I've always seemed to experience the Father's love through the ways he has provided for our needs. Thank you, Abba! What has struck me this summer as unusual has been the frequency of obvious gifts. Here are a few examples: 1) Our friends, the Cunninghams, did some repairs on their home and decided to fore go the use of a wood-burning stove. In July, a windstorm leveled a couple of trees and they generously offered us the newly available firewood. 2) In August, a similar windstorm took down our largest maple tree which has provided us with an additional 9 face cord of firewood. 3) Last week someone drove by our house and unexpectedly offered to swap 8 face cord of firewood for an abandoned wood splitter on our property. 4) The most entertaining gift came this past Wednesday. As someone was driving by our country home, she sadly struck a deer, paralyzing its hind legs so that it couldn't escape into the woods. A State Trooper came by and with one clean shot put the buck out of its misery. Well, I was at work, but Geralyn and my son, Danny, hung it from the front maple, and slit it's throat to drain the blood. Cousin Sue arranged for an Amish gentlemen to stop by an hour later. He gutted and cleaned the deer for $5 plus a small roll of fencing that we were getting rid of. Then yesterday, Geralyn and a friend cut it up. Now we have venison steaks, roasts, and tenderloins stashed away in our freezer. The intensity of God's gifts have me scratching my head and wondering what kind of winter lies ahead! Proverbs 3: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not upon your own understanding.
The real wonder is not in the Providence Terry. The real gift to me is that you noticed the Providence. A great gift indeed, that of loving gratitude. Lord grant me the gift of noticing providence more in my own life. All the gifts. All of them.
Cold and long would be my guess this winter! Makes me wish we had a fireplace here. I love venison you are so blessed to have gotten that road kill. God will provide for us!
