living in the reality of His blessing

i cannot even begin to express how WOW-ed we are by God's provision right now. like, jaw on the floor wow-ed. 

in two days, we'll have been married 2 months, but my goodness sometimes it feels like a few years already. not because it's tiring or mundane or because we've already lost that newlywed love (we plan on never losing that, thanks so much), but because we've had to tackle a lot of life in the past two months - challenging, messy, stressful life. besides family and transitioning and moving and scheduling and learning, we've also been struggling to make ends meet financially. while Travis was in china, a lot of changes and cuts were made at his job, but thankfully, he remained employed. but the unforeseen changes have left us with very little extra. every time rent looms ahead or bills are waiting to be paid, we have to get creative in connecting all the dollar signs. it's not ideal, but we have learned a lot, especially about each other. 

my whole life has been a story of relying on God, and time again i've seen Him provide in miraculous ways. so this financial challenge of ours doesn't worry me too much, because i've seen the Lord do things before. it takes a lot of discipline and thought (things i don't super excel at), but trusting the Lord is almost second-nature to me. it's how i was raised and it's how life has always been. 

as the income-provider and hard-working breadwinner my husband is, he feels the pressure much more than i do - it's that man thing you know? to provide. and i'm abundantly grateful to him and appreciative of all he does to make our life happen. but there are gaps sometimes, gaps that only the Lord can fill. negative numbers and surmounting expenses that require us to let go and rely on Jesus. 

and then today's miracle happened. though we both graduated last may, i'm still a full-time student in the credential program and therefore still receive federal aid for school. those disbursements usually happen at the very start of the semester and that's that. so when a string of e-mails showed up about a week ago suggesting an additional refund, i started looking into it. and when i happened upon the amount they were supposedly refunding, i sat in disbelief. it all seemed too good to be true until the check arrived in the mail today. oh man, God is so good. He meets our needs and sometimes even goes beyond. He is a God of blessing and providing, and we are living in the reality of His blessing and provision. it's truly astounding. as if money just fell out of the heavens and into our laps. we're not rolling in dollar bills and saying goodbye to expense tracking and strict budgeting, don't get me wrong. but some of the weight and worry has fallen away. but in exchange comes extra responsibility and wisdom, another opportunity to carefully steward what the Lord has entrusted us with. 

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.  So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?  Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.  And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

matthew 25:14-30