Another Huge Gift from God

God has blessed us once again, in a very big way.

If you are a regular blog reader, you may recall that my biggest financial fear after my husband got laid off was losing our house. Since we had no savings built up to fall back on, I could not see how we could possibly make our mortgage payments if my husband's unemployment lasted any length of time. It is our single biggest expense, as I'm sure it is for many of you. I carried the weight of that worry by myself as long as I could. I was reluctant to pray intently about it because what my heart wanted to hear God say was, "of course I will allow you to keep your house!" But I was was pretty sure He wouldn't say that. So I just didn't even want to go there. When I thought I was going to explode, I finally had a much needed heart to heart talk with God. I blogged about that afternoon here.

What I heard God say to me, after I'd finished venting to Him, was that He did NOT promise us the house. But He did promise me Himself. He promised to be with me no matter what. He promised never to leave me. He spoke His love over me in such a profound way, I truly left my bedroom a different person than when I entered. And by God's grace, since that day I have not been worried about how we were going to make our house payments. Curious? Yes. Trying to save every possible way on other things to help with that payment? Yes. But worried, no.

Since that time God has provided for us in amazing ways. The very day we had a specific need, such as grocery money or gas money, He met it. He has also moved people to give us things that were not needs, such as my cut and color last month, and the gift card that purchased our children's new winter boots and snowpants. Time and time again, He has shown His care for us in big and small ways.

Last Friday at co-op I was sharing with another mom about how good God has been to us during this unemployment. I shared many of the specific instances God has provided something we really needed, exactly when we needed it. Then I told her, "I'm not really concerned about most of our monthly bills because we are finding (or being given) ways to pay for them. But I do wonder about our mortgage payment. It's just so big compared to all our other bills, and I'm not sure what God has in store for us regarding our house."

Do you see where this is going?

That evening, just before bed when I finally opened the day's mail, there was a note from a friend of ours that said "please use this for expenses during the next few months until you find a permanent job", and inside the folded note was a check for a very large amount. Very large. Enough to cover our mortgage payment for 3 months! At that point I felt completely undone and I very nearly hyperventilated. How? Why? Why would God choose to shower so much grace on US? Sobbing, I couldn't speak so I showed the check to my husband. When I found my voice I said, "I don't know what to say" and he said, "I think we should say thank you." So we knelt down and thanked the Lord for His incredible goodness to us. Completely undeserving. Unmerited favor. Grace.

It gets even better. In conversation with this friend we learned that her family has been praying for us every day, and one night last week God woke her up in the middle of the night, told her what He wanted her to do for us, told her the amount, and told her to send it NOW. I know this friend and she has a very generous spirit. She is experiencing much joy in knowing God is using her in our lives. But there is no denying that this gift was from God Himself.

I know that God is more than capable of providing for His children, and I have often had the joy of being the giver. I have even experienced being the recipient of His provision through others before. But I have never experienced such a shower of His financial provision as we are having right now. God didn't need to do this to prove His love for us. He already did that on Calvary. But for some reason He is choosing to reveal Himself in a powerful way through our current circumstances. Each time we are given a gift, it is as if God is speaking His love and care to our hearts. And all we can do is praise Him!