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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Jehovah-Jireh

Original post date: Thursday, September 07, 2006

Current mood: grateful
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Just wanted to take a minute to share w/ ya'll how wonderful my God - our God is! He's truly awesome!

You ever noticed that when a miracle of provision happens in the Bible that it is always just enough. It never comes in abundance. No...that would be a blessing. God is teaching me the distinct difference between miracle and blessing. Some examples of miracles of provision are the Widow Woman who had only enough flour and oil to make one last dinner for herself and her son. Through Elijah, God commanded that she use her remnants to feed the profit. Upon her obedience, God continued to replenish the basin w/ flour and the jar w/ oil, but only with just enough each time she returned. I Kings 17:16 goes on to say that He (Elijah) and she and her entire household ate for many days. He didn't bless the widow w/ abundance - at least not in this particular situation. For her, He became Jehovah-Jireh (Jireh - shall be seen). Jehovah Our Provider. And think of the Israelites wondering the dessert for 40 years. He instructed them to never eat more than the necessary amount of manna. See our God is not a wasteful God. Rather, He is our Daily Bread! Another example would be that of Jesus...when he fed the multitudes. In Matthew 14, Jesus feed a multitude of 5,000 plus and when he is finished there are 12 baskets remaining. I used to only see the one miracle here. That Jesus fed so many with just 5 loaves and 2 fish, but recently verse 20 suddenly illuminated and I saw the second miracle of provision. It was simply an extension of the first. After ALL had eaten, there were 12 baskets remaining. Again we do not serve a wasteful God. As soon as the multitude was fed The disciples boarded ship and set sail for the other side. Who knows how long that journey would have been. I like to think that he was once again making himself known as Jehovah-Jireh. He not only provided for the multitude but also for the 12 on their impending journey. Wow! I say all this to set the scene for what our God, my own Jehovah-Jireh has recently done in my life.
Last Spring (2006), my parents had decided that they were going to move from Kingston Springs to Columbia. An hour and a half away. At the time I was living by myself in Ashland City - an hour and forty-five minutes from Columbia. My mama asked me to come back home because she didn't want her children so far from her. That was the whole reason they had decided to move to begin with. My brother and his family lived in Columbia and mama could no longer stand being separated from her grandbaby. Anyway...mama didn't want to leave me alone in Ashland City - nor did I want to be. But...at the same time I had my misgivings about moving back home. In the year and a half I was on my own I had already become very used to being alone. I loved my privacy and enjoyed living on my own terms. I wasn't wild or anything I just loved being able to come and go as I please, drinking out of the milk jug, eating off of cardboard - that kind of thing. It was a serious struggle for me to make a decision so I had been praying and talking to God about it for weeks. Well, I think it was about the first week of June that I nearly had myself convinced to move back home (or to Columbia rather) with my folks. It was in my best interest to try and save money and I did have some lonely times. But still...I just kept wavering every time I thought of it. Well..what should happen next? The very next week, June 19th to be exact, I was fired from my job. With no income, I had no choice but to move back home. My job was another reason I was having such a hard time deciding to move. I hate/loved it. Ya know what I mean? Some days were good, but some days were more than I could bare. I worked w/ mentally ill people. Very, very depressed people. Most days the stress level was unreal. I enjoyed the people I worked with (co-workers) and the money, but a bad day in mental health was mental on me. So here's God's miracle of provision in this situation. My discharge date came 2 weeks before my parents were set to move! On top of that, I had explained to my landlord weeks earlier that I was considering the move. When I told her that I had lost my job, she felt 'led' to let me stay the remainder of the month rent free. I had given her first and last months rent when I moved in, so technically I didn't owe her anything. In fact, she owed me a $200 deposit! Well, over the next 2 weeks, I get the utility bills which total exactly $100. My landlady agreed to just take the utilities out of the deposit which left me me w/ $100 the day I moved out. Add that to the $22 dollars I had left over from my last paycheck, and I had a total of $122. (Now...in the meantime, while all this packing and making moving arrangements is going on, I did file for unemployment.).
Well, the day we all moved 'something' told me to drive to Columbia ahead of my family. I called my mama and told her that I felt like God was telling me to go ahead of them and that I needed to leave right then. (They were still packing the U-haul). I drove for right at an hour, got 5 miles inside the city limits of Columbia, and less than 1 block from my brothers house when my car broke down. I knew right away that it was my alternator. I'm kind of car-savvy. Anyway...I called my folks to let them all know what had happened. They were still an hour from me and my brother and his family were in Kingston Springs still helping w/ the move...so... I would have to wait it out. I decided to make use of my time. I called local auto part stores for an estimate on the part. Average prices were...you guessed it...$100! I was also growing thirsty. It was the first week of July and it was scorching! A family of four drove by and offered to take me to a store right up the road so that I could buy myself something to drink and use their facilities. They were Christian, too. My misfortune had given them the opportunity to do something good for a fellow Christian in need. Well, that trip to the store busted the 2 $1 bills that I had. When I got back to the car, my brother called to say that he was going to send a friend of his around with a tow truck to have my car towed to his house. The guy came, loaded the car, and barely towed it a block. When I asked him what I owed him, he said rates were normally about $40 - $45 but that since he knew my brother and since he didn't have to tow it very far that he would take...yep....$20! Exactly all I had left to spend. Once we got moved in and settled my brother was able to put the new part on for me no problem.
There have been other miracles of provision since I moved here to Columbia. I got a letter in the mail denying me unemployment benefits, but I also found a part time job the very next week that pays me what I would've made from unemployment. And since it's a part time job I can only assume that it is God's way of answering my prayers about making a way for me to go back to school w/o exhausting myself.
Also, the salon where I work is owned by a very precious Christian couple. I have found favor in their eyes. Granted it is part time hours and minimum wage pay but I feel like I'm in a Joseph season. I believe that if I am faithful to the 'Potiphars" in my life that God will bless me for what only He sees me do. So I sweep hair w/ excellence! And in the meantime, I minister to the girls who cut hair and those who sit in their chairs. Matter of fact, it turns out that my bosses have kind of lost their Christian witness (for whatever reason) with the stylists. They - the girls - have grown tired of hearing them talk Jesus but never do Jesus. So here I come w/ a fresh word, a fresh attitude, and a joyfulness that intrigues them and perks them up and they want what I have. Now I know why God had to fire me from Centerstone. There were souls at stake here in Columbia.
Two weeks after we moved in the Lord spoke to me as I was laying down for bed and told me that I wouldn't see my cat again (I had put her outside, in spite of the fact that she was terrified). The next morning my mama found her on the back step - dead. Now this is no miracle of provision, but it is a fine example of how God is sovereign and how he is strengthening me. See my mom has carpel tunnel and though she tried her best to bury Scat before I woke up she was unsuccessful. After failed attempts to dig her resting place she had to wake me, tell me the bad news, and unfortunately...watch as I buried her myself. But I wouldn't have had it any other way. If anyone else had put her in the ground I would not have had closer. And that is how God gave it to me. He allowed the pain of it all only so that His peace might come. Hey...I guess thats provision after all!
A little side note: I am not at all saying that God can't and doesn't abundantly give or bless us w/ more than enough. He does do that and has done that for me. But what I am saying is that sometimes if he gave us more than what we needed we might not see him in the abundance of it all. Sometimes the miracle is the fact that God can and does provide just enough. Its called sovereignty. Sometimes, less is perfect w/ God! That's where the true miracle can sometimes lie.

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