Friday, February 18, 2011

Jehovah Jireh

"Give us today our daily bread." Matthew 6:11




The truth that the Lord will provide for me is probably the one truth my heart has the hardest time believing in. When circumstances arise in my life where I think I won't have what I need, my heart goes immediately into panic and manipulation mode. And it's taken me to evil places in the past.

Thankfully, the Lord is gracious and wants me to have a solid faith in his provision and so he keep pushing that tender place in my heart. Here's the most recent example of that.

Last Friday I took our car into Breaks Plus for an check-up and oil change because we got a coupon in the mail for $25. They first came out to tell me that the breaks were almost at a critical point, that they needed to be changed and that it would cost about $500. I called Eddie and he said that he could take care of the breaks and to just have them do the oil change. And so that's what they did. But then as they were ready to pull the car out of the garage and give it back to me, it wouldn't start and "made a clanking noise" according to the mechanic.

Long story short, after being there for 3.5 hours they determine that the timing chain probably broke and that it was going to be about $600 to fix. After calling Eddie (in tears) he told me to leave the car there for the night and that he would deal with it tomorrow. Eddie and several others were quite suspicious that our car just up and broke while at the mechanic and so he wanted to go in and get the story from them directly.

So on Saturday, Eddie and I went back to Breaks Plus and ended up having the most weird conversation with a guy that worked there who is also a youth pastor at a local church. He was clearly very excited about the Lord and even wanted him and his girlfriend to hang out with us sometime. So though we walked suspicious in ready take our car somewhere else, we left in faith trusting that this guy was genuine and really wanted to take care of us like he said he did.

And the Lord is faithful and does provide. It turns out that they weren't trying to pull a fast one over on us. There really was a problem with our timing chain and it's the Lord's good plan that it broke there. If we had been driving the car while it broke, it could have done serious damage to our engine and we might have been in an accident. Our car was fixed by Monday and they even gave us a huge discount. We are very thankful for our new friend Kevin who was a tool for God's provision in our lives. Our car runs great and is even more safe now than it was before.

Thank you, Jesus, for taking care of us. And thank you for refining my faith.

2 comments:

  1. Jen,
    Thanks 4 ur blog. I'm looking for a new or second job. My dream job is @ UIHC, but I have lil experience in the field, and a black mark against me which will make it very diff to get hired in that field. I am very scared and the stress of having no $ and looking for this job is making me sick. The story goes on. I've been thinking about whether I trust God to provide, and realized that I categorize the job search as the world, and God is in a different category. Ie: the world's rules are different from God's grace, and I don't have much hope. Ur story is helping w that today. Thanks! Megan

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  2. Jen,
    God is so good - praise Him for taking care of you and growing you in the process! Thanks for sharing your heart.
    Love to you -
    Erin

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