I’ve been watching the skies lately.
I don’t know where the saying “pennies from heaven” came from, but I can testify to drops of provision falling like rain onto the drought in my bank account. I’ve danced through puddles that were formed by an overflow of God’s provision before, and I got to splash around in a shower of blessings again this week.
Before the rain was anywhere on the radar, I had turned to David’s prayer from Psalm 42 (NIV) and prayed it as fervently as humanly possible.
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
I kept repeating Psalm 42:4. “These things I remember as I pour out my soul…” And I would tell God that I remembered all the times he has provided for me and my family in the past. I reminded him of the stories I’ve shared that testify to his miraculous provision. I praised him for his faithfulness through my past seasons of drought, and I asked him to send rain again. Now please!
The rain didn’t start falling right away.
Awhile back, I shared my answered prayer about if/when to liquidate our beloved home, and I’ve been watching the skies and trusting God with my lack of resources ever since. It’s one thing to believe and speak God’s promises when they’re being fulfilled. It’s quite another to declare by faith what you hope for, but don’t yet see. Especially when nasty, black clouds generate plenty of thunder to keep you up at night, but withhold the raindrops desperately needed to replenish your empty reservoir.
If you listen to my podcast, you may have heard my efforts to drown out the thunder with declarations of hope.
I even incorporated raindrops into the graphic I designed for the declaration from the episode I posted a couple weeks ago.
I reminded God that Steve and I are givers and good stewards of his resources, and I asked him to pour into us so that we could pour out to others.
When the bank unexpectedly cut our business line of credit, I declared by faith that I trust God to provide all my needs.
I refused to focus on my needs, and did my best to focus on my Provider, Jehovah Jireh.
You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.
(Isaiah 26:3-4 NIV)
I even whispered that line from the first Santa Clause movie:
Believing is seeing.
My sweet husband, Steve, knew I’d heard from God that I wasn’t supposed to even think of selling our home until after our son’s wedding in April. But Steve hadn’t heard from God. He gently informed me that we can’t hold onto our house until April if we can’t afford to hold onto it. I knew he was right. But I also knew what I’d heard from God.
Without pennies from heaven, I was between a rock and a hard place. I told God that I wanted to obey him, but I also needed to honor my husband. Oh, how I prayed for a rain of provision to fall. And fall soon!
When actual raindrops fell from the sky the next day, I told Steve that I believed with all my heart that the rain was an outward manifestation of the work God was doing on our behalf that we couldn’t yet see.
I went on a walk that morning with a friend, who loved getting soaked as much as I did. I told her I felt like Honi, the famous circle maker who prayed for rain. She and I prayed together and agreed that God would send a rain of provision.
God finally opened the floodgates!
First, we learned that our PPP loan was completely forgiven. What a huge stress reliever! Next, we discovered we had been selected to receive the CA Relief Grant. Lord knows, our California Small Business has struggled to operate during the never-ending months of lockdown orders from Sacramento. And finally, we landed three large projects that will keep us working up to the holidays. And to top it all off, we had accumulated enough rewards through our credit card to book a free vacation! We’re headed to a cozy mountain resort in the beautiful Rockies shortly after Thanksgiving.
