10/23/12 PROVISION

A few weeks ago I started posting things on my Facebook page that started with "Blessings."  It's been a way for me to share the various ways that God's been  meeting our  needs during this season of unemployment and it helps me to keep focusing on positive things.  Some of the blessings I've posted have nothing to do with finances, but today I want to list out the way our physical needs have been met over the last several weeks.  The random Facebook posts are fun, but it's cool to see everything listed out in one place.  Ready?

9/9 - Someone at church tells me I dropped some money, but I hadn't brought any money with me.  They muttered something about working a little overtime, winked, and shoves some cash in my hand.

9/9 - Someone starts giving us two dozen fresh eggs every week.

9/13 - Someone stops by with a ton of produce from their garden and fruit trees.

9/14 - Someone offers us some formula samples their baby doesn't need.  I go to pick it up and they end up loading us up with a bunch of their freezer stockpile.

9/24 - Someone gives us a box of produce from their garden.

9/29 - We have our annual family pictures taken about six weeks early because we have a coupon that allows us to get them for just a few dollars.

9/30 - Someone sends us home from a party with the leftover pizza.

10/4 - Someone offers to make an oufit for Naomi with the intent of having it be a Christmas gift for her from Tim and I.  The outfit has since been completed, along with a matching one for one of her dolls, and it's super cute.

10/5 - Someone has changed the way they're eating and brings us a bunch of food from their freezer and cupboards, items they can no longer eat.

10/9 - We qualify for food stamps and are able to put the rest of the month's grocery budget toward other bills.

10/9 - I receive a Red Robin gift card in the mail from someone who knows I'm hanging out with some girlfriends later in the month, a visit that always includes a meal at Red Robin.  I had planned on packing a lunch, which they didn't know, but they wanted me to enjoy a peppercorn burger with my friends.

10/10 - Tim gives me (I pay the bills) money he earned doing some temporary work for a friend's dad.

10/11 - Someone gives us a Freddy's gift card.  It arrives minutes after I told Tim we needed a new air filter for the furnace.

10/11 - Someone gives us a jar of homemade plum sauce.

10/11 - Notification comes that the little Ws have coverage on the Oregon Health Plan.

10/12 - We are given formula from someone who's baby outgrew it before using up their stockpile.

10/14 - Someone made too much dinner the previous night and brings a meal to us at church, including cookies.  I love cookies.

10/14 - We have a tradition of giving each of the little Ws an ornament when we decorate our tree, ornaments that they'll use as their own Christmas starter kit when they move out.  Someone offers to make ornaments for them this year.

10/16 - Someone brings us a Costco package of toilet paper.

10/17 - We are given a bag filled with beef for the freezer.

10/17 - We receive a monetary gift in the mail. 

10/17 - Tim writes me a check for his first TSFL income. 

10/17 - We are given a bunch of apples for saucing, dessert, and a Freddy's gift card.  The gift card comes when Freddy's is having a sale on jeans, which means we're able to buy Tim, who's lost about 25 pounds and no longer has pants that fit, a new pair of jeans.

10/19-10/20 - Our meals from dinner on Friday through dessert on Saturday are taken care of.  I don't have to plan, pay for, or prepare any of them.

10/21 - Someone sees a request I'd made on a site I run for our church for some coats to borrow for our boys.  They want to buy coats for them, but aren't sure what colors the big boys would want.  They give us a gift card and coupon to take the boys coat shopping.

10/21 - Someone delivers a bunch of food items, a few toiletries, and a big filled with hand-me-downs for Tyler.  Among other things, the bag includes a coat that fits Tyler (which means the gift card will now be used on two, rather than three, kids), four pairs of shoes (he'd been shoeless all summer and I'd just discovered the previous day that he'd outgrown his only pair of shoes, a fact I'd shared with no one), and four pairs of fleece jammies (not a need, as he has other jammies, but definitely nice during this cold time of year).

10/22 - We're given a coupon, same as the one we used for family pictures and with a later expiration date, that will allow us to get Tyler's one year pictures taken.

10/22 - Someone gives us a Red Robin gift card for fun and a Safeway gift card for needs.

Awesome, isn't it?!  Our daily needs are met, our bills for November are almost paid, we have gift cards available for when needs arise, and we've been blessed with some of the fluff of life on top of all that. 

Of course, there have been countless non-financial, non-practical blessings that I'm equally grateful for, but today I just want to publicly acknowledge all the ways our physical needs are being met.  My prayer is that it encourages you as you trust God to work out whatever hardship you or your family is currently facing.