God Provides

A little over a week ago, I wrote a blog titled "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? (Matt. 7:9)" ...and the passing week, God has made His promise even more evident in my life.

In the verses immediately following Matthew 7:9, Jesus goes on to say: "Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matt. 7&:10-11)
I think it's easy for me to expect so little from God. I pray for good things, but that nagging voice in the back of my head makes me doubt that God is really going to provide....

You know, if you really surrender control on this issue, it's not going to turn out well.

God says He'll give you good things, but His life of purity is going to make you miserable.

God just wants to make you sweat it out until you give it up to Him.

Maybe He's not really going to give you everything you need.

What if you don't get that ___ in time?

That last question has been posed to me over and over the past couple of months. As my team and I have prepared for our trip to the Czech Republic, I've repeatedly heard the question, "What's the plan for if you don't get the money in time?" And my response would always be, "We don't really have a plan for that. I know God wants us on this trip, and He'll provide what we need. After all, God owns the whole world. A couple thousand bucks is chump change."

Yet, in the quiet of my heart, my unbelief has been difficult to silence. Even two weeks away, I struggled with the looming burden of another $3,000 my team had to raise before our trip. I personally still had a need of $500 in addition to the funds required to make it posible for my Czech sister, Andy, to join our team when we arrive. It's been hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

However... God is bigger than all of this. He's bigger than my fears, than any problem. He saw my every thought before He even created the world. And He had a plan. Sometimes I wonder if He chuckles at me, saying, "Oh my child, if only you knew..." 

But I don't have to know.
'Cause He knows.
And all I need to do is trust Him.

I need to do a final tally of funds left to raise, but let's just say that God has provided for my team and I in ways that still bring me humbly to my knees. God provides.