With all of that being said, I want to share with you what happened today. A good friend of mine, Elizabeth, came by after church today to deliver us dinner. We had no idea she was coming and she said she just felt led to do this. The ironic thing is Vince and I had just been discussing what we were going to do for dinner because we are trying to figure out how to eat healthy without spending money until we get our food stamp card in a couple weeks. That can be tricky and just to be perfectly honest with you, it has been overwhelming to me to even go to the grocery store to get basic necessities because I knew we didn't have the money to buy it. I don't say this to have a pity party but rather to just be real with you. Today when Vince opened the door to see Elizabeth standing there with groceries for us to have dinner, it was like God didn't even allow us to have time to ponder our dinner decision or worry that we were going to go further in debt to have dinner tonight.
Elizabeth said that she debated on whether or not to do it because she wasn't going to have time to cook and then there is that feeling would someone be insulted if I show up with food because they are too poor to buy any food. There were so many lessons that I was reminded of today with the way God used Elizabeth to provide for our needs. One of those is that I have good intentions to do a good deed for others and sometimes I follow through with it. However, there are other times that I allow the busyness of the day or just life in general to keep me from taking a minute to call or send an email to check on a friend or do something else that would be a blessing to them but I put it off thinking I will get to it. Elizabeth felt led to provide us dinner but she knew she wasn't going to have time to make it but she didn't let that excuse stop her from allowing God to use her to bless us in a BIG way. She brought us all the groceries we would need to have a healthy, quick and easy meal.
One thing I can honestly say is I don't believe what we are going through is to teach us to be more grateful for the simple things. I really do believe we are going through some major spiritual warfare and God is using the amazing friends and family He has blessed us with to encourage and keep us going. I have always known that everything we have is given to us by God and from the time the boys knew how to pray, we have tried to teach them to thank God for everything. We even play games and sing songs to name off all we are thankful for. It is so important to me that we, nor our kids, ever take the basics, like a roof over our head, food, clothing, etc. for granted. However, today gave me an even newer perspective on being thankful for each and every meal. I am not trying to be dramatic when I say this but as I was washing off the potatoes that Elizabeth brought us, I just had a renewed sense of thankfulness and gratefulness to God that is hard to describe. Of course, we are so grateful for Elizabeth that she would allow herself to used as an instrument of God and that we had dinner tonight. As I mentioned earlier, God did not even let us get to the point of worrying about tonight's meal before there was that knock on the door.
That brings me to the next lesson, last week the doorbell ringing and Pestban being there to remove our termite stations because we could no longer pay for them led to my unraveling. Today, it was a blessing waiting at the door to uplift and encourage us. It amazes me how life can change sometimes in the matter of seconds but sometimes it is just a matter of a day. One day Vince has a job and is working hard and hearing how well he is doing. The next day he doesn't have a job and you are in the welfare line. I say all of this to say that no matter how discouraged you may be right now, it can all change in the matter of a second. Life is full of unexpected surprises, some good and some bad. The one constant that I can say has taken on an even deeper meaning is that God never changes. He is always dependable and He always meets our needs right on time. The other lesson I am learning is that joy should not come from our circumstances. We must choose joy daily. Just remember to hang on to Jesus because one thing I have certainly seen time and time again is He will never let you go and He will give you the hope you need today. If right now is a trying time, the good times are just around the corner.
Lastly, this past week we have been on the receiving end of people being the "hands and feet of Jesus." As sad as it is to say, Christians can be so very mean to their own and miss out on what can be the greatest blessing, being the hands and feet of Christ. I don't proclaim to have arrived or feel that I'm always the "hands and feet" as I should be but to see brothers and sisters in Christ coming together and ministering to us in the way we have experienced over the past week is so refreshing and encouraging. I feel like I perhaps just got a microscopic glimpse of what could happen if all Christians around the world came together to be the hands and feet of Christ, how different things would be. While I can't change the world, I hope that I will seize every opportunity that I can to be the hands and feet of Christ and that somehow my small effort will be multiplied by God. I think we are all faced with those opportunities every day to bless someone and be an instrument of the Lord's. Sometimes it may just be giving someone a hug because you may never know what that may do for them or taking 5 minutes out of the day to send a little note to uplift someone. It is the simple things that sometimes make all the difference!
God's provision for our dinner.
Grant's Scarlett O'Hara moment where she had the potato in her hand and said, "As God is my witness, I'll shall never go hungry again!" This is his interpretation of it from Gone With The Wind even though he has never seen it. He was just being silly but it made me laugh and think of this when he held up the potatoes!
Grant wanted to help me peel the potatoes while Peyton napped.
Grant is proud of his new learned skill.
Grant wanted to wear his barbecue apron, mitts, and chef hat from our Green Eggs and Ham game.
Peyton joins in the fun after his nap and helps me make mashed potatoes, which he loves!
We started this tradition of having a candlelight dinner each night back when Vince was working so many hours and not able to be home for dinner. The boys were bummed about it so I tried to make dinner a little more fun by having candlelight dinners even for pizza dinners. They have enjoyed it so much that it is a daily request to have a candlelight dinner so here is our celebration dinner and the boys said their blessing and then they wanted each of us to pray so the food was quadruply blessed!
After dinner, we enjoyed the popcorn Elizabeth brought and some family T.V. time.
No comments:
Post a Comment