Last Thursday, the day before the Living Proof Live conference, we took Joel's truck to the mechanic for an oil change and state inspection. Apparently there were things leaking that shouldn't have been, as well as a busted water pump. The end result was $900 in unexpected repairs AND we picked the truck up on my way to the conference Friday. NOT how I wanted to start the weekend.
I reminded myself all the way to Amy's house (our meeting point for the conference) that the repairs didn't surprise God and that He had already provided the money through our budget and emergency fund. What could have been a major crisis ended up being an annoyance and inconvenience.
As I reviewed my conference notes this week I remembered this incident. The scripture passage for the conference focused on 2 Peter 1:1-11. Verse 3 says, "...His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness..." Unexpected vehicle repairs are certainly "life."
The question that struck me this week was "how different would my story be had we not been faithful to our budget (or spending plan, if you prefer that term)?" I don't doubt that God would have provided the money for the repairs at the last minute or even after the repairs were made. I would have praised God for His provision then just as I do now. But I wonder how He would have felt about the situation in light of the fact that He had ALREADY met the need, I just hadn't exercised self-control.
So now I'm wondering, how many times has God met my need (financial or otherwise) beforehand but because of my lack of self-control, faith or perseverance (Verses 5-8) I ended up asking Him to meet my need additional times and I didn't even realize that's what I was doing? Thank the Lord He is compassionate and understanding!!
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