Jehovah Jirah! God Provides!

“And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19 (NIV)

Among my little notes and treasures that I keep tucked inside my Bible, is a grocery list. Why you may ask? Because it is a reminder to me that my God is faithful!
Recently, my husband and I renewed our level of commitment to being wise with our finances. As I sat down one evening to plan out the next morning’s grocery list, I carefully looked at our current supplies. We had company coming for the weekend and I wanted to make sure that we were supplied with healthy necessities for them and the next two weeks until we were paid again. I input the items, quantities and prices into a spreadsheet. I wanted to be organized and prepared to stay within our budget. When the items were all tallied, I was distressed to see the total read $309.00! Now that had items rounded to the nearest dollar so there was “play” in those numbers but it didn’t include any tax.
“Oh, Lord!” I cried. We couldn’t justify $309 on groceries. I went back over the items and the quantities. I guessed we could do without this… or maybe that… All of my adjustments resulted in negligible change. My husband reminded me that he needed deodorant. That hadn’t been on the list. My son came in and asked, “Mommy, can we buy a chapter book for Morgan? She’s been sick all week from school and I want to get her a treat.” I nearly cried! My anxiety started to mount. I calmly told my son to pray about it and ask Jesus for the chapter book but my own faith wasn’t nearly as confident. As everyone made their way off to bed, I retreated to my “spot” and poured my heart out to the Lord.
Psalm 142:1-3 says, “I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is You who know my way.” I laid out all of the details before Him, though He knew them all. I asked Him to snuggle me in and remind me who He is – my trustworthy Master! As peace descended and I sensed His call to trust Him with our needs, I even dared to ask for a suitable chapter book for Carter’s friend. I felt the Lord ask me to voice the number that I wanted to spend but I struggled to do that. My budget said that I needed to get all of my supplies for under $250 but I couldn’t quite say that number in prayer. It seemed impossible.
The next morning, the kids and I made our way to the grocery store. We were there early so as to get as many of the “good deals” as possible. We started through the store, heading for the day old sections. Not much there. I kept hearing the Lord say “trust Me” and with every ounce of faith within me, I did. We began a methodical shop through the store – one item at a time. As I began stroking items off of the list, a trend started appearing. The things that I needed to buy would read something like this… “First two sale price $3.49, over the limit price $5.50”. You know what else… it wasn’t the “no name” items that were on sale. It was the brand name items that I rarely allowed myself to purchase that were the sale items that day!
We rounded the corner and I saw the beautiful photo frame display that I had been eyeing for the last three months. I had often been tempted to purchase some wall frames for the kids’ new school pictures but it had been the Christmas season and I hadn’t been able to justify the expense. Today, those beautiful frames were on sale for $9.98 each!! I couldn’t believe it! Could I have some, Lord? He seemed to smile as He said, “of course.” I felt Him rewarding me for being patient and waiting when He had told me “not yet” those times before.
My faith was increasing by the time we were half way through the list. As we passed a clearance bucket, I told my son to take a look in it and see what he could find. You guessed it – he found the perfect chapter book! There was only one in the bucket! It was a pretty little book about fairies! Written for a grade 4 girl and even bound in purple – her favorite color! As Carter asked me if we could get it and I passed the question on to the Lord, He answered, “well, you prayed for it!” How sweet!
Who would have thought that a grocery store could have been so full of miracles that day? We rounded another corner and they were just marking down the day old produce… exactly what was needed to complete our list. Taylor picked out pineapple – a real treat! As I unloaded our groceries onto the conveyer belt, I gave up trying to do a mental tally of prices. I knew that many of the items had been sale priced that day but the odd item had been more than I had allotted. A couple of things I had decided to pass on but there had been a couple of items we had picked up instead. I kept back the two frames and the book to pay for out of a separate account. I had a coupon for $30 off your grocery bill when you spent a minimum of $250. As I handed it to the cashier, he said, “I’m sorry, Ma’am, but you haven’t reached $250 yet.” What? I couldn’t believe it. The total read $244. I gave him the frames and book. He rang those through and deducted the coupon. My total WENT DOWN to $238.00!! How great is my God?!! I got everything I needed. I had the two frames that I had eyed for months. Carter had a book for his friend and my daughter had pineapple! How amazing! I choked back the tears as I bagged up our stuff. Why does He care so much? Why do I doubt when He is so faithful?
I could tell you more, you know… there were more miracles that day, like the teller at the bank. God is always more than we can imagine! He is bigger, stronger, more interested, more loving. Every time I think I get a “handle” on who He is He says, “you just think you know Me” and He wows me all over again!
Do you have needs that feel impossible? Today I can tell you that I know with assurance that God is who He says He is and He can do what He says He can do! But for the next time that my faith feels small and anxiety grows large, I’ll pull out that piece of paper that says “$309 $238 with 2 frames, 1 book and pineapple!” Thanks Lord!

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds In Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV)