My mom had some great wisdom for me on that memorable day which I have never forgotten. Before she prayed, she asked me some simple questions like did I have any food that day; did I have a shower that day; did I have a change of clothes that day.
I really didn’t see her point as I answered “yes” to EACH of her questions. She said that she was grateful that God was still providing for her. “For you?” I asked her; “What does my situation have to do with you?” She quickly reminded me that I was one of her children (they had 10 plus some who died prior to birth) and that God was still providing for her as a mother; He hadn’t let her down.
She said to me; “Tom, when you are hungry, naked, and sitting on a curb, then I will complain to God for not providing for one of my children; and you can have what is left of Him when I get through”. She told me that not only was my attitude all wrong, but so was my focus; I needed to look to God for provisions; that I needed to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
That was Cathy and my wedding theme and through my mother, God was reminding me of the words that Jesus said; reminding me that my Heavenly Father would provide all I needed for this child just like He was for the other two. And then we prayed and God showed us His provision.
Today my daughter celebrates her 25th birthday. She has turned out to be a beautiful woman who is full of life and new adventures. She graduated from high school as a National Merit Scholar and graduated from college with high honors and with a double major . She still bursts into every situation with the joyful radiance that she brought into my life on that cold day in February twenty five years ago.
So “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA!”; you were the precious gift that God used in my life to start to learn to trust Him for all that I need. And you know what; God has never missed a beat in providing for ALL of her needs; as well as for ALL of the other 5 children; we ended up having 6 children. Our Heavenly Father has provided cars, and clothes, and food, and shelter, and so much more that we need to keep a notebook to write them all down!
Matthew 6:24-34 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
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