The check's in the mail

By Mama Mabel

This weekend, we received one of those pieces of mail that requires you to tear off 3 sides at the perforation marks before you can see what's inside.  I secretly love these because I love disconnecting paper along perforations.  I'm weird, I  know. 

Anyway, this one kind of concerned me because it wasn't obviously a fake check from a credit card company or a tax notice, the two main sources of this type of mail.  I had a bad feeling about it which was confirmed when we opened it to find a notice from the hospital where I had Ladybug.  "We can't afford that right now!" I thought and started to get upset.  Then I saw that it wasn't a bill.  It was a check!  They sent us a check!  It wasn't a huge check but it was just what we needed to cover some upcoming expenses.  I'd told God that I didn't know how we were going to afford them but I knew He had it covered so I would be the best steward possible and then just not worry about it. As always, God came through when we needed Him. 

I once heard a missionary telling the story of his life and how many times God had provided for his family when things looked impossible.  I thought to myself, "well sure, they're missionaries. They know God's going to take care of them because they're following His will for their lives and He will provide the way for them to keep doing that."  (Yes, I usually think in full sentences like that as if I'm having a conversation with myself.)  Then I had the earth shattering realization that the same standard applies to me.  I may not be a missionary in the classic "go to a foreign country and preach to strangers" sense, but God hasn't called me to do that.  Instead, he's called me to settle in this rural community, be a good wife and mother and neighbor and friend, and live my everyday humdrum life in a way that is honoring to Him.  I try to listen when He tells me to do something and actually obey.  If you think about it, that's what Ruth in the Bible did.  She moved to a new place and treated her family (at the time it was just Naomi) with respect.  She worked hard at harvesting to feed herself and Naomi.  For that, she ended up in the lineage of Jesus.  I've always loved the book of Ruth for showing how God cares about such seemingly unimportant lives.  I'm doing nothing to change the world on a large scale but Ruth didn't either and God is still just as faithful to pour out blessings on someone who is only significant due to her status as His child.  What a great God I serve!