My Provider

I am always amazed, and I'm not quite sure why, how God does provide us with just what we need and often times with more than we can imagine.

Over the past weeks I started a list of the things that God has given us each day, as we have walked through this difficult time. Sometimes it is a phone call, a meal, a note from a friend, a gift, a moment of silence, God's peace.Last week, a group of friends, affectionately called "the moms" came to my home to help my children decorate for Christmas. They circled around them with love and laughter, inspecting each ornament with each child, before helping them to hang it on the tree, sharing in their joy. They ate popcorn and pizza and placed decorations all around my house, bringing Christmas to our family, when I was feeling overwhelmed with even hanging a stocking.

Today it came in a most creative and unusual way. Friends of ours invited us to their home for lunch and a birthday party for Jesus. My friend pulled up old craft projects that a retired teacher friend had given her, years ago. To my surprise, there were kits of make your own sequin ornaments, and one of them was a kit for a round, blue ornament just like the one that I made when I was sick with the chicken pox, in third grade. I even still have it!

For years I have looked for kits like this one, where you thread a bead and a sequin on to a small pin, then pushing it in to the Styrofoam form to create a sparkling ornament. And I never saw one, until today, and it was the exact same ornament that I had made in the early 1970's.I believe that God really is in the details. Seeing that ornament kit and working on similar ones with my girls this afternoon reminded me that God knows every detail. It brought me joy to create with my children.

Although a very small gift, it was an important one as I was reminded that God even cared to bring up a memory from childhood. He does provide for us. In this season of suffering I see Him in so many ways, big and small, and am learning more about God as my Provider.

Psalm 111:5 says "He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever." Today, I praise Him for His provision of just what I need.