I learned a very similar lesson some years back .  My situation then was
just so that I needed to pay mucho mucho bucks in taxes, several things
contributed to that situation, but I had no money to pay it, if I told you
what I needed to pay, you'd either think I was rich or did a bad job of
appropriating tax expenses... I assure you it was not the former and
probably some of the latter but it wasn't all that easy as other things
complicated the situation. Anyway I was facing a very large sum of money I
owed to Uncle Sam, my rich uncle. Funny how that rich uncle never dies and
never leaves me anything hmmm. Anyway, I first thought. I thought of what I
owed and thought of what I might expect to collect from the vending
machines in a very scarce time of off season. The figure I quote, thought,
was far below what was needed, like thousands below what was needed. So
then I graduated to a hope. I hoped I would be able to collect a certain
amount to cover the bill. Even what I hoped , all I could muster in hope
was still far below, again thousands below what I needed. I finally
graduated to prayer. And I prayed I would receive the amount needed. I got
to a point where I totally gave up trying to conjure up my own stress,
worry and etc. to try to convince myself of how bad I needed the bucks and
wonder how in the world I'd get it, and left it to God to help me out of my
situation. In a very low time of my route which I ought not have brought in
very much sales, I brought in the entire tax bill, plus enough to pay a
couple bills I needed and left the bank account with nearly exactly as much
as before the tax bill. If you are into figures I had thought I would
receive approximately one sixth of what I needed. I hoped I might received
double that, and God gave me the entire amount. I've been in business for
years and grew up in a family business and I cannot explain how those sales
where there, they ought not have been. Whenever I get weary of finances,
I'm reminded of  this lesson on thought, hope and prayer, and which is of
God and which will bring me through.

Brad



Phil Scovell wrote:
>I have been asking the Lord some questions about what we sometimes call
>living by faith.  This generally meant to me, as I grew up in church, that a
>missionary or a preacher who traveled, made his money by the offerings taken
>for them.  I am not sure that it meant that at all but it was what I was
>taught.  So, money has always been, as they say in Britain, a bug up my
>nose.  So, as I said, in recent weeks, I have been asking God some pretty
>big theological questions.  Well, big for me, little for Him. So, one day,
>the Lord gives me what I believe to be part of the answer but I won't go
>into all that now.  I want to tell you how He simplified  what I learned
>several days ago by what He told me today.  I won't go into the details of
>my train of thought because it isn't really relevant, other than to me, but
>I got to thinking about a father taking his little girl to the dentist.
>This is likely because of my recent painful, and expensive, dental
>experience.  Anyhow, like I said, there is no reason to tell you how I came
>to this thought because it wouldn't make sense anyhow.  So, I'm standing in
>the kitchen, getting ready to go to a family doctor's appointment I had this
>morning for some blood tests, and as I was blowing my nose with a tissue I
>pulled from the box on top of the microwave, no fooling, I was thinking
>about a father taking his little daughter to the dentist.  The basic picture
>I was sort of seeing in my mind was that the family were strong believers in
>living by faith.  By that I mean, they rarely ever went to the doctor for
>anything; they just prayed and trusted God for a miracle.  The little girl,
>however, had a problem that wasn't going away.  The father and his family
>had no insurance of any kind but he knew he had to take his little daughter
>to the dentist.  He called and made an appointment.  As he was taking his
>daughter in the car, the little girl was crying from the pain and fear.  Her
>father tried comforting her by telling her it would be all right.  The
>little girl said, "But Daddy, I know we don't have any extra money for
>this."  Her father said, "Honey, that isn't your department.  That's my
>problem.  I don't want you worrying about something that isn't your
>problem."  then it hit me what God had been trying to tell me about trusting
>Him for finances.  The Lord showed me in an instant of time that I was His
>little child.  I was worrying and working at things that weren't my
>responsibility but His.  All I just described took maybe four seconds but
>all I described I saw and heard in that short period of time.  I need to
>remember to remain as a little child because He is the big Father.  Besides,
>He's got no problems coming up with what His children need.  Now,
>theologically, and Biblically, I already knew this.  This morning, however,
>the Lord spoke His truth into my spirit and I understood it for the first
>time in my life.
>
>Phil.

Brad

   It's all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again.
  Just be sure to flush when you are done.