Abundance of Bread

     "Eating Holes in Wallets" screamed the bold type on the front page of the morning newspaper.  Another paper boasts, "Be prepared to fork over more cash before you pick up your dinner fork."  The articles go on to elucidate the events that again threaten to increase the burden to our homes and budgets. 

     More money for food?  Don't we pay enough already? Then the thoughts tumble even deeper and darker . . . What if there is not enough?  How can we stretch our dollars further than they already are? 

     I stop there -- the demands of the morning routine require that I thrust these thoughts aside and focus on the immediate needs of cereal bowls and juice glasses.  Questions are shelved till later.

    Later comes, and I find myself focused again on the headlines of the morning paper.  The weight of the daily news feels heavier than I care to admit -- the feelings of "not enough" are not new, but shadows of the past.  I stop and take those thoughts captive.  I sense a warning light flash that my thoughts are not lined up with God's truth, but it takes more self-discipline than usual to arrest them in my mind.  It must speak to the magnitude of their size. 

     "God," I cry out, "I don't want to carry this burden."

     "I know that it is not mine to carry -- you are the One who has, does, and always will provide for our family..."

     "REGARDLESS of food prices!"

     I feel the rest returning to my heart, and I am reminded of the verses I read a few days ago.  I pick up my brown-leather Bible and turn to the portion in Deuteronomy 8.  Yes, there it is . . . I settle into the plaid couch cushions, as warm sunshine floods over my shoulders and touches the pages of God's words to me.  It begins with the promise in verse 7 and whispers to me, "The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land -- a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills . . . a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing."

     This is the truth my heart has begged for!  His provision ALWAYS allows for inflation -- that is why He holds the title of FAITHFUL.  My heart soars with the lightness of springtime.  My God knows the beginning and the end, He knows what will be needed in the months ahead, and that is where I choose to fix my thoughts.

"My God will meet all your needs

according to His glorious riches

in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19