God Provides

I want to share with you the wonderful way God provided for me today.  As you know, our daughter is getting married.  What you don't know is that my husband has been without work since July 13,  I have been sick and have incurred a huge debt owed to various medical providers from Houston to Grand Rapids (more about THAT adventure later!)  And the creme-de-la-creme occurred on Sunday when the water pump on our car died and we found ourselves suddenly faced with a towing bill, a taxi bill, AND a repair bill.

I'm sharing these woes, not so that you will in any way thing I'm down or depressed or feeling sorry for myself.  Rather, I am sharing them just so you can get a little insight on how God walks His children through the difficulties of life. 

The first thing you need to know about me is that I am no 'saint'!  I don't go around thinking, "God will provide, so I don't have to do a thing."  Neither do I live up to the challenge in Philippians 4 where Paul encourages the believer to not worry - he says we are to pray.  Quite honestly, I DO worry.  God knows that I worry; this is no great shocking secret that I'm sharing. But somewhere along the line, I can see that I am beginning worry less and pray more. And the only reason that this change is taking place is because over and over again, God has provided for our family "out of the blue".  He has shown up in so many unbelievably creative ways.  Like the time Bill was going through old mail and found a check!  Or the time we received a check from our insurance company for some unknown reason. 

That being said, I will now tell you my worries.  I've been worried about the wedding.  I worry about having enough so that we can fly to Chicago for the wedding.  I worry about finding a dress for the wedding.  I am VERY gifted in the area of shopping. (Some even say I am too gifted! Ha!)  But for whatever reason, I have not been able to find a suitable dress for this Mother-of-the Bride. And the list goes on (and on!), but you get the idea, right?

So today, after shelling out almost $600.00 for a new water pump, I dashed into a store called David's Bridal.  I only had 20 minutes to look, but this mom-on-a-mission needs a dress and if I see it, I can try it on and pay in under 15, so I took on the challenge.  Twenty minutes later, I stepped out into the hot, humid Houston air with sweat poring down my back and sparkly, glittery stuff all over my neck and face and arms.  In other words, I emerged from the bridal store without a dress.

Of I went to meet a new student.  She is a 14 year old girl from China that has been here for only 20 days.  Imagine being in a huge mega-school and not being able to speak the language!  Anyway, at the end of my introduction, the parents not only hired me, but offered to pay in advance!  IN ADVANCE!  Do you know this means people???  It means that in one fell swoop, God provided the funds I needed to buy my ticket!  Then, I went to my next student.  She is from Africa and in the third grade.  After the lesson, I told her mother that I would miss 2 lessons in October because of our daughter's wedding.  She asked if I had a dress.  I said, "No, I'm still looking.  In fact, see all of this glittery stuff on my arms?  That's from me trying on fancy dresses!"  Without hesitation she said in her beautifully lyrical African accent, "Miss Joyce, I will make you a dress!"  Do you know what this means?  This means that in a few weeks, God willing, I will be sitting at our daughter's wedding.  And I will be there because of a family from China that has only been in Houston fro 20 days.  And I will be ravishing in my dress lovingly made by a women from Ghana.  God is so faithful.  I can't wait to share with you how He provides the money for Bill's ticket...and when He does, I'll share it with all of you!

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me!