Faithful in that which is least
"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much." Luke 16:10a
I want to take the opportunity of this post to share with y'all the amazing ways in which the Lord has answered prayer in my life and shown me His love and provision in just these first two months of the year. There are so many things I am thankful for already, that I can't imagine how thankful I will be when Thanksgiving rolls around in November.
The first week of the year saw professions of Christ from both of my little sisters! I had been praying for Katie towards the end of the year, and on New Year's Day she had long talks with my mom and stepdad and came to the end of herself and into the love of our Savior! Then a few days later, my sister Hannah (5 years old) told us that she had been saved too-- She couldn't remember when it was, but "it was at nighttime," and she "asked Him to save her." My mom asked her how she knew that God heard and saved her, and she answered, "because He said, 'uh-huh!'" : ) From the mouth of babes...
On top of those best of blessings, the months of January and February have continued to see heaps of blessings upon me. In so many "little," yet tangible things, I have seen the Lord provide for me abundantly. Here is a list of things I prayed for and received:
1- a new bread machine for $10-$15 (got an almost-new $75 one from Goodwill for $10- works great!)
2- a winter dress coat for under $35 (I found it for $28, brand-new)
3- a ski trip with my friends (the Lord moved someone from church to "out of the blue" give me enough money for both me and my sister to go skiing, and then another person gave us a discount on the lift tickets)
4- a tank of gas, when I was trying not to spend any more money till payday
5- opportunities to spend quality time with friends (two of them)
6- a red sweater in just the right shade, to wear with my gray skirt (found it yesterday at Goodwill in like-new condition, for $3.39)
7- (this one made me feel really special!) a pair of brown Mary Janes!! (I have been looking for a pair since December (I love Mary Janes, and brown ones are so hard to find!)- I've looked through many stores, bid twice for a pair on ebay (never won them), and had to leave it up to the Lord and be content with what I have... Then yesterday at the Goodwill I'm rarely at, there was a pair, in exactly my size, with very little wear- for $3.39!)
8- (this is the funniest one) 3 job offers in one week!! Now granted, I had not been praying for *3* job offers, but I had been seriously considering picking up a few more hours somewhere to try to save enough money to meet a goal I had set for myself to have completed by the time I'm 21.
On a certain Monday, I applied for a job at the local garden center, but they wanted someone to work Sundays... I didn't think they'd be interested in me since I said plainly I wouldn't work Sundays.
Wednesday I get a phone call from a lady in town who picked up my very last business card from the table at the coffee shop across from her shop (she never reads the cards on the table), and saw that I sewed. She called me immediately after getting back to her shop, and said that just the night before she prayed specifically with her grandmother, for someone young who likes to sew, who she could hire and train to eventually take over her custom drapery business! She wanted to meet me that afternoon, and she hired me on the spot! She is a Christian and it is obvious to both her and me that the Lord guided our paths in that way. I was not willing to put out business cards at that coffee shop a few moths ago, but Katie convinced me to just put out three. They sat there for some time, and then the Saturday previous to all this, Katie informed me that they had been by and only one of my cards was left. That one was the card my new boss "happened" to notice on that Wednesday.
That same evening, I had to reserve the skis I would be renting for the ski trip which was going to be on Friday. So before church I went to the ski shop and as I was paying, the manager/owner read the form I had had to fill out to rent skis, saw my age, etc., and told me he was interested in hiring a young woman to run a coffee shop he would be opening up inside the store... He was really interested in getting me for the job, told me he'd pay me more than the sewing lady could, etc, etc, etc... and gave me his business card so I could call him once I had thought about it. (I didn't need to think about it, because I knew I would *not* be interested in working with all the boys that worked for him in the shop!!)
The next Monday, I'm in my car on the way to my first day at the curtain place, my cell phone rings, and it's someone from the garden center, interested in setting up an interview!! I told them I had just accepted another job since I spoke to them last, and thanked them for offering but I didn't need to interview with them at this point... and whew! I've never been so "bombarded" with jobs, when I wasn't really seeking very hard!!
The Lord planted the desire in me for a new job (in addition to my library work, which I'll only be doing on Friday afternoons and one Saturday per month now)... got me ready to look for one, and then threw me a job that is infinitely better suited to me than I could've picked for myself. I had been praying about what to do with my sewing (for business): whether I should advertise more or let it go, and it seems that God would instead have me to primarily sew for this lady, and then help my friends as needs arise. I'll still be sewing for my family at home.
The new job is going very well, and I'm learning a lot about sewing for the home. I've made pillows, swags, jabots (which are *not* pronounced as they look! It's a French word, and boy am I glad I realized what they were talking about and corrected my thinking of it before I had to say the word!! I've only ever read about "zha-BOWS"; never talked about them!!), tablecloths, drapes, dust ruffles, etc... and I love working on the industrial machines! I'm especially enjoying the blind-hemming machine! It's so interesting : )
Pray for me to have wisdom to know how many hours I should work (the lady says she wants me as much as she can have me!), and not to neglect my duties at home, and to have time to do things for my church, and to not be too tired to sew for my family, and to be able to read each day...
Anyway, the point of all this, and the reason I chose the title I did for this post, is that the Lord has been proving to me that He is faithful, that He cares about what I want and need, and that He is utterly able and willing to provide me with everything good, in His time. My God cares about the style, color, and size of a pair of shoes I want- and He gives them to me as an unexpected love-gift at just the right time. My God knows that I have specific goals about how much money I want to have saved at the end of this year, and He has gone before and prepared a way for those goals to be met, by providing me, at just the right time, with a brand-new job not far from home, with Christian women to work with. If my God is so concerned about the "little things" of my life, I have that much more cause to joyfully trust Him to provide for the "big things." He says He will meet my every need, and that is reason enough to rejoice. But then I actually see Him work out even the tiniest of details, and He proves Himself true to His Word, and I can't help but thank Him and trust Him more!
Praise ye the Lord, Who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth!
Shelters thee under His wings, yea so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen, How thy desires e'er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
************************************
As you can see, I'm back on blogger (for now)! 2007 has been a year of incredible busyness and change for me, but through it all I have had an amazing sense of God's direction and provision. My computer time has been extremely limited this year, which is why my blog has taken a back seat. Church work, e-mails, and more important online duties have had to come before blogging, so sorry y'all! It's nothing personal! I think about all of you often, and I try to check up on you when I get the chance. But I don't see that I will be having tons of regular time for blogging in the near future, so I just wanted to let you know what's been going on with me lately and that you probably shouldn't expect to see me on here very often :-( *sorry*... But just put me in your blogreader if I'm not there already and you'll get notified when I post something new ; )I want to take the opportunity of this post to share with y'all the amazing ways in which the Lord has answered prayer in my life and shown me His love and provision in just these first two months of the year. There are so many things I am thankful for already, that I can't imagine how thankful I will be when Thanksgiving rolls around in November.
The first week of the year saw professions of Christ from both of my little sisters! I had been praying for Katie towards the end of the year, and on New Year's Day she had long talks with my mom and stepdad and came to the end of herself and into the love of our Savior! Then a few days later, my sister Hannah (5 years old) told us that she had been saved too-- She couldn't remember when it was, but "it was at nighttime," and she "asked Him to save her." My mom asked her how she knew that God heard and saved her, and she answered, "because He said, 'uh-huh!'" : ) From the mouth of babes...
On top of those best of blessings, the months of January and February have continued to see heaps of blessings upon me. In so many "little," yet tangible things, I have seen the Lord provide for me abundantly. Here is a list of things I prayed for and received:
1- a new bread machine for $10-$15 (got an almost-new $75 one from Goodwill for $10- works great!)
2- a winter dress coat for under $35 (I found it for $28, brand-new)
3- a ski trip with my friends (the Lord moved someone from church to "out of the blue" give me enough money for both me and my sister to go skiing, and then another person gave us a discount on the lift tickets)
4- a tank of gas, when I was trying not to spend any more money till payday
5- opportunities to spend quality time with friends (two of them)
6- a red sweater in just the right shade, to wear with my gray skirt (found it yesterday at Goodwill in like-new condition, for $3.39)
7- (this one made me feel really special!) a pair of brown Mary Janes!! (I have been looking for a pair since December (I love Mary Janes, and brown ones are so hard to find!)- I've looked through many stores, bid twice for a pair on ebay (never won them), and had to leave it up to the Lord and be content with what I have... Then yesterday at the Goodwill I'm rarely at, there was a pair, in exactly my size, with very little wear- for $3.39!)
8- (this is the funniest one) 3 job offers in one week!! Now granted, I had not been praying for *3* job offers, but I had been seriously considering picking up a few more hours somewhere to try to save enough money to meet a goal I had set for myself to have completed by the time I'm 21.
On a certain Monday, I applied for a job at the local garden center, but they wanted someone to work Sundays... I didn't think they'd be interested in me since I said plainly I wouldn't work Sundays.
Wednesday I get a phone call from a lady in town who picked up my very last business card from the table at the coffee shop across from her shop (she never reads the cards on the table), and saw that I sewed. She called me immediately after getting back to her shop, and said that just the night before she prayed specifically with her grandmother, for someone young who likes to sew, who she could hire and train to eventually take over her custom drapery business! She wanted to meet me that afternoon, and she hired me on the spot! She is a Christian and it is obvious to both her and me that the Lord guided our paths in that way. I was not willing to put out business cards at that coffee shop a few moths ago, but Katie convinced me to just put out three. They sat there for some time, and then the Saturday previous to all this, Katie informed me that they had been by and only one of my cards was left. That one was the card my new boss "happened" to notice on that Wednesday.
That same evening, I had to reserve the skis I would be renting for the ski trip which was going to be on Friday. So before church I went to the ski shop and as I was paying, the manager/owner read the form I had had to fill out to rent skis, saw my age, etc., and told me he was interested in hiring a young woman to run a coffee shop he would be opening up inside the store... He was really interested in getting me for the job, told me he'd pay me more than the sewing lady could, etc, etc, etc... and gave me his business card so I could call him once I had thought about it. (I didn't need to think about it, because I knew I would *not* be interested in working with all the boys that worked for him in the shop!!)
The next Monday, I'm in my car on the way to my first day at the curtain place, my cell phone rings, and it's someone from the garden center, interested in setting up an interview!! I told them I had just accepted another job since I spoke to them last, and thanked them for offering but I didn't need to interview with them at this point... and whew! I've never been so "bombarded" with jobs, when I wasn't really seeking very hard!!
The Lord planted the desire in me for a new job (in addition to my library work, which I'll only be doing on Friday afternoons and one Saturday per month now)... got me ready to look for one, and then threw me a job that is infinitely better suited to me than I could've picked for myself. I had been praying about what to do with my sewing (for business): whether I should advertise more or let it go, and it seems that God would instead have me to primarily sew for this lady, and then help my friends as needs arise. I'll still be sewing for my family at home.
The new job is going very well, and I'm learning a lot about sewing for the home. I've made pillows, swags, jabots (which are *not* pronounced as they look! It's a French word, and boy am I glad I realized what they were talking about and corrected my thinking of it before I had to say the word!! I've only ever read about "zha-BOWS"; never talked about them!!), tablecloths, drapes, dust ruffles, etc... and I love working on the industrial machines! I'm especially enjoying the blind-hemming machine! It's so interesting : )
Pray for me to have wisdom to know how many hours I should work (the lady says she wants me as much as she can have me!), and not to neglect my duties at home, and to have time to do things for my church, and to not be too tired to sew for my family, and to be able to read each day...
Anyway, the point of all this, and the reason I chose the title I did for this post, is that the Lord has been proving to me that He is faithful, that He cares about what I want and need, and that He is utterly able and willing to provide me with everything good, in His time. My God cares about the style, color, and size of a pair of shoes I want- and He gives them to me as an unexpected love-gift at just the right time. My God knows that I have specific goals about how much money I want to have saved at the end of this year, and He has gone before and prepared a way for those goals to be met, by providing me, at just the right time, with a brand-new job not far from home, with Christian women to work with. If my God is so concerned about the "little things" of my life, I have that much more cause to joyfully trust Him to provide for the "big things." He says He will meet my every need, and that is reason enough to rejoice. But then I actually see Him work out even the tiniest of details, and He proves Himself true to His Word, and I can't help but thank Him and trust Him more!
Praise ye the Lord, Who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth!
Shelters thee under His wings, yea so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen, How thy desires e'er have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
5 Comments:
This was such a neat testimonial post, Jessie! I was so blessed to read how the Lord has been providing for you even greater than you could have imagined. Hope to read more from you soon but I understand the business and juggling all sorts of things. I am having to learn to do that more myself as of late.
Would you be okay if I used your post to include in the next Thursdays of Thankfulness? I seem to be lacking contributors so I am thinking that maybe just asking to use a few posts from others that have already been written may be the best for now. I am sure many others would find your testimony of God's provision to be encouraging.
Have a blessed week.
~Lydia
This was such an encouraging post, Jessie. How neat to see how God has been providing for you in little and big ways :-).
Jessie, that is a wonderful testimony to God's goodness in your life. It was so encouraging to read.
What a lovely testimony. I found your blog, via Susan's & had a peek at the family photos. What a faithful big sister & daughter you've been. We have 2 little girls aged 5 & 3, if they grow up to be anything like your example, loving the Lord with all their hearts, we will be very pleased.
God bless you,
Claire
Hello friend,
Just stopped by to say "hi." :-) Looking forward to seeing you tonight for supper/bowling. It was an encouragement to hear those stories of the Lord's faithfulness again. :-)
-Jessica
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