Awed again by His faithfulness...

Today's lesson... faithfulness. Let me start by saying this is not a plug for donations! This is a testimony of God's love for us, his provision for his children, his goodness and mercy. As most of you know, I quit my job when all of this started with Caleb, I knew he would need me home with him while he is going through this and trying to keep up with all the appointments, treatments, the house, the rest of the family, and a job, was not going to be possible. So needless to say things are very tight. Until this month we have gotten by, but this month we were there, on the brink of not making payments, but which ones do you let go? How do we buy groceries? I'm going to be brutally honest here and only God knows how hard this is for me. I hate asking for help, it is so demeaning to me... I thought we had finally gotten free of scraping and scratching to make it until the next check, no food stamps anymore, no HUD housing, no church clothes closet clothing for my kids. Let me just say here that I am VERY grateful that we had all of those things, but unless you have lived that life, you can't grasp how hard it is to be in this spot, so afraid of being there again. Well, the Bible says in Psalm 37:25 "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread". We couldn't make the car payment or buy groceries and a couple of other things. Lo and behold someone gave us enough money to pay the car payment and take care of some other smaller bills and then someone went and bought us groceries, so that got us through to the next check. So...needless to say, there again, was not enough money to pay all the bills. This time all of the utilities were due on top of the house payment and insurance payments. I sat and had a talk with God about this early in the day a few days ago. I was at a complete loss as to how we were going to pay these bills, waiting for the next paycheck wouldn't help because there were (are) other bills that check has to pay. Anyway...as the day wore on the phone rang...it was the pastor from the Presbyterian church here in town. He proceeded to tell me that one of Caleb's friends from school had requested prayer for him sometime back and more recently had come to them and said she wanted do something more. He said that this young lady organized her youth group and had a car wash in Caleb's honor and they had raised $648.00, he would bring it by the next day. Now, I told my mom that I hadn't sat down and figured up exactly what we needed to catch us up but I bet that when I did it would probably be the right amount right on the nose. Well, the next day when he brought the check it was actually for $668.00, and guess what!!! Now, I know better than to doubt God, but even when I do, He is faithful. Yes, I have had struggles in life, but seriously, I usually have brought those on myself and God may not just miraculously deliver me from those struggles but at the very least if I will pay attention and listen to that soft voice inside, He will lead me out of whatever dilemma I happen to be in. God knows exactly what we need and exactly when we need it. Things like this have been going on from the beginning of this trial. People have been so good to us. As Christians, we are the body of Christ, so thank you, to all of you that have reached out to us in one way or another, thank you for being the hands and arms, the very heart of Christ himself. You will have jewels in your crowns someday. You will never know this side of heaven how much you have touched our lives. You are showing Caleb the love of Christ in so many different ways, you are teaching him whether you know it or not. And for those of you that wonder what in the world I am talking about... thank you too. You may not realize it, but God is using your gifts and generosity too. There are so many lives being affected through all of this. As I have said from the beginning...God has a plan!
A long time ago Pastor Micah preached a sermon on the word "nevertheless", and during Caleb's first chemo treatment I thought of that sermon, and it has stuck with me. Through all of this, come what may... NEVERTHELESS, I WILL SERVE THE LORD!!! God is still God, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though it's waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.... I will be still and KNOW that HE IS GOD!!!
Isaiah 41:13...For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand,Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’