God Provides

My friend, Taylor, over at Fields of Green has been doing a weekly series on money and how they are able to live on one income in the DC metro area, something they get a lot of questions about. So far, the advice has been:
1. We know that God will provide for our needs.
2. We don't spend money we don't have.
3. We make the best of what we already have.
4. We follow the advice of the Duggars: "Buy used and save the difference."

She took some time recently to give a very specific example of #1 and how God provided for them recently. It was inspirational to hear and a good reminder to me of how God has provided in my life as well.

You see, we've been living on one income now for a month as well. But it wasn't our choice. Oh, down the road we definitely wanted to move to one income but we never expected it like this. The day before I wrote this post, my husband lost his job.

We've been doing some belt-tightening and God has allowed what we do have to stretch to cover our needs. We had been able to save up a good amount since we got married so we're doing our best to steward it wisely.

And then the Keurig broke.

Now, yes, I know that my Keurig (a single cup coffeemaker) is a luxury. A big one. But we both get a lot of enjoyment out of it and it's a lot cheaper for us than Starbucks. It lasted over 3.5 years though so it was outside (waaay outside) the warranty when it started tripping the GFI outlet. We gave it to a friend who has some electrical knowledge to see if he could fix it, but he and my husband ended up having to take a sledgehammer to it to even find out what the problem was.

We figured we would wait and just buy a new one after my husband got a job again. And then God blew us out of the water and provided...even for something that is mostly a 'want' that brings us joy, something as frivolous as a Keurig.

As we talked with our friend about possibly fixing it, another member of the church choir overheard and asked about the situation. Turns out she had a Keurig as well...and didn't like the way it brewed coffee. On the spot, she offered to give it to us if ours couldn't be fixed.

And now? Well, it's all cleaned up and sitting on my counter, just waiting for a nice warm cup of coffee or chai. :)

It wasn't something we expected. It wasn't something we asked for. We were prepared to either try to repair what we had or do without until finances allowed us to purchase another. But God saw fit to intervene this time, providing above and beyond our wildest dreams.

It's a great reminder for the coming days as my husband continues the job search and we face impending changes and possibly moving. If God can provide a Keurig for our enjoyment, how much more will He provide the right job for our sustenance?

"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!" Matthew 7:11


Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan