Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4
When Mike was in seminary and our two older boys were small, we were definitely there by faith! Many times couples in seminary have to tighten their belts on the tiny stipend provided by their sponsoring conference - but we went their unsponsored and were both unable to find consistent work in that slightly flooded market.
Thankfully, many years before a kind man had started the "married food program," where local businesses donated expiring or damaged products to help the temporarily needy families. This program was a source of many new friends and of the food that kept us during the first of our stay there.
Because we were unable to find permanent employment and I was quite sick but recovering from a longterm illness, eventually we got onto food stamps and WIC for a short time. So we now had an abundance of food, but I still volunteered with the food program that had been so helpful to us and enjoyed blessing especially the families that didn't qualify to work or receive any other benefits because they were foreign - talk about there by faith!
One day as we were driving past the many grape vineyards with the smell of ripe grapes wafting through the window, Mike (a country-hearted boy who adores home-canned grape juice) sighed, "I AM so thankful that we have all this food, but what a pity that we are in the heart of grape territory and we can't afford ANY fresh grapes for grape juice!"
Would you believe that the very next day at the food program they made the announcement that a local grape farmer had a large vineyard that he wanted to use as an offering, so he offered for the married pastoral student families to come and harvest as much as they wanted - it wasn't even true "gleaning," as this field hadn't yet been touched!
So, not only were our needs, but even our unnecessary little preferences were filled by a loving God (and a friend or two - isn't that his favorite way to answer prayer?!). We ended up with 125 quarts of the finest grape juice money can't buy, as well as all the grapes we could eat for a couple of weeks!
What is the desire of your heart? Have you been sacrificing and seeking to be content with the little you have? Know that a loving Jesus delights in giving gifts to you. He promises to care for your needs, but know that sometimes, like a charmed lover, he delights in fulfilling the longings of your heart, too - just because he can!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment