Tuesday, May 30, 2006

He Will Repay

Proverbs 19:17//He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given.

I'm not a penny-pincher by nature. I like to buy things for my friends; I like going out for lunch. Being newly married and learning how to make two incomes equal rent and car payments, etc will turn a shoe fetish into a tight budget really quickly, however. You hear about how the little things add up, and it's true, so I daily resist the temptation to veer off for coffee when I get to work early. The constant self-denial for the greater good was starting to get depressing so I decided to take $20 out of my next paycheck just for me. That's when "Bob" called.

(Read "Ministry is Not 9 to 5" for the first half of the story.)

Yesterday, Timothy and I were at some friends' house eating salads and carving mohawks. As we got ready to leave, they gave me $20. He said he had it and wanted to give it to someone, so he prayed. The Lord told him to give it to me, and that I'm just supposed to spend on me - not groceries, not stuff for the apartment, not our little family ... just me.

I know Proverbs 19:17 pretty well because I run into it a lot. This was different, though. This was more than being repaid - this was knowing that the God of heaven and earth hears the silent cry of my heart ... that He really is a Father who wants to give good gifts to his children.

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