Sunday, June 11, 2006

Matthew 6:31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?'

This verse is one we so often overlook. Many of us tend to believe that God needs our help - that we need to worry at least a little. The reality is, God does provide - just not on our timetable.

A few weeks ago, we were winding down the semester and beginning to look at things that needed to happen before internship. One of those things was that the condo we own was currently empty. (Yes, we would love to sell it, but have not been able to.) Our last renter had moved out and we had made the switch to the leasing manager who handled most of the development. We had really been too busy to think about it, but as we began to look at budget for the summer, and for internship, we realized that if we did not have a renter, we were soon going to be in financial difficulty.

One of the problems with being an older, married couple who are both going to seminary, and on internship, is that the stipend provided is really based on either a young single person with very little in the way of expenses, or a married couple where the other spouse is working. Two of us - on internship, with a mortgage (actually, 2), a couple of car payments, etc., and suddenly the financial picture does not look very good. So we prayed. And prayed, and prayed. And a few days later, we received a phone call from the leasing agent saying that he had just signed a lease for our unit! And then, a couple of weeks later, we received another phone call - the one and only scholarship for which either of us was eligible while on internship had come through.

We will still be poor seminarians, just like our classmates, but God has seen to it that our basic needs will be met. We will be able to eat, and drink, and put gas in the car, and have clothes to wear. God has made sure of that. Whatever it is that you need, God will also make sure that you have that as well - maybe not on the timetable you would like, but when you need it - God will see that it is there.

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