Abundance

Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’ ~Hebrews 13: 5-6

For reasons outside my control (and which I don't really want to talk about), I'm a bit skint this week. I'm getting paid on Thursday, so life is all good, but I won't be able to get coffee when I want or buy lunch out. In fact, my lunches for the week consist of ryvita, celery, humus and clementines (for $4.85).

Looking in my cupboards, I got annoyed, thinking... ok... I need food to last till Thursday, but I have nothing... But when I actually had a look, I thought of about 10 different meals I could make with the food in the cupboard (many of them including pasta sauce lol). So it wasn't that I didn't HAVE anything... it's just that I didn't have everything I might want. (very different)

Sometimes I've had to be destitute for a few weeks at a time... living on whatever is in my cupboard, apples and free tea from the staffroom :)

I actually really enjoy these times because I get to stretch my creativity AND I get to see how God is going to provide for me during these times.

Inexplicably, I find a tenner on the ground. Someone invites me over for dinner. Something always happens and I'm provided for. Living with abundance might not mean abundant money, but abundant life and experiences.


So, this week I am nearly destitute, but I know I'll make it to payday. And then, just for fun, God did something really cool.

So for a while now, I've been feeling like I need to work on my MA, but I don't have the money... sigh. Also, this spring I'll need some money to apply for permanent status for my visa. The UK Border Agency is an expensive thing... so I'll be coughing up more than a thousand pounds and probably a few arms and legs.

I've been trying to scrimp and save, even teaching Saturday school for some extra mo mo...

So, I noticed that my pay didn't increase from the summer to the autumn... so I checked into it.

Due to some unforseen clerical error, not only have I not received my pay increase this year, but I didn't receive it last year, so I get a year and 3 months worth of (increased) pay next month! After taxes, this should cover my summer holiday AND my indefinite leave!

I will not deny that I left the office fist pumping and doing what might be described as a jig ;)

Am I happy about the money, yes... of course. But I'm actually smiling a bit wider because this money was always mine in the first place. It's money that I'd earned, but that hadn't been added because of a mistake. God didn't have me win the lottery (as if I play)... He manipulated normal circumstances so it essentially "saved" my money for me.

The thing is, I don't really care about the money at all, it's the provision that I'm the most excited about. It's that God's been telling me for a while that I'll get indefinite leave (so as long as I can do the paperwork now, I'll be ok). He's been talking to me about an MA, about being able to afford my summer trips home to my family.

I know He'll provide things for me because He always has, but it's always fun to watch how He does it.