God is Able

To all who prayed for us while we traveled to be present for the funeral of Cameron's grandfather, thank you. God answers prayers.

We were blessed by the people around us on the planes who were nice to our children and never once seemed annoyed when Lila cried (which was a LOT). We were thankful for TSA officers who were helpful and made Violet smile. We were blessed on our way there when we had a tight connection and our gate was in the exact spot in a large airport where we needed it to be. We were even more blessed on our way back when a connecting flight was delayed, giving us enough time to make it to the gate (which we would have definitely missed otherwise). We were also blessed by our family, friends, and Cameron's job who helped us financially be able to make the trip.

The number of things that had to come together speaks volumes of how much our heavenly Father loves us.

When we got home, we were greeted by a loaf of home made bread and a breakfast casserole in the fridge for the next morning left there by sweet friends of ours who knew when we were coming home.

I am consistently amazed at how God provides above and beyond what I need or think to ask.

I recently posted on facebook to ask if any of our friends had an extra microwave lurking around since ours decided to turn into a sparking fire hazard. This morning when we came home from church, there was a brand new microwave on our porch. I nearly cried. Over a microwave. It was left anonymously, so to whoever generously gave us a new microwave, thank you! We know how to live without one, but our leftovers lifestyle sure is easier with one.

Believe that the God who created all things, owns all things, and loves you, knows what you need and will provide it.We are thankful to the people God used, but we recognize that it is God who provided what we needed.

Ephesians 3:20-21
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Faith Like a Child

I've heard the term "faith like a child" for as long as I can remember and to be totally honest, I always equated it with an ability to easily believe anything (even things that aren't true). Yesterday I got a new picture of this concept that Jesus spoke about that has really captured my attention.

My youngest daughter Lila is 7 months old. When she wakes up from her nap, she is hungry. Yesterday when I got her up from her nap, I put her in her high chair and noticed something that I'd never paid attention to before. She was looking at me and holding her mouth open. Did you catch that? She was focused on the person who she believed (with faith) would provide what she needed. Not only was she focused on her provider, but she sat there with her mouth open in expectation, ready to receive provision.

She couldn't see the food. She wasn't even looking for it. She seemed to not be concerned at all about the location of the food. She knew with certainty that her mom would feed her, and she waited expectantly. I know this seems repetitive, but this small act on her part showed me in a huge way how I fail so often when it comes to faith. I know what I need, and I start looking for the food (you could replace food with money, relationships, feelings, etc). I become so concerned with where to find the "food" that I don't even think to look at the Provider. Even when I do think to look to the Lord, I still fail in waiting with expectation, or at least to the extent that my sweet 7 month old does. If only I could open myself in expectation, waiting with a certainty that God will fulfill all my needs, focused completely on Him.

That would be faith like a child. Whew. Lila makes it look so easy.