The year was 1990 and I was
at my brother’s house helping to remodel his kitchen. To my recollection it was
the second time that he had remodeled his kitchen since the time that he
purchased his house. Cathy and I had moved into our house but hadn’t yet been
able to afford to remodel.
I was using a small sliver of
bar soap from the sink to lubricate the screws that I was using to hang the new
cabinets. My brother said to me that he needed to use the same bar of soap to
wash his hands. Just at that moment, his wife came in from the bathroom and
remarked that she needed the bar of soap so that she could wash hands after
using the bathroom and then she would go to the store and purchase some more
soap.
Just as I was handing the bar
of soap to my brother, a guest who was staying at their house shouted up from
his living quarters that he wanted to know who took the soap from the shower in
the lower level of the house. My brother held up the bar of soap as he
sarcastically exclaimed how grateful that they were living the prosperous life!
He was only kidding, as he knew that it was on his wife’s shopping list to pick
up soap when she went to the store. I continued with the installation of the
cabinets with no further thought for the soap.
After the cabinets were all
installed, I went to my own home, grabbed a change of clothes and went to take
a shower. Just outside of the shower on shelf where we keep deodorant, razors,
and shampoo, I noticed six new bars of soap and thought about the small sliver
of soap that four people needed to use at my brother’s house all at the same
time.
Now, I’m guessing that those
same bars of soap were sitting by the shower all day; in other words they
didn’t miraculously appear! It was then that in my spirit the Lord spoke to me
and said something along the lines of; “If you don’t see how I am blessing you
in abundance through the bars of soap, you won’t see it when I bring the big
items.” I realized that we the ones who were truly living a prosperous life.
That one incident was the
pivotal moment through which my eyes were opened up and I began to see
provision in a whole new way. Every meal that we were invited to, every loaf of
bread we were given I saw as a gift from God. No longer did I take so many
things for granted. I began to be grateful for soap, and shampoo, and showers,
and towels, and fresh clothes to wear, for gas in the car, and for the car no
matter what condition it was in.
We all have the potential of being
grateful throughout each and every day for everything we have from the moment
we set our foot out of the bed in the morning until the moment we go back to
bed at night. And, we can even be grateful for the bed we sleep in, and the
covers, and the pillow.
What I am saying is there is no
end to seeing and being grateful for His provision; if we choose to do so.
And it all started with six new
bars of soap.
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