Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
I'm so thankful that God provides for us. I have never in my life had to worry about my next meal, having clothes to wear or a roof over my head. Do I choose to worry sometimes anyway? Unfortunately, yes. There have been many times that I've wondered how we're going to 'make it.' For example, when Shawn tore his ACL after he had been laid off, I worried...but God provided. When I gave up working full time when Joshua arrived, I didn't how we would do...but God has provided. Lately I haven't had any copywriting jobs and I was laying awake at night wondering what our month would look like let alone our Christmas... then God reminded me of this verse: Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. "Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."
We always tithe. In fact, I can't remember ever in my life not tithing since it was a principle my parents taught me at a young age. I just have to trust God to be faithful in His word of opening the floodgates of heaven to pour out blessing. And is God anything but faithful? When I think about this, my worrying looks pretty goofy. Then I thought of the this passage: Matthew 6:25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
So, I'm thankful today that God provides for us. He's provided so much in our lives, I'm not even sure where to begin. He provided a way for me to get my bachelor's degree when I didn't think I'd be able to afford to go to college, and a way for both of us to get our master's degrees without having to pay a lot toward furthering our education. God has provided this amazing house for us that had everything on our "must have" list when we were looking - 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a fireplace, a great kitchen, a nice layout, a great backyard and most importantly a very central location. And, even though it needs work, God is even providing a way for us to get the work done through a program offered in Lancaster County. We have truly been blessed! We both have a car to get us to wherever I need to go and back home again. God has provided Shawn with a good full time job where he gets to come home and spend time with his family at night. God has provided me with a teaching opportunity and the ability to write. He has blessed us with clothes to wear, food to eat and more "stuff" than we could ever need. Today I am thankful that God takes care of us and provides for all our needs.
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