Thursday, May 9, 2019

Frugal ~ God's Provisions

    We had come home from our weekly grocery run, and LV left for work. As the children and I put everything away they noticed that we had forgotten to buy milk.
    We always made a gallon of milk last a week, but it was a pretty important item on our grocery list every time.
    "We'll just have to find a way to do without milk for a week," I told them.
    "God could send us milk," Kenneth said, "if we prayed for it."
     And so we knelt in our dining room, and Kenneth led us in a simple prayer. "Dear God, Mom forgot to buy milk so could you send us a gallon? Thank you, and Amen." We all added our Amens and got up to continue our day.
    Only a few minutes later the phone rang. I answered. It was our next door neighbor. "I don't know what I was thinking," she said, "but several days ago I stopped at the grocery store and bought a gallon of milk, I don't even like milk! I hate throwing it away, and thought I'd see if you could use it. You don't have to take it ..."
     "We'd be happy to take the milk," I told her.
      A few minutes later she was at the door apologizing for bothering us, but happy that we accepted the milk.
     She left, and the house was filled with rejoicing at the speedy answer of prayer, and we marveled how God knew we would pray for milk and He had her buy it several days before we prayed for it and waited to give it until we did.
~~~~~
     All the careful budgeting, the scrimping, the saving wasn't helping much at the moment. The weather had been bad, the trees hadn't been the best quality, and the past few logging checks had reflected that. We were now faced with all the monthly payments due and we knew there was absolutely no way we could possibly pay them.
     Again, we prayed, thanking Him for His provision and care for us, and presented our problem to Him and how we didn't have the money to take care of that month's bills.
     We had no idea how He would answer, but trusted that one way or the other we would be okay.
     That evening one of the local farmers came driving in with his cattle trailer. In the back he had twin calves; a boy and a girl. "These are so small, they're not even worth taking to the sale barn," he said. "Every one will know they're twins." (For cows, a girl/boy twin, the girl will most likely never be able to have a calf.) "I thought you might like them for your children, or do with them what you want. Sell them if you like, you might get enough to buy them each some candy." He laughed heartily.
     We accepted them, and the next morning LV and Kenneth took them to the sale barn. We didn't expect much, but at this point every dollar counted.The auctioneer sold them as a pair of twins. The bidding started and kept going and going. After commission was figured off the final price and the check was in our hands we couldn't keep from praising God. It was exactly what we needed to cover our payments.
~~~~~
     It was fall and time to get our winter's supply of coal to heat the house. Once again we simply did not have the funds to buy coal.
     As we were eating supper one evening there was a knock at the door. LV answered it and greeted the old man who was standing there.
     "Sorry to bother you," he said. "I have this big pile of coal in my basement, but I'm getting too old to walk up and down the basement stairs to fire a coal furnace. I have intalled an oil furnace, and am looking for someone who could remove the coal. You can have it in return for cleaning my basement."
     We accepted his offer, and spent several evenings scooping coal into buckets, dumping it on the back of our pick up and unloading it into our coal bin, and then cleaning up his basement.
     We were warm and toasty all winter, and so thankful for the way God met another need.
~~~~~
     I could continue with many more stories of the wonderful ways God provided for us, but this post is getting too long.
     Those years of living in extreme frugality were good for us. They taught us so much, and seeing prayers answered and God's provision were so faith building.
     It's not that our life was sitting back, doing nothing, and expecting God would keep us fed, clothed, and warm. He did, but there were also months where we eked by, without any miraculous things happening. We learned to praise Him in everything. EVERYTHING. I really can't stress that enough. Praise God in everything! Even when it makes no sense, continue praising. In Hebrews 13 we are told to continually offer sacrifices of praise to God. If we only praise Him when we think something good happened, how is that a sacrifice? God is good all the time, and worthy of our praise ... all the time!

16 comments:

  1. Amazing, faith-building, and well put!

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  2. Such a humbling and faith filled post. Thanks for encouraging others that may also be facing a tough time. May God continue to bless your family as you remain faithful and obedient to Him!

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  3. I've reading your posts and can relate very well, and I was wondering if you had stories of how God provided for you in unexpected ways so I was glad to read your long post today. Despite how hard it is to have to live extremely frugal, we are able to know the Lord more deeply and that is a blessing and as you said praise him all the time, It's key to pass those hard times. It's encouraging to read how God provides for those who are in need.
    God bless you
    Ana

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  4. Mary Ann, I have loved every one of these posts, but this one is my favorite. You could have written much, much more and it wouldn't have been too much. How is it too much to read of God's mighty hand at work in our lives when we merely trust Him to provide.
    Thank you for sharing all of this with us. I will never forget your stories.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  5. Thank you for sharing this. The last few lines really spoke to me today. I have been dealing with a lot of muscle pain and find it hard to give praise.I KNOW God is good all the time and my life is in His hands.Thanks again. To God be the glory.

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  6. I have tears in my eyes reading your post today.
    Thank you for all the reminders of how Great our God truly is. Learning to Trust more and learning to walk in that Trust and Faith..even at my age. God's provision and His timing are wonderful , but hard at times, life lessons for all of us.
    Sue

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  7. God is just amazing. Wonderfully described, thank you.

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  8. I love stories about faith in God. He answers just like that. I loved the prayer for milk. That's how I still pray today. God still answers today. I had my lawn mowed free for ten years! God has always taken care of me.I paid $50.00 to get a water line repaired. A couple days later I got an unexpected check in the mail for $55.00. He always let's me know He is watching over me.
    Your stories are an inspiration. Jesus is closer than a brother. God bless.

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  9. Thanks so much for sharing your stories. They are always an inspiration.

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  10. Amen. Praise God!!! Hallelujah!!!

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  11. What wonderful testimonies! Both the miracles, and the persistence in the days when there weren't any. Thank you for the fabulous reminder to praise God in everything. I was sitting in a doctor's office fighting anxiety when I read that. I think you could write a little booklet and publish those stories under the title "God's Marvelous Provision."

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  12. Your post wasn't too long for us!! We enjoyed it and it spurred memories as to how God provided things for us in our early days as baby Christians. To me it was like us as babies; He pulled us up with this strong and miraculous to us help so that we could keep tottering and learning to walk in His ways. As time went on the help was there but tests in faith became more complex. Increasing in maturity was expected.

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  13. Sorry it got garbled, but hopefully you know what I mean. Haha.

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  14. Have been reading your blog for a while and always enjoy what you write. These stories about God's provision for your family have especially blessed me and the reminder to always praise Him no matter what we are going through. Thank you! Carolyn

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  15. These are wonderfully faith-raising stories!! Thank you for sharing them!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.