Due to a number of circumstances that I won't go into, Jason and I have decided that our best course of action for heating our home this year is to purchase firewood that is already seasoned and split. While this decision will offer relief in some areas of our lives (i.e. time and energy), it will create issues in another area--finances. The great part about collecting and splitting our own wood is that it doesn't cost us any money. Time? Yes. Energy? Absolutely. Sweat, tears, cuts and bruises? Yep. But not money, which, as you're aware, does NOT grow on trees.
So, with this new decision came a new prayer: "Lord, we need wood, and we need a way to pay for that wood. Basically, we need a miracle!" From Monday until Thursday, my morning prayer included my heartfelt plea that God would provide a miracle regarding our heating situation. With the cold mornings pressing down on us and our current firewood stash so meager, I was tempted to allow fear to take control. But God gave me strength, and instead, I prayed for a miracle.
On Thursday afternoon, there was a knock at my door. I answered it and saw a man standing in front of a truck and trailer full of split firewood. "I have a delivery from Dan Wagner," he said.
I shook my head. "I'm sorry. You must have the wrong address. I don't know anyone named Dan Wagner."
"Is this 102 Edwards Street?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Are you Dana?"
"Um, yes."
"Then I'm at the right place."
My thoughts were that Jason must have found a good deal on some firewood and had it delivered to the house. I was pleased but also a little apprehensive. It was Thursday, and Jason didn't get paid until Friday. How much was this wood going to cost? After all, there was a bunch of it!
"Let me read the message," the man replied, bringing me out of my thoughts and confusion.
He pulled out his phone and read, "Please deliver this load to Jason and Dana Rongione at 102 Edwards Street. The wood is a surprise and has already been paid for. There is no charge. Please deliver and stack."
I was dumbstruck! I stood there staring through my tears at the piles of wood in the truck and trailer. For the next half hour or so, the kind man (who works for Dan Wagner, owner of Dan's Exterior Home Services in Easley) unloaded and stacked the firewood that had graciously been given to us. He joined me in praising the Lord for His goodness and provision, then he was on his way. Jason and I have no idea who set up the delivery or paid for the wood, but in our eyes, they are angels of mercy.
All afternoon, I felt a bit like Sarah must have felt when she finally had the child that God had been promising her for over twenty-five years. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. (Genesis 21:6-7)
After all of God's promises and all His provision, Sarah, too, was dumbstruck by God's goodness and faithfulness. "Who would have thought?" she asked. That was me yesterday. I prayed for a miracle. I believed that God could send that miracle, but I don't think I really believed that God would send a miracle because when it showed up at my doorstep, I was completely in awe. What? Did God really meet my need? And, wow! That was quick!!!!
My friends, I want to remind you today that we serve a faithful and loving God who has promised to meet our every need. And when God makes a promise, He keeps it. It may not happen in the way we imagine or even the way we hope, but God will make good on His word. Whatever your need, whatever your prayer, have faith that God will come through.
Who would have thought God would send a double load of firewood literally to my doorstep? Well, I should have because that's the kind of God I serve. The kind that does above and beyond what we could ask or think. Will you join me in praising Him today?
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