That hectic week I anticipated last week was indeed hectic and made more so by my daughter getting more ill and not better after her doctor visit. But that was just the middle of the whole thing... Let me backtrack.
First there was a problem with a car. Fixed. Then a minor accident. No damage. Then a flat tire. Taken care of. Then no well water. Repaired. Then my daughter thought she might have a bladder infection and she did. Then there was a note to someone, a word of mom advice, that apparently offended the persons to whom it was addressed.
Then came the two week period just past where we faced one challenge after another. 11 days of appointments and obligations to be met, loads of travel, more than the usual expenses on every single count. And about this time, dear daughter began to feel even worse and we added more appointments etc to the schedule. She no longer has the bladder infection but now has excruciating kidney pain and low fever. We're still trying to find out what's wrong and why and what will help. In the meantime she's taking massive antibiotics and some high powered pain meds and being xrayed and ultrasounded and labbed.
And finally came the totting up time, the dreaded moment of looking at our checkbook and determining just how bad the damage of the two week period had been. Our balance had dropped $600 what with this expense and that and gasoline. Zowie, owie, powie! And of course, the totting up generated a minor argument and an anxiety ridden bought of tears.
And why all this fuss and bother and mayhem in our lives? I share this with you not as a boast nor a brag, but because it is fact. These events all began a month ago. And exactly 1 month ago we made a special pledge to a ministry of a sizeable sum of money that we didn't yet have. But we'd prayed and prayed, separately and as a couple, and we came into agreement that we would trust God to provide in a 90 day period this sum of money to be sown as seed into a ministry. And then we called and committed ourselves to the ministry.
Boom!
Now lest you think we have had nothing short of horrible things happen, let me reassure you. We've had some pretty wonderful things happen. Like having a repair that cost us nothing, was 'gifted' to us. And gifts of foods and clothing and gas mileage that is almost unbelievable, a true blessing. Reminders of God's providence that wiped away anxiety and brought on repentance for failing to stand fast and believe His word.
So this morning I sat down with our bill box and got everything ready for our bill paying session tonight. We planned to mail the first portion of the pledge today, one month to the day since we called and made our commitment to the ministry. We agreed that if we have $2 or all of it, we're sending it in tonight. When I added up the figures of the small amounts we have set aside throughout this whole painful period, I discovered we have almost a full third of what we pledged in hand at present!
On the one hand, I can tell you honestly that it is not possible to face the kind of month we've had and still come up with this much money extra after it all. And on the other hand I can tell you surely that God is a Good God! He asked us to trust Him to provide and He has done it. Not a bit of overtime was worked. Not a single check came into our household besides our regular pay. We are not taking this money from our emergency fund, nor simply writing a check. This is money that we have either purposely set aside, or we have 'extra', for no good reason we can claim other than God.
Do I think next month's portion will be more easily come by? I can't say. It might well come in one fell swoop. It might be as tough a month to go through as the one just past, when it has seemed we were attacked on every single front: financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But I do know this. God will provide that which He says He will provide. And if that doesn't lead one to believe in an Inspired way of Life, then they are simply not living!
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