provision – Page 2

The Banana Juice Treatment

August 25, 2015

When I was a high school teacher, many of my students’ lives were in constant turmoil. One particular girl, Jenny (not her real name), would come to my office when everything seemed to be falling apart for her. And when things were really rough, I had just the solution.

I don’t remember how it started, but somehow I learned she really liked a particular kind of banana juice. So I went to the store and stocked up on this juice and kept it in my desk drawer. When Jenny was having a difficult day, she would head for my office and a bottle of banana juice. On really bad days, while she was drinking the juice we would sit on the floor, lean back against the file cabinets, and stay there until the crisis didn’t seem quite so bad any more and she was ready to go back out and face the world.

Recently I had lunch with Jenny, who is now a beautiful young woman, poised, successful, and certainly no longer in need of banana juice. We reminisced about those days and chuckled about the banana juice.

Thinking about this later, I realized that God is exactly the same way with us. There was nothing magic about the banana juice, but it meant something to Jenny at the time. It symbolized comfort and made her feel cared about. For me, it was a blessing to be able to help her. That’s how God is. He knows just what we need, just what will help us through our crisis. He will sit with us and stay there until the crisis doesn’t seem so bad after all.

God’s care for us is way better than what I was able to provide for Jenny. His love and grace is never ending. There were a couple of times I ran out of banana juice, and there were times I simply could not take the time to sit on the floor with Jenny. But God always has time for us. The banana juice represents something different for each one of us, but whatever it is, God it never runs out of it. What an awesome God we have!

Co-Inky-Dinkys (As My Dad Called Them)

July 25, 2015

Do you believe in coincidences? Einstein called them God’s way of choosing to remain anonymous. While I agree that God is involved in every so-called coincidence, I don’t believe He wants to remain anonymous. In fact, I think He loves it when we recognize and acknowledge His hand in our lives.

Last winter I spent two months in a 55+ community in Arizona (residents call it the park). I rented a cello so I could play music with my niece who lived nearby. When I first arrived, I casually mentioned in a conversation with God how cool it would be if there would be someone in the park who I could play music with as well as with my niece. Then I promptly forgot I had said it.

A few days later, I visited the park’s writers’ group. Each member read something she had written. One woman, Kaylynn, read the New Years letter she had written to family and friends, in which she mentioned that she and her husband played in a local orchestra. As we were leaving the meeting, I asked her what instrument she played. “Oh, I play the viola,” she answered.

“Oh really?” I said. “Well, I play the cello.”

“Oh my goodness,” she replied. “I’ve been praying for another string player in the park to play music with. Would you like to get together sometime?”

During the two months I was there, we discovered many things in common beside our interest in music and writing. God had provided a friend who brought much pleasure to my days there. Was that a coincidence? Well, she had almost decided to read something else that made no mention of her music playing, but at the last minute felt prompted to read the New Years letter.

Had she not chosen to read that, we could have gone the whole two months without discovering our mutual interest, missing out on a very rewarding friendship. Instead, we got to be the answer to each other’s prayers. How cool is that? And we did not let God remain anonymous. We told many people about how He had brought us together. No such thing as a random co-inky-dinky!