Thursday, July 28, 2011

Gleaning

As I type these words words, my heart is overwhelmed in the aweness of my God. 

A few weeks back I posted about Shouting Out, Bearing Witness and Testifying on the Lord's provisions.  Well, He is still at it ya'll and I just have to share a couple of wow moments with you.

We haven't had a regular income since August 24th of 2011.  BUT, we have never gone without.  Not only have needs been met, but wants.  What the Lord has continued to show me of years of mountains and valley's is that the Lord provides in various ways.

Some of the ways he has blessed and provided for us are:

1~ as gifts.  There have been times when the Lord has blessed us in means of monetary gifts.  The most recent was that stinkin' ticket!  The Lord provided for not only the ticket but also a little extra which has helped with school supplies and a few extra needs.

2~ Sales & Coupons!  I try clipping coupons; I do look for savings; but I am not faithful at it.  BUT when I do, my prayer while I am clipping and making my lists is that the Lord would give me wisdom to shop and to buy what we need.  He honors that prayer and meets needs in that area as well.

3~ Hand-Me-Downs!  God Bless 'em!  My youngest daughter is clothed by nothing but hand-me-downs and she loves them! 

4~ My favorite one, "Gleaning."  I first learned about the word gleaning when I did a Bible Study on the lineage of Christ for a local Most Excellent Way meeting.  I particularly focused on the Book of Ruth.  I have loved the word ever since. Just the word alone makes me smile. There is nothing more rewarding than providing for yourself or your family.  JUST LAST NIGHT; the Lord allowed me to be of service and bless someone, while meeting a need of our family (now, I thought it was to go towards a bill, but the Lord had another plan . . I'll explain more in a minute).  My phone rang at 8:45 last night from an AVON customer and a "pie customer."  (No, I am not selling pies again, but I do sell the individual ones to this most precious elderly couple because God told me to do so.  I can't argue with that one!)  Her 95 year old neighbor had passed away she explained, and wanted to know if I had any of my large Chicken Pot Pies in the freezer.  I checked.  I had one, she needed two.  (What's REALLY cool is we had been out of chicken for a couple of days.  It's a staple in our household but have been trying to watch our spending; BUT . . . for some ODD reason sensed the Lord urging for me to buy some.  So I did.)  I told her I would take care of it.   I knew there was not a coincidence in me buying chickens and her needing that second pie.  I delivered the pies this morning and received my $30.

When I got home, I checked in on my cat that was acting strange and limping this morning.  He was growling and could not walk at all, panting heavy too.  He also had some mucus bloody drainage coming out of one of his eyes.  I called our vet explained his symptoms, and then had to ask the hardest question, "Could I clean cages, pull weeds, clean toilets, anything to pay for a vet bill."  She spoke to her husband.  They said for insurance reasons they really couldn't do that, but that they always are willing to work with their clients, to bring him in immediately.  With my pride in my drawers, and a lump of fear of what the bill would be, I drove myself; my growling angry, clawing, biting cat; my two children and Nicholas (he's my 4th child on Tuesday's and Thursday's that I watch while his mom is in dialysis.) to the vet.  Anybody wanna guess what the bill total was?  Go ahead.  Take a guess.  Ya'll, IT WAS $32.75!!!!  I pulled out my $30 from the pies and $2.75 from my change purse for my AVON and was able to pay the bill!  Now, I don't know if an office visit is usually that cheap (that included antibiotics also), but my soul was a shoutin'!

What I do know is that my Lord loves me enough to show me His hand in my life over and over again.  He is faithful to answer my daily prayer, "Lord, show me what to do to provide and I will do it."  What He has also shown me over and over since that Bible Study in Ruth is the Lord's providing doesn't mean a hand out.  It means getting off your carcass and doing what you have been called to do.  Whether it is making pies, or cleaning houses on Friday's (Chris is home on Friday's which allows me to clean) . . . doing it unto the Lord, blesses the person that is receiving the service, and provides for the needs of my home.  Life just does not get any better than that!

Continuing to Walk (and SHOUT!) in Victory!

Stacey

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