When Provision Looks Impossible

This morning I am thinking of those times when I am looking at a problem bigger than myself and trying to trust that God is going to meet me there and either provide or give me the grace to endure. I am waiting. Are those not just *hard times?*

During those times I am recalling other times when God met me in the *hard* and brought me through. I am remembering how my only hope was to hold on tight to Jesus, trusting Him to lead me step by step through my dark valley. At SOME point, the sun shone on the other side as we walked out.

If you've been reading here for awhile, you might remember what was already said about my doubts in the *night* of Nicaragua. The money ran out, we got down there to find out the kids had not been *legally freed* in the courts to be adopted...there was just a lot to be afraid about. I spent much time holding God's Word up to the Heavens and asking, "Is this promise that You gave me before I started still *good*? Are you coming, God? How long will I wait? Will you help me wait? Will You show Yourself strong? If I came here for it all to fall apart, will you help me pick up the pieces and carry on?" 

The sun has peeked into that valley and I'm walking out in the light of God's victory, won in such a way that screams that it had nothing to do with me but was all Him. And those promises WERE good, and He DID help me wait, and the waiting has both come and is coming to an end. 

Now I am sitting with a friend who is looking at a problem bigger than herself... I'm holding her hand and reminding her of the times God met her in the *hard* and brought her through, I am cheering her on as she holds on to Jesus for all she's worth, I am helping her hold up God's Word to pray it through. Provision will come, I am saying. God has told you to wait, so wait! And I am saying to God, "For her too, right?" And I know His Word says, "Yes, for her too!"

“The poor and needy search for water,
but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the Lord will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.
I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland,
the fir and the cypress together,
so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it." Isaiah 41:17-20

THIS is what it means to be the body of Christ. Other's held my hand and reminded me of God's promises. Now I am holding their's. There is nothing more beautiful to me than walking together and helping one another to follow Jesus. 

When we *get real* and let others see our mess and our lack, and how hard we want to follow Jesus, we attract others who are doing the same. And it's so good and encouraging and helpful...and the way it was meant to be...

"Carry each other's burdens and in this way you fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2