Watching God Provide

     It has been 3 weeks since I preached my last sermon at our church in Newport News, VA.  God gave us 9 years of ministry there; more than any place we had been previously.  I am grateful for all that he accomplished while we were there and for all that he did in our hearts during that time as well.  When we came; our oldest daughter was 16 and just learning how to drive.  Now she (almost finished with grad school) and her sister (a couple of years out of college) are sharing an apartment about 10 miles from us.  Their brother (the oldest of 2) is a senior at Liberty University, studying for the ministry.  The youngest is now 18.  Since he is special needs, we will have the ongoing joy of caring for him for many years to come. 
     A couple of weeks ago, I blogged some of the thoughts from what would be my closing sermon to our church family.  It was a sermon about faith; stepping out when you don't know where it will lead, when it will take place or how it could possibly happen.  It was really a sermon intended to remind me of God's promise to lead us, but I figured others might benefit as well.
     My full-time salary ceased as of last week.  The church board has kindly provided a severance package that will assist us in getting through this time of transition, but obviously we need to have some other sources of income to meet all the expenses.

     That is where this post comes in.  God has continued to prove himself faithful.  I had one week after I preached my last sermon at DBC to go enjoy another church family and worship without preaching.  The next week I had an invitation to speak elsewhere.  An opportunity to preach the Word and serve the Lord...and a check to help cover some of our ongoing expenses.  I was able to secure employment with a friend of mine for the short term.  God's provision.  Then there was that incredibly generous check from friends of ours...then that email today offering to pay a bill that hasn't even arrived yet...then that check that came in the mail today.  Just as we need it, God continues to provide.  I am very thankful that whenever we take God at his Word and trust him to do what he has promised to do all along; we are never disappointed.
     I have more to write about this in the weeks to come, but there are some things in the works that I can't yet talk about.  I can assure you it will make for an exciting blog post at some point in the future.  Stay tuned.
     I continually hear stories from many of my friends about God's provision for their needs just when they needed it most.  Why is it that we tend to worry about what God already has under control?  I can almost hear him say: "Relax; I've got this!"  God is good; all the time.  We seem more aware of it when we feel more in need of him.  I need to work on that...