Edgar & Holly's Wedding Slideshow

God Provides!

It's been a long time since my last post. I need to be more intentional about posting stories about how God uses me, works in me, and teaches me. Could you keep me accountable to this? Today was an obvious encounter with the Lord blessing me, so I wanted to blog about it...while I'm in the airport!

A little background

You'll need a little background to understand everything. Since my last post, I've become engaged to a wonderful, Lord serving woman, Holly. I'm so blessed for God to bring us together. With the engagement, comes wedding planning and a lot of spending. It's been hard for me to save with a lot of immediate expenses and I'm trying to stay true to tithing to the Lord because I know ultimately it's his money. The nerd in me says if I just stop tithing for a few weeks or months I could really save more for the wedding, how selfish, but these are recent thoughts.

God Intervening

I just left for a business trip for three days and when I left and I looked at my finances and I noticed I forgot to tithe on Sunday. I simply forgot to write the check and bring it to church. Should I make it up next week or skip a week and pocket the money? It was an honest mistake that I forgot, but I knew the Holy Spirit was trying to show me what I needed to do. It doesn't prevent me from thinking about what I could do with that extra money. I could buy plane tickets to an upcoming trip to Denver, spend it on the honeymoon, or anything for the wedding!

God intervened to show me the correct path I need to take. He reminded me the money is his and I need to trust him after every paycheck.

On my trip back to Indy, my flight was over-booked and they needed a volunteer to catch a later flight. I ended up volunteering, even though the flight would be getting in Indy at 12:30 am instead of 4:30 pm, but the airline did give me a $300 voucher for a future flight! I was immediately excited, but also bummed that I would get in so late....a flight opened up to leave in an hour to Indy. God is speaking to me again, this is when my eyes became open to his blessing. He provided a free trip to my Denver trip and is getting me home in time for small group. What a blessing?!

"Who provides food for the ravens when their young cry out to God and wander about in hunger?"

Job 38:41 NLT

Father,

Thank you so much for the continued pursuit of my whole heart. I know I should be living for you in every area of my life, and giving you every area. Help me give you my finances Lord. I need you to help me always give you, your portion and more if I feel you wanting it. I don't need money, all I need is you. I need to live more like this and need to fully trust you more. Thank you for speaking to me today and like the ravens you provide for us, when we're wandering around hungry. Jesus, thank you for paying it all for me. I can only have a relationship with the Father because of you.

It's in your name,

Amen

Hillbilly Angels

That's right, hillbilly angels! God uses anyone and will use anyone. A few weeks back I had a personal experience with unselfish people. I hope this story encourages you as much as it did me.

Do you ever have mornings where you're running late for work or hit snooze too many times? I have them every once in a while! This day happened to be a morning where Westfield, Indiana was dumped with a few inches of snow overnight. My neighborhood isn't usually plowed in the morning, and I drive a little Honda Accord....I got stuck when I came to the stop sign in my neighborhood. This wasn't just a little stuck, the right side of my car was buried in 6-8 inches of snow. My car wouldn't budge forwards or backwards. I'm running late for work, alone and stuck, until God sends his help.

After 10-15 minutes of trying to dig out my car with my window scrapper, and the frustration building, God stepped in. A truck with two "country guys" saw me and stopped. He rolled down his window and asked if I needed help. I honestly didn't know if they could be of any help, but I didn't feel alone anymore. I had hope.

I first thought these were two neighbors just driving around, but when they "just happened" to have two shovels in the bed of the truck, I knew God sent them just for me. He made sure the tools were there in advance. They dug me out and then pushed me out in a matter of minutes. I felt so thankful for these men "treating others, as they would want to be treated".

As I write this post, I wonder what "tools" has God provided in our lives to help, encourage, and love others with. Is it a shovel in the bed of our truck or maybe our comfortable checking accounts? Is it our clothes we've out grown but still hold onto or the extra bedroom in our house? God calls all of us to feed the hungry, clothe the needy, and open our homes to the homeless. God calls us to humbly provide hope to the hopeless, in His name.

Father,

I'm sorry that my first reaction to getting stuck wasn't calling on your name. Before I got out of my car and tried to dig it out myself, I should have handed it over to you. I thank you for revealing yourself to me again and reminding me that this world isn't too big for you. You won't forget about any of us. You reminded me that you can handle everything that's going on. Thank for you sending your angels that morning, it's encouraged me in many ways! I love you with all my heart Lord, help me to love others with all of it as well. In Jesus name, Amen.