God's Gracious Providence

September in Virginia is beautiful! The nights are cool and the days have been sunny, warm, and clear with none of the summer humidity - at least for now! In another couple of months the leaves will be turning and I always especially enjoy the beauty of God's creation at that time of year.

I didn't get a post written last week because I was in Georgia, spending the week with my family. My missionary brother and sister-in-law who live out of the country were there at my parents' home, and my sister lives nearby. Since it had been 9 years since we were all together, I decided this was a good time to go and visit. It was truly a special time of being together and we had a wonderful week.

I have been reminded anew lately of God's gracious providence in our lives. Last year in the Ladies Bible Study class that I teach, we studied God's providence, based on the book, Not by Chance by Layton Talbert. It is a book and a study I highly recommend! It makes one more aware of God's providence - his sovereign rule over and direct involvement in every event in our lives. I personally witnessed that again this past week - not just once, but three times!

While I was in Georgia and alone one morning at my sister's house where I was staying, I went to my car and it would not start. It had a dead battery. I called my brother and he came over and was able to get it started by jumping it, and he also went with me to get a new battery purchased and installed. God's providence was that 1) this happened in my sister's driveway and not somewhere along the 9 hour route between there and home, and 2) it happened on my brother's last day there, so he was available to help me. My dad, due to his health, is no longer able to do things like that. God's gracious provision!

The big answered prayer request I spoke of in my last blog post was the sale of our house in Illinois. At the end of this month, we have now been here for three years, and our house in Illinois had still not sold. We have been waiting, praying, and paying two mortgage payments (plus the related utilities, taxes, insurance and expenses!) for three years! We are rejoicing in God answering our prayer, as well as His timing which is always perfect. Well, at the end of last week we found out that the closing on the house was being moved up by a week. They needed the necessary paperwork signed and notarized and in Illinois no later than Monday morning. That meant it had to be done and sent off from here on Friday afternoon. No emails or faxes accepted. And I was in Georgia! My husband arranged for a notary appointment at our bank, and I began the home earlier than I had planned so that I could arrive home in time. It was a stressful and tiring trip, but I made it, only to learn when we got to the bank that a rule had changed. They could notarize our paperwork but they could not witness our signatures. And since we didn't have any witnesses, they couldn't notarize our papers. This was at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon! All I could think of was that I had just driven 10 hours and now we weren't going to make the deadline after all. God then sent a man whom we had never met, who stepped in and offered to be our witness! The paperwork was completed in short order and we proceeded to the Fed-Ex office before they closed and got everything sent off just in time! God's gracious provision!

One of the stipulations in the sale of our house was that we have a swing set in the backyard removed. That was easier said than done - another difficulty of being 1,000 miles away. Our realtor had asked around and found someone who wanted it, but at the last minute when the person found out they had to take it apart and remove it from the ground, they changed their mind. So we still had to have it removed before the closing. The last possible day, it "happened" that my brother was in the same town, ministering at our former church which is one of their supporting churches. This is the ONLY time he was there in FOUR YEARS! It's amazing - our house didn't sell for three years, and then God orchestrates the sale and closing for the exact time my brother would be in town! He, along with a friend of ours there, kindly spent the morning of his last day there doing just that, and they even found someone to give it to! God's gracious provision!

We might think "That's just lucky", coincidental, or our "good fortune." As Christians, there is no such thing as fortune or luck. I share these things with you so that you may be encouraged. God cares about and intervenes even in the smallest details of our lives. The subtitle of the book I mentioned above, Not by Chance, is Learning to Trust a Sovereign God. If we are confident of God's gracious providence in our lives, we can trust His timing and His daily guidance. We fall into the trap of blaming God for the bad things and failing to thank Him for the good things in our lives. As a result, we often misinterpret the intent of our circumstances. What we see as being against us, God is actually working for us. Today, thank the Lord for His gracious providence in your life!

Gratefully,
Kathi