What Do We Have?

We cannot underestimate the power of prayer.  I'm always so amazed at how God comes through in such amazing ways.  I'm now reading the next book written by the woman who wrote Left to Tell (Immacule Illibagiza).  She survived the Rwanda genocide and is certain she was spared to tell others, thus the name of the book!  Her next book continues her journey of faith and prayer and how God helped her time and time again as she recovered from the horrible things she went through.

Along the same lines of the book, Brother Andrew, she was really specific and counted on God for very practical things whenever she found herself in a situation that seemed impossible.  One example was her wedding.  At that time, she was giving all of the money she made at her job away to her aunts and cousins. Once she got engaged, a Rwandan ceremony was expected and several hundred guests were immediately expected to be invited.  She knew she had no money and it was not expected of the groom's side to pay anything, though he had offered.  She took it to the Lord in prayer, every single detail, and just said, "I am your child.  This is your wedding.  Please help me come up with the money to pay for it."  It wasn't that day or even the day after, but several weeks before the wedding, everything came into place, pretty much all on one day.  Perfect strangers paid for her wedding dress.  Her entire office did a collection that paid for most other things.  An old friend offered to host and have the whole event catered by him.  All of her bridesmaids paid for all their dresses (I guess that was unusual).  Someone else paid for the chairs and benches to be made.  The list of answers to prayer went on and on.   Everytime I read something like that  it is so inspiring - we just don't think in our heads to pray that way, to be specific and to be practical.

But that is what we did again last night.  We continue to come before the Lord about our practical needs. We know winter is coming (I hate to even think about it right now as Spring is barely here and I'm already dreading the cold to come!) and we are not prepared for it yet.  We cannot go through another winter the way we did this past season.  I've described it like living in an unheated cabin.  Yes, we had heat for sure, but at such a cost.  We were not only heating our home, but also the whole outdoors as the walls were not insulated that well all around the house.  I've explained all this before.  What I'm trying to communicate is we are relying on God for our practical needs for the winter coming up.  I do not know what he's going to do and that is partly why I'm recording this in writing.  I really believe He is going to provide in some way, I just do not know what that will look like.  Perhaps it won't be in the form of insulation, perhaps it will just be that there will be enough money to pay the crazy bills, but I don't think He wants us to waste our money by heating the outdoors.

Each child prayed for a very specific thing.  Because we are human, I'm sure we think certain wants are needs, so we prayed about that, too, identifying the fact that we even need the Lord's wisdom in helping us see what is a need and what is a want, but I think God knows our hearts.  We just want to be warm and right now all the siding is ripped off around certain sections of our house making for a very leaky home.  We would love it if we could cover up the mess so as to not bring the neighbourhood down and keep the warm, expensive air in!  Siding would not only clean up the outside of the house, but also provide extra insulation, so we brought that before the Lord, too.  The needs are extensive. but God is good.  Perhaps, if we don't receive the answers we think we need, it is God's way of teaching contentment and even a greater level of trust and faith.  I can handle that.  I always look at the alternative - fussing and pouting?  That never goes over well.  There are 8 little people (and not-so-little) watching our every move and our every reaction.  This is how their faith will also develop, so it keeps us on our toes making sure we have godly reactions even to what appears like unanswered prayer.

What do we do in the meantime?  We always ask ourselves the question that the prophet asked the widow who had no money to pay her husband's debtors, "What do you have?"  "Nothing," she said.  So he asked her again, "What do you have?"  "A little oil."  That was what he was waiting for.  Perhaps he already knew what she had, but he wanted it to come from her. Perhaps he wanted her to be in on the miracle.  In fact, that is exactly what happened.  She was in on the miracle.  She was able to use what she had in her own home to make up the money to pay the debts.  She and her children went out and gathered jars from the neighbours and then God did the rest.  Renaissance Man and I ask ourselves this question on a regular basis, "What do we have?"  We've got the skills and talents God has given us and multiple resources in our children as well as on the farm here with our animals and our land.  We continue to ask God to help us use what we have to the best of our abilities and then we leave the rest up to God.  It's such a good place to be.