“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34
This is a testimony how God taught me not to worry about $ because He provides.
My student budget was $20 per week. The $20 went towards buying groceries – ie: milk, meat, vegetables, the basic stuff that I needed to live on. In summer of 1994, I volunteered to join a mission’s trip with the church. That missions trip was to take place in August. It was going to be a month-long road trip across the majestic country of Canada. A massive 12,000km from Montreal to Vancouver Island return.
Now, I had taken up employment at IPD in June & July. In the meantime, I had applied for a work permit for the job. Whilst waiting for the work permit to arrive, I wasn’t certain how I would get paid. To make matters *slightly* more exciting, I needed to raise funds of about $1000 in order to go for the mission’s trip.
Well, I learnt about God’s supernatural provision that summer. I needed a certain amount of $ in order to pay for my rent, or my utilities, my phone bill, etc throughout different points in a month. Honestly, I had no idea how I would be able to pay for my obligations. I didn’t ask my parents for $ or seek help from my church friends out of embarrassment.
It was a very stressful summer for me because I wanted to be in control of my finances. With hindsight, God wanted to teach me an important lesson about trusting Him. Jesus said
“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
Matthew 4:4
So, every Friday after work at IPD, something amazing would just happen. The VP of IPD would beckon me to come to his office. He would reach out and hand me $20 cash. No more, no less. That would last me exactly a week. When I needed to pay my rent, or my utility bill, the VP would then give me the exact amount of $ to pay for that obligation plus $20. No more, no less.
In my heart, I knew that God had told him exactly how much he should pay me for that week. I’m a guy who wanted control of my finances. I prayed to God many times, “Please give me more than $20”. It would reduce my stress levels because I would have some ‘savings’. But nope it never happened. For the two months in the summer of 1994, I experienced God’s provision of $20 per week.
There were two occasions where I needed to give a deposit $ for the mission’s trip. The mission’s trip was made up of students and the pastor’s family. The deposit $ was needed in order to pay for room bookings, car rentals, etc. I recall the deposit $ amounted to a few hundred $. So, when the time came for me to pony up the monies to the mission’s team, the exact amount of $ needed would be provided for. I kid you not, the VP of my workplace would call me into his office that particular Friday. As I walked in to meet him, trembling because I had no idea how much he would give, he would smile at me and hand me the exact amount of $ needed for the mission’s trip deposit plus $20. It happened not just once, but twice. On two occasions, I needed to raise an exact amount of deposit $, and God would provide because He would have told the VP of the company to give me the exact amount of cash! (Please note that the VP of the company was a non-believer of God, so I’m not sure how he knew how much to pay me, but he did – every week).
The time finally came to start the mission’s trip in August. I quit my job. I was miraculously able to pay off my rent for August, all my utility bills, and still have $60 of pocket money! The mission’s team had to pay for our own food as we travelled across Canada. You and I know that $60 certainly isn’t enough to buy food and last an entire month. So, I frugally spent the $60 during the 1st week on the road. Eating out isn’t exactly cheap.
Photo by Eduardo Soares on Unsplash
It came to a point in time after a few days on the road that I prayed to God, “Well God, my $ is running out. In the next 48 hours, I will run out of cash and not have $ to buy any food”. If you were to ask me, “Did I *feel* I had a lot of faith back then?” Well, I don’t recall *feeling* I had faith, but what I did was to pray and describe the problem to God.
Guess what God did? On that very same evening, my pastor’s wife walks up to me and hands me $60 cash!
“I don’t know why but I felt that I should give you this $”
Pastor’s wife
I was totally totally shocked (but happy). I had told absolutely no one in the team I was running out of cash. I quickly and excitedly told her that my prayers were answered because I was running out of cash. I went away overjoyed. Thank God for a sensitive pastor’s wife!!
Photo by Ivan Chan
The missions trip went well, and we ministered to many churches across beautiful Canada. At the end of the road trip, I actually got back to the university richer than I left the city. Love offerings from kind and generous Christians and churches we visited throughout the trip allowed the team members to have some extra cash. I came back with $120 compared with only $60 when I started!
Another miracle also took place when I got back. I received a letter back from the Canadian government and a refund cheque. As I tore open that letter, I was utterly amazed that I got a work permit for IPD. It was a miracle because work permits were given to international students who obtained a job after graduating from university. I still had one semester of studies left. The work permit said, “Job required for course graduation”.
Against all logic and odds, I had a work permit (and I didn’t pay a single cent for the application fee). I got back the entire application fee in a refund cheque. As I showed my friends, they simply shook their heads and marveled at the ‘miracle’ provision.
In summary, I learnt that God provides. Are you concerned about your future? Or whether God would provide? Let me say this that He does provide. He is a good, good God. He knows what you need. Trust Him to provide.
Photo by Victor Ballesteros on Unsplash
