Abundance

In my pile of seventeen or so drafts of posts waiting to be written or finished, is one that is simply a list of the various and copious ways we've seen God providing for our needs since just January. I still don't have time to do it justice (and the list keeps growing!) so I'm going to write this one as a sort of "teaser" in hopes that I'll get to the real one soon.

So, last Tuesday I ran into a friend at the library. It was the day we had Mira along. (Oh, wait! I don't think I got to share about that, either! Matt was gone on one of our regular library days, so we decided to do it anyway with Mira along. So, here she is on her first trip to the library:

She slept right through it!) Anyway, my friend said she and someone else we know had been wondering if there were any practical ways they could help us out. First of all, it is so good to know people are still thinking about things like that even after the initial rush of travel and hospital stay, etc. But, as I told her, even though my days are full to overflowing, there are very few parts to my days that I can pass off to someone else. "Here - Mira's got her first consult with the endocrinologist - can you run her to that so I can stay home and do laundry?" Nope. Not going to happen. But having her offer, and knowing it was a genuine offer, still meant a lot.

Then came Friday, and Matt came home from his meeting with the architect he contracts with carrying a grocery bag full of frozen soup, bread, cookies, and something else. How wonderful to know that supper for the next day was covered and I was able to take some of the extra time to pick off a number of little tasks that had been patiently waiting for weeks. And that got me thinking, and I sent my friend an email. Would you be able to occasionally prepare a meal for us? I have some regularly occurring days that are cramped for time where a meal would make a big difference, and some occasional days (like Mira's tentative May 8th surgery) when I just won't be home to put something together.

She emailed me back the next morning, joyfully saying that, yes! she would bring a meal that Tuesday, and cover the surgery day as well.

So, Friday we were given a meal, Saturday we ate it, Sunday brought the promise of two more, and then Monday morning Matt passed me his phone because there were three message on it that he thought were for me. Message one: a lady from church saying she picked up a great deal on pork and was going to make us pulled pork and put together a few other things for a meal and deliver it Tuesday around lunch time so I could heat it up whenever made the most sense. Message two: another lady from church reminding me about how she'd emailed a few weeks ago saying a number of people were getting together to cut up fruit and asking if we'd like any. (Yes! we eat a lot of apples and bananas because cutting enough fruit that takes more prep than that takes a lot of time for our crew!) She also mentioned in the message that they were going to bread some chicken and throw that in the oven and bring it all over around 5:00 for supper that night. Message three: some automated thing from the pharmacy. No food. 😁

The number of times that God has orchestrated clusters of provision like this throughout this past year just continues to amaze me. We've been through plenty of times in our life where God provides, but waits until what appears to be the last minute before revealing what He's had planned all along, and giving us just enough to keep going so we can keep trusting.

This time around it's as though as soon as we're aware of a need, he pours it out to overflowing, and these clusters (all food!!!) just make it that much more evident to us that he's making a point: if having food prepared is going to equip you to better do what you need to do, Andrea, then you're going to have it! Whatever it is that you need to do the work I've laid out before you is going to be provided to you. So do the work.

A repeat from Easter, because it's still relevant:

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

~1 Corinthians 15:58