God's Provision

There are many things I don't understand in life. There are almost zero things I understand about God. One such thing I cannot wrap my head around is this idea of "grace". Why in the world would God, the Creator, Sustainer, and Judge of this entire Universe, want to give an unwarranted, undeserved gift to ungrateful sinners such as us? It blows my mind! It blows my mind so much that I am up at 1:48 AM working on a blog post to talk about it!

Today, God reminded Laura and me of His grace through a simple reminder of a promise which He makes to us: He will sustain us. For months, Laura and I have cried out to God for financial provision. Getting married and moving to California to go to school isn't exactly the best financial decision we have ever made (as we have been reminded), but, for some reason, we knew He wanted us here. Yesterday, I was offered a job opportunity which seemed to be God's provision. I was quick to say YES due to our need. Well, as I thought through it, I figured out that I would not be happy in the situation, but I figured I would take the job anyway. Today, God stepped in and allowed us to see His provision through other means: none other than His Church (in particular, our local congregation). Our church voted to help provide for us so that we would not be forced to take two and three jobs a piece. This small congregation saw our need and answered the need. We know that God lead this decision. Praise God for His leadership and His Church.

As I said, I know very little about God. But I will say that the few things I do know about Him make me want to love Him passionately. Every time He even shows a peek of the unstoppable Glory which defines Him, I just want to call my mom like I do everytime I get a good grade on a paper (yes, I still do this....just ask her) and scream. We love Him because He first loved us.

I read this tonight in an incredible book of Puritan inspired prayers, The Valley of Vision, and wanted to share it with you:

           Thou hast shown me

            that the sensible effusions of divine love

             in the soul are superior to and distinct from

             bodily health,

            and that oft-times spiritual comforts are

             at their highest when physical well-being is

             at its lowest.

Praise God for His infinite grace.

In Christ,

Steve