My Daily Bread

My beautiful friend, Carla, and her handsome son, Connor.

Tonight I'm reflecting on how God's provision in my life comes in all forms.  Above is a picture of my wonderful friend, Carla, and her son, Connor (who is now officially Stella's boyfriend, apparently, because they were making out today during their play date...more on that later).  Carla and I met several years ago when she and her husband, Josh, moved to the area and we joined a small group together.  Our friendship has continued to grow as we have added kids to the mix.  I'm grateful to have close friends with whom I can share so many things in life, especially those who share faith my faith in Jesus and challenge me to grow.

When it comes to material provision, I've been thinking a lot about a particular part of the Lord's Prayer:  "...Give us this day our daily bread..."  What I love about this verse is that it reminds me to trust God for today and nothing more.  Not that He won't take care of me in the days to come, but all I need to trust God for is strength and provision for the present day - makes life a lot less worrisome, too.  Even with this truth about daily bread, I've been continually amazed as of late that God is also giving me a glimpse into His provision for future needs.  Case in point, Tim got to work today to find an envelope on his desk with our names typed on the outside and nothing more to indicate who it was from - inside were five $100 bills...that's another $500 folks, for those of you who have been following my blog.  Thank you to our anonymous angel - you are being used by God to show us His provision.

Since I stopped working, we've tried very hard to cut back on all our unnecessary expenses.  Even things that are important to us have had to be trimmed - like Zumba, for me.  This was a hard thing for me to say goodbye to as it's SO MUCH FUN and it's also an excellent workout.  But, another example of God's provision is that I've been given a gift specifically so that I can attend Zumba again for the time being!  I know it might sound cheesy, but I think God probably missed laughing at me while I got crazy on the dance floor...sometimes He provides even for the "extra" stuff in life, and for this I'm truly grateful tonight.  I'm typing this in my still sweaty Zumba clothes and I'm feeling better than I have in some time.  Goodbye lumpy post-baby body...hello Jenny of yester-year!

Thank you, God, for the daily bread of friendship, money to pay the bills, and Zumba!