I'm Thankful For God's Provision

 In continuing this month's theme of thankfulness...

As I'm baking bread and cookies to sell today, I'm grateful for all the opportunities God gives me to make a little extra income.

Back in September, both my husband and I were impressed upon to pray for extra  income. And then God told us both the exact amount we were to pray for monthly. (Thankfully, it was the same!)  At first, I felt like the amount we were praying for was too large; surely we didn't need that much! Although I knew we could use it. As the month went along, God provided and at the end of the month we started to tally up the extra income and we were excited and humbled to see that God had provided the exact amount we had prayed for. Right down to the penny!

Not all of this was in cold hard cash. Some was in the form of gift cards, some in savings(things we ended up not needing to pay for or got at a better price), some were even in the form of winning blog giveaways.

We continued to pray the same for October and God came through again!  It has really been exciting to see how God is providing.

Sometimes I get a little frustrated with all the many ways I'm using to garner extra income- online surveys, baking bread and other goodies to sell, childcare, my etsy shop and setting up at craft shows, selling on ebay and using coupons to decrease expenses. Wouldn't it be easier to just have one thing that brings in more income than so many small avenues that are not always extra profitable?

Maybe so. But I know that God has led me to do all of these things during this season. He's using all of these small things plus a few other ways to provide and answer our prayers.  It grows my faith to see how He is working in giving us opportunities and  answering prayer as we are obedient to what He has called us to do!

As I was organizing our budget notebook at the beginning of January, I wrote this verse on the front: "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus."  (Philippians 4:19) At the time, I had no idea how real this verse would become to us this year!

How has God directed you to pray specifically and how has He met your needs? What are you praying  for today?