Tuesday, July 3, 2012

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Blessings

Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. - Psalm 40:5

After a verse like that, there's really no need to comment, but I'm going to anyway.  Why?  Because I was reminded of this verse last week before I ever read it in preparing for my Sunday School lesson.  I've read the verse before, obviously, but it's one that tends to slip into the background during the daily grind.  A pity, for it should be forefront in my mind at all times.

As I'm sure you're aware, it's the beginning of the month. (If you're not aware, you might want to check your calendar!)  For my household, that means mortgage time. . . and power bill time (yikes!). . .and cell phone bill time and gas bill time. . . and . . . and . . . You get the picture.  As you may also remember, my husband and I just went on vacation, and I just had an expensive doctor's visit.  To sum it up, this is a scary and stressful time, but I was determined that this month I was not going to worry about it.  I was going to trust God and leave the results up to Him.

As I paid the bills, I cringed a little, but I was able to stop the worry thoughts before they surfaced.  I stared at the figures that told me I'd have enough to pay all the bills except for the doctor's bill.  But I knew I had to pay the doctor's bill.  In fact, I had received a letter reminding me that payment was required in full the day of the appointment.  Hmm, things looked grim.  Still, through God's grace, I said, "God will work it out, or He won't.  Worry won't help."  And you know what?  I really didn't worry this time.  I left it in God's hands, and you know what happened?  I'm so glad you asked!

On Thursday, I received a payment from Amazon for some of my books that had been sold.  It was just over $16, but I was thrilled.  On Friday morning, I went to my doctor's appointment as planned.  I received a glowing bill of health (always a  blessing) and an equal thrill when I went to check out.  I had my debit card in hand when the billing clerk informed me, "Since you're self-pay, you get a 30% discount, and you get 90 days to pay the bill.  You don't even have to pay anything today if you don't want to.  Just make sure you make the payment before the 90 days are up."  Hallelujah!  My bill was reduced from $207 to $145, and I haven't paid a dime of it yet.  That alone made the difference in making ends meet this week, but God wasn't finished rewarding my faith.  On Saturday, I received a payment from a bookstore in Colorado that had sold one of my books.  Again, the amount was small (just over $6), but I praised the Lord like it had been $100.  Then, as if that weren't enough, on Sunday morning, I was cleaning out my purse when I noticed a bank envelope that seemed to have something in it.  Upon opening it, I discovered $16 in cash that had been left over from the change at our yard sale a few weeks ago.  I forgot it was even in there!

It sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?  But I assure you, it is the truth.  God is so good!  He has blessed me in so many ways that I could never count them all.  Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done.  Many indeed!

2 comments:

  1. It's amazing how much of a difference a shift in attitude can make in our reactions to the very same things that life has to offer.

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