“And God‘s blessings just keep flowing and flowing and they never run out.” That is what my friend, JillyBean, always says.  I have found it to be true many times over, and just as many times I’ve forgotten it and felt abandoned and unloved.

But lately, it seems the more I think on Godly things, the more I desire to see Him working in and around me, the more I see Him working in and around me. Almost as if the more I look, the more I see how He is working. It’s a vicious cycle. (Please remind me of this the next time I’m feeling alone and abandoned. Thank you.)

My husband and I are in ministry. We don’t have what is commonly called a “secular” job, he works for our church part time and he works full time for a local, mostly listener supported local Christian radio station.  His salary is sufficient for our needs; at times we have to get a little creative to make it work but who doesn’t?

It has been years since anyone has had a dental checkup in our house. I know it’s bad, especially for a former dental assistant such as myself, I know better but I’m sure the dentist would like to have payment promptly. Since I have been working in the church office we’ve had a little extra. We haven’t changed our spending habits at all though because we know this is only temporary, we’ve been saving money like it’s going out of style. We have an emergency fund because we’re good students of Dave Ramsey. Right now I feel very blessed to say my $1,000.00 emergency fund is over stocked. At least temporarily, you see I have come to hate debt something fierce and we’ve been paying a bill at the chiropractor for several months and frankly, I’m tired of it. Soon that bill will be a thing of the past. (Because yes, I plan on taking the money from the E.A. to pay it off. WOO HOO! FREEDOM!!!

Back to the dental situation. We made appointments with a nice young dentist who attends our church and who was so kind to give us a free second opinion on Elizabeth’s need for braces. And then when I went to his office in a panic because Elizabeth lost a baby tooth (yeah, I’m all about the drama) he again not only saw us as an emergency. He didn’t charge us at all. When I called to schedule their appointments I asked what the bill would be so I could take it out in cash and pay it off first thing.

Because I like to.

Their hygienist was not able to be in the day of their scheduled appointments and her replacement wasn’t able to be there for both girls so Elizabeth went first and we just rescheduled Ariana.  I went ahead and paid for both girls appointments with Elizabeth.

Because I could.

Imagine my huge surprise when after Ariana’s appointment we were told by the financial clerk, “Dr. X does not want to charge you for the exam or the extra picture of Ariana’s tooth. So we can mail you a check or you could just carry a credit.”

My jaw hit the floor as tears flooded my eyes. Oh my. The kindness and generosity touched me. Even now I find my eyes getting teary just writing it out.  I thanked them profusely and then I thanked them again.

As I’ve alluded to blatantly said here, I struggle with relationships, friendships. I have one dear friend, she is truly the Ethel to my Lucy, the Sookie to my Lorelai. We’ve gone through some highs and lows in both of our lives, okay moreso her life because I just don’t share my low points (but I’m hoping to learn to lean on others).  The morning after I finished Friendships for Grown Ups by Lisa Whelchel I told her on facebook, “I’m going to email you soon.”

Yikes! I said it, or wrote it rather, out loud. Now I had to do it. I put it off for a few more hours and then I sat down and just wrote it. Deleted it mentally a million times, but always had the impression God was reading over my shoulder saying “Go on. There’s more.” When finally He was silent and I heard no more, I signed off and clicked send. And immediately I had peace…no actually immediately I wished to have it back.

Imagine my surprise when I get home that afternoon and get the mail, only to find a letter from her. Now it was a little crinkled and looked like it had gotten wet so I’m sure it came the day before but I didn’t get it from the mail box because I didn’t know it was there. (and I thought Mr. FullCup had already gotten the mail.) This letter you will have to believe me when I say it was such an answer to my email. I could picture God standing there, arms across His chest, face beaming, while He said, “See! I told you!!”  I felt so very blessed.

We used to dine out once a week. If I had my druthers I’d have eaten out every meal or at least once a day. We no longer do that for a few reasons, 1) it gets expensive and 2) since I try not to eat any white flour, rice or sugar, it’s difficult. We now eat out about once a month and I like it that way. I’m hoping when I’m not needed any longer at the church that I’ll have more time to dive into cooking because I was getting very good..at making fish sticks and hot dogs..easy mac on a stretching my comfort zone day.

Tonight we dined at a restaurant we’ve all been dying to try. The owner knows Mr. FullCup so he came out talk to us for a little bit. His wife just had cancer surgery yesterday, he was very quick to let us know she was doing great. (Why was he at work and why was she at home when she had cancer surgery yesterday??)  The girls and I left a little before Mr. FullCup, and when he went up to pay the owner handed him back the money and said, “I invited you. Your meal is on me. ”

“And God’s blessing just keep flowing and flowing and they never run out.”