God is All, in All

Dear friends, Recently, our family has endured the darkest path through a black forest of finances. The path is LONELY. As Jody says, no one wants to be intimate with those who are suffering the contagious disease of financial upheaval. Having been in this scary fire-swamped forest, we have found that it is easier to help the blind cross a freeway, to bake bread for the starving, to build ships for the sinking souls, or to laugh and cry with the misunderstood. Enduring the anguish and walking along side a family that cries out for understanding, for relief, for a rope to climb up for air, is HARD and not popular. I mean, really, what if they ask for $? Helping friends by babysitting, or cleaning a house, or feeding their animals is one thing, but more often than not, dishing out money puts a new dimension of strain and intimidation on the relationship. How do we know??? Because, in a time of utter depression, when our world was black with obsolete financial stability, we found that close friends and family members closed doors. We were put into quarantine, a room where no one had to go. No one wanted to visit. We were lepers!!!! It was dark, and scary. BUT, there was a light that pierced through the black and threatening clouds. Our faces lifted and we clamored towards it's source. Jesus Christ, the Light of this dark world. Jody and I continue to trust in His grace and sufficiency and lean on His provisions. God did provide for us. He gave us that friend who went shopping at Costco and filled our freezer with hundreds of dollars of provisions. Another friend who opened his checkbook over coffee at Its a Grind. Opportunities for our children were provided for, mysteriously, in some cases. A new (old) car, a horse and buggy, and $ enuf (to the penny) to move to Texas, our land of reform and promise. No, our financial situation is not "fixed", but our understanding to put all cares and concerns into His palms and trust that He will see us through, gives us hope and joy. This puts blooms on the once dead, mired trees in the forest. Our path is lit with His light and we understand His purpose in this. God provides!!! Now we have very close friends who are experiencing this same cloud of anguish. If only we could give them all that they need, every penny to bring them upright. But, tearfully and thankfully, we give them encouragement from the Word. God continues to position us to put Him on the throne of all sufficiency. He is our all in all. So, to all of you needing a little encouragement, no matter what the issue, read and enjoy the following quote from C. H. Spurgeon. This is from the book, Beside Still Waters, page252. "Believing in grace for past and future trials is easy, but resting in grace for the immediate need is true faith. Believer, grace is sufficient right now. Do not say that this is a new trouble, but if you do, remember that the grace of God is always new. Do not complain that some strange thing has happened, but if you do, remember that blessings are provided to meet your strange difficulties. Do not tremble because the thorn in the flesh is so mysterious (2Cor.12:7), but if you do, remember that grace is mysterious too, and so mystery will meet mystery. Right now and at all moments that will occur between now and glory, God's grace will be sufficient. This sufficiency is declared without any limiting words. Thus the Lord Jesus is sufficient to uphold, sufficient to strengthen, sufficient to comfort, sufficient to make trouble useful, sufficient to enable you to triumph, sufficient to bring you out of ten thousand trials, and sufficient to bring you home to heaven. Whatever is good, Christ's grace is sufficient to bestow. Whatever would harm, His grace is sufficient to avert. Whatever you need, His grace is sufficient to give, if it is for your good. Whatever you would avoid, His grace can shield, if His wisdom dictates. I am glad that they cannot put all sufficiency into words. If so, it would be finite. Since we can never express it, glory be to God, for it is inexhaustible. Our demands can never be too great." (From Beside Still Waters, page 252)