I love it when God opens my eyes and reveals something to me. But I am utterly blown away when He does the same thing in my children’s lives. As I mentioned in “This Far” I am studying the life of King David. I have been camping out in 2 Samuel 7:18 “Who am I O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you would have brought me this far?” Just a few sentences later, David asks “Is this your USUAL way of dealing with man, O Sovereign Lord?”
By the way the answer to that is always YES!
This summer our kids decided they wanted kayaks. As parents we decided they needed to earn the money. A friend had seen children’s kayaks on sale at SAMs for only $75, so that is the amount we decided they needed to earn. We created opportunities for the children to earn extra money, outside of their usual chores. My husband went as far as to draw up a written contract. We posted this on the fridge as a visual reminder that we don’t pay until the work is done. (There is no borrowing on credit in our house).
It didn’t take long for our daughter to have earned enough money, since she already had money saved up. Our son, on the other hand, had lost his wallet on vacation and was starting at $0.00. Oh what a glorious summer…the windows are clean, the baseboards are scrubbed, and there are no paw prints on the front door!
Our son decided to sell waters and sodas to the neighbors. He designed and attached 2 signs to his 4-wheeler and he secured a cooler to the back, but the 4-wheeler wouldn’t start. He tried for over 30 minutes before changing to his dirt bike. With a smaller cooler slung across his chest he took off again. His goal was to sell a beverage door-to-door or dock-to-dock for only $0.50 a piece. About 20 minutes later I found him walking home, the dirk bike had broke down. And worse yet he still had not sold any drinks.
Oh how my heart broke for him. He had ambition and determination, but nothing was going his way. My dear friend, who has visiting that afternoon, took pity on the sweaty child and offered to pay $5.50 for a bottled water… now that’s friendship!
The kids continued to earn money all summer long. Our daughter now had $80 and our son had earned $38. One day while searching through the pool bag, I found the missing wallet with $3! Our son was so excited, now he had $41 (over half-way there). That same week Chris saw a recent post on Craigslist for 2 kids kayaks(1 pink and 1 blue) for only $40 each. The children purchased the kayaks the next day!
The children LOVE their gently used kayaks. Both kids are even more excited that they still have money leftover. That’s where 2 Samuel 7:19 comes in “Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign Lord?” Yes, yes, yes…The answer is always YES!
This story is an awesome example of how God works. First, how He not only provides for our basic needs but also our desires. His desire is for us to step out in faith and action. When we do He will meet us right where we are. But we must take the first step. Second, as missionary Otto Konning says “God wants to find channels to prove himself strong in our life.” Sure the kids could have earned it all themselves, but then God wouldn’t get credit or glory. How cool is God! The kids didn’t even have to earn the full amount of money…and they still had money leftover!
“Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign Lord?”
Yes, yes, yes…The answer is always YES!
~April
“May you and I be mutually encouraged by each others faith.”-Romans 1:12