It is only now that I find myself daily thanking God for the things most of us take for granted. I sincerely thank God daily, and at every meal, for providing food for Chuck and I, because I know that right now it is only because he is providing for us that we have any food at all. I have to confess that prior to moving up here I thanked God for my food every day, but it was more of a "ritual" prayer. I'm not sure if it was really heart-felt. I can assure you that it's sincere now. We are already experiencing times when there is no money in our bank account and the food is running low in the house, and the only thing we can do is pray and have faith that the Lord will provide. And he is doing just that, providing.
When I saw this person's status on Facebook it made me think about paying my rent. We just sent out our rent check yesterday using the last of my "vacation payout" money from FIU. While writing the check my thoughts were more consumed with "there's the last of it" and "hope we can afford next month's rent" rather than "thank you God for providing this month's rent".
I'm learning that when I was "promised" a paycheck for my work by having a "regular" job, I took God's blessings for granted. It is only because God blessed me with a job and health that I was able to make my monthly rent payment and put food on the table. At any moment that could have been taken away from me, yet I had a sense of security when I had a job in Miami. It was a false sense of security though. I was praising God with my mouth, but my deep down I was attributing these blessings to the hard work my husband and I did weekly at our jobs.
I'm learning now that the only place you can really find true security is by having faith in God, as he is the one who ultimately takes care of us --- whether it be by providing a job for us or by providing financial supporters, it's because of him that our needs are met. Lord, I'm sorry for letting my mind be consumed with other thoughts and worries. Help me to remember to praise you for even the things we take for granted, like paying our rent on time, having food daily, and having enough gas in the car to take us where we need to go.
I started reading the book of Isaiah today. It's about the prophet Isaiah trying to warn the people about their double minded ways. The people were saying that they believed in God and were even offering sacrafices to God, but they also were worshipping idols and sinning in many other ways. It says that they were flaunting their sins, like it was no big deal! It made me think of our nation right now - we proclaim to be a Christian nation (or at least that we were a Christian nation), but yet we flaunt our sins like it's no big deal. We go around worshipping material possesions, celebrities and a number of other false idols. We've changed our minds on what is morally acceptable today forgetting that it's contradicting how the Bible says we should live! We are such a prideful nation, boasting about the success we've obtained even when the success has been obtained by living in sin.
Isaiah 10:15 says,
"Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it?"
I realized today that by not giving God the full credit and the praise for providing the money for my rent and for our food made me like a saw boasting against the one who uses it. Yes, I worked 40 hours a week, but it was God who had me there as a tool. He was using me and blessing me with money to pay for rent and food. It wasn't me. For me to say a half hearted prayer was not enough. The Lord deserves the full praise and glory for his blessings that he has poured out on me. So thank you Lord for providing. Help me to not worry about next month's rent or tomorrow's food. Help me focus on what you've provided for today and your promises of providing for tomorrow.
4 comments:
sounds to me like you are getting some clarity!!
Love ya sis!!
Thanks for sharing! That was good encouragement! Blessing to you guys!
AMEN!
I am completely blown away.
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