We were down to almost nothing. There were a few spices, oil, and a few cans of this and that in the cupboard, but otherwise it was slim pickings. It was time to visit the grocery store, but it wasn’t yet payday. How were we going to eat till then?
Our parents lived 600 miles away, and we didn’t really know many families in the area to ask for help. I don’t know why a food shelf never came to mind, but it didn’t.
We were newly married college students. I was taking night and weekend classes and working my first full-time job at an accounting office. It didn’t pay a whole lot. Steve was in college full-time and working as many hours as possible at a downtown department store dock, unloading and preparing merchandise for sale. We didn’t have many fancy things, unless they had been wedding gifts. But we were doing okay if we could just get some food to tide us over till payday.
We prayed about it and decided that trusting God was our only option.
After work, it was my task to get the mail. I would get in the door, take off my coat and begin to sort through the mail. Junk, bill, junk. Oh wait, what was this? It was a card from a name I didn’t recognize. I opened the card and was astonished to watch a check flutter to the floor. I read the note written inside the card: “We are so sorry we weren’t able to make it to your wedding, but we are so happy for you both. Congratulations and God bless you!” And then I bent to retrieve a check for $25 that would buy us just enough groceries till payday. I slumped down on the nearest chair and cried, “Thank you, God. You came through!”
Each time our cupboards and refrigerator began to look bare in the next several months, or if a bill was coming due that we couldn’t quite cover, we prayed and then started watching for how God would help us. We were being faithful; we spent our money wisely and always gave God 10 percent of whatever we earned. We both knew that the Bible says “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God” (Matthew 22:21). We were forced to pay taxes, but knew that it was our choice to give to God. And we did. We have seen that discipline come back to bless us, time and time again. Through the years we’ve continued to see God’s faithfulness in action in many unique ways.
What was true then is still true today. When we have genuine needs, God helps us meet every one.
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