Iceberg Ahead?!?

My poor, poor blog. It’s been so neglected with the recent storms in my life. Thanks for still coming by and checking for new posts. Hope spring eternal, right?

This past week was the anniversary of beginning foster care. Hard to believe an entire year has gone by with more than our family living in our house. Yet “our family” looks much different than it did when we began. I look back and see God’s hand in the timing. Fostering, while not hugely profitable, is one of the many financial ballast compartments keeping this Titanic afloat. But … if I hear violin music of Nearer, My God, to Thee, I might get scared.

Speaking of, I was talking to a friend recently who commented that she and her husband had no idea how I was “making it.” I assured her that, miraculously, I was doing fine between child support, writing, editing, fostering, and subbing when school is in session.

Then I came home and thought, “WAIT! AM I making it??? HOW can I possibly be making it???” So my type A personality ran the next 90 days through my money program and–what? I look like I’m doing okay. Funny how someone else’s doubts can create your own.

Here’s a little snippet from 1 Kings 17(NIV) that captures how I feel about God’s provision. But don’t worry–I’m not as morose at the widow!

The Widow at Zarephath

7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

12 “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’ “

15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.