many blessings about being on the mission field is not only do we get to witness God move and change us and the people He's called us to but we see Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. One of my favorite things to do with our missionary friends before we moved to Kenya was find out all of the ways they have seen God work and the ways they were provided for. Over and over I've heard friends say, "We saw the amount of money that came in, we saw what needed to be paid and the we were definitely in the red! At the end of the month we saw the money we paid out and looked at what came in and we knew the Lord how 'multiplied the loaves'!" I loved hearing that story. I definitely don't love learning the story before we have seen the loaves multiplied. In light of the last post I just thought I would share with you a bit of how God has been faithful and as the saying goes, "Where God guides, God provides". This month has been a test of faith. Do we believe God has called us? Absolutely. With this truth firm in our hearts we wondered how we would survive this month and how God was going to provide. Immediately stuff began to pour out of my heart that surprised me. "Well, I guess we're done. We're going home permanently," I began to tell myself. "I don't even see how we have grocery money." I'm not saying this to guilt anyone but where we are weak God proves himself strong. Where we lack, He covers. Where we come up short, He is our complete provider. I did not have see or even have faith that we would make it through the month. I began to panic and lost sleep at night. Panicing and worrying about finances is like trying to come up for air when you feel like you're drowning in a pool and you're floundering to make it to the top. Yes, I've had time to examine this feeling well. The next day I went to my weekly Women's Bible Study. We are studying Revelation with Beth Moore and in the beginning introduction to the session she says something like, "I don't know what your situation is today and what you're dealing with at home but can I ask you, has God dropped you before? Why would he drop you now? Say it out loud altogether, (all audience in unison says) Why would God drop me now?" Tears began streaming down my face as I said, "Why would God drop me now?" In my heart I say, "I'm suffocating Lord, help me!" Then peace. I wish I could say that was the end of my wishy-washy doubt-to-hope-and-complete-faith experience but we love to grab back on to worry, don't we people? In my mind I kept hearing missionary friends say, "Never have we gone without". I tried to embrace it but quickly came sinking back down to the bottom of the pool with the reality of our situation. All I could do was pray. Can I make that story mine now? The one where God multiplies the loaves? Can I say that we've seen SO MANY miracles this month that we've lost count? Can I tell you that right now, at the end of the month we are not hungry but full? Can I tell you that God is good beyond compare? Psalm 65:9-13 says, "You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it.You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing." One of my favorite passages where Jesus talks about worrying is in Matthew 6 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." His word is true. I hope this story blesses you. I don't know what your situation is today, whether you were just let go from work or can't find a job. Whether you are living in plenty or in need but God is Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. Can I ask you to do something strange right now and say out loud, "Why would God drop me now?" He won't. You are His child. Adrienne for the F5