55 Cents
When I was a kid, I would walk often by myself (5, 6, 7 years old) in my bare feet to JB’s ice cream shop to get a 55-cent treat. For 55 cents I would get one of three things- an ice cream sandwich, vanilla/orange sherbert twist cone, or a frozen chocolate covered banana. Sometime when I would ask my dad for the money, he simply didn’t have it. Every now and then I would search the couch cushions to collect my change to get ice cream. God always provided. He didn’t have to. It wasn’t like it was food to keep me nourished or water to keep me hydrated. It wasn’t a need. It was a want or desire.
Every summer that I can remember, our family would take a vacation to Florida. My dad grew up in Miami and he loved going back to Florida each summer. We specifically loved the Daytona and Orlando areas. We didn’t have a lot of money, but God always provided a way for us to have a family vacation. Just like the ice cream, our family vacation wasn’t a need. It was a desire.
The same God who always provided me 55 cents for an ice cream, always provided a summer vacation for our family.
When I was very young, my dad got saved and felt a call into the ministry. My parents made the decision that my dad would quit his very good paying supervisory job in a steel mill and they would sell our home in a beautiful residential area of Bedford, Ohio to move our family to the small town of Lexington where my parents would pastor a little white church. While dad pastored, he also went through pastoral studies at MVNC.
I remember conversations my parents would have questioning how we were going to pay bills or sometimes eat. GOD ALWAYS PROVIDED. Not only did God always provide our needs, He provided our wants.
My parents taught me such valuable lessons through their lives. When we are willing to be obedient to God, whatever that obedience means, God always takes care of the “What ifs” and makes a way with all provision that is necessary.
What is being obedient to God mean in your life? He will make a way where there seems to be no way and He will meet all of your needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.
Step out in faith and let God handle the “what ifs.”