Living Changed: ProvisionПримерок

We Need Each Other

A devotional with Amber

One of my favorite things about God is how He uses ordinary people to accomplish His mighty plans. He could produce out of thin air whatever it is we need, but He chooses to work through imperfect individuals to bless us. Every time I remember one of those moments in my life, I’m reminded that God created us to live in community with other believers. I’ve found that keeping Jesus at the center of my friendships gives Him more ways to provide for me and allows me to be a blessing to others while building my faith. 

Several years ago, my family of five was living in a rent house. We were just beginning to tithe regularly, we were serving in the church, and we did what we could to be generous toward others. We wanted to own our own home, but it felt like that dream was years away. It seemed like every time we were able to put money aside, an emergency would drain our savings. Then our rent house caught fire. 

Everyone was safe, but all of a sudden, we didn’t have a roof over our heads. Praise God we’d recently gotten renters insurance, but our losses far exceeded what we would receive. That’s when our community showed up and showed us the love of Jesus. 

Someone in our small group dropped by with a cooler full of cold drinks to help us through the first day. Another friend took us to eat dinner that night and replaced our kids’ most prized possessions—their Pillow Pets. Friends of friends, people we didn’t know, came out on a hot summer day to help us sift through what was left of our house and salvage what we could. We received so many in-kind donations from other families in the church of furniture and appliances. We were blown away by everyone’s generosity and truly felt like God was once again bridging the gap between what we had and what we still needed. His abundant provision meant we could use the insurance money for a downpayment on a house. 

In the middle of our tragedy, God worked a miracle. Not only did he replace what we had lost, but He put us on the fastrack to owning our own home. We never could have predicted how God would work that house fire for our good. But He did, and He used His people to do it. 

If you’re struggling to trust God in your finances, I urge you to surround yourself with a community of believers where you will be able to encourage each other through the hard times and help strengthen your faith. God loves giving us gifts, and one of the best gifts He has for us is each other. When we’re weak and weary, our friends step in to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Don’t miss out on one of God’s greatest paths for provision.

In the aftermath of our house fire, we were incredibly humbled by the outpouring of love we felt from complete strangers. The body of Christ, His church, His people showed up for us big time! The only response that made sense to us was to pay the kindness forward. We started a new small group as soon as we could in our new home to give other people the same sense of community we’d found. We’ve also made it a priority to invest more in financially blessing other families in need. 

While it may be a relief to be on the receiving end of someone’s generosity in your time of need, it’s even better to give to someone else. You don’t have to take my word for it, trust God. Ask Him to open your eyes to opportunities to be generous and see if He won’t bless you as you give to others.