“What’s Cooking?”
“If you … know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”(Matt.7:10-12).
The past few weeks have been very interesting to say the least. I rent my home, and the oven in our home went completely out. My landlady, sad to say, doesn’t get in a big hurry to respond when it comes to spending money on this house. I was without an oven for a few weeks, as she looked for a cheap alternative to my dilemma.
I wish I could report that I took this situation without getting upset. Well, that was not the case. But as this ordeal went on, the Lord began to expose my heart and attitude. This is not a comfortable place to be. Let’s face it, apart from Christ our hearts are deceitful “and desperately wicked”. I am well aware of this as this saga unfolds.
The saga continued with the arrival of a $35 stove bought on Craig’s List delivered to my house by her maintenance man(which I think came over on the Mayflower). Can you figure out where this is going? No, it never worked properly, so this trial continued on for days.
My husband and I knew something else had to happen. Charles challenged me in our prayers together to pray for our landlady to do the right thing before we made the leap to buy a new stove. That week all of this drama in my life and seeming discomfort was truly put into perspective. The Lord loves to do this in my life! My son is leading a mission team of young people in Ecuador. There is a website I can visit to keep up, along with pictures of those they are ministering to. I am scanning the pictures, and my heart is truly smashed. Seeing the poverty and conditions of life for these children made me so ashamed of how I viewed my apparent horrible situation with my stove. These children and adults are so joyful even in difficult life situations.
My Heavenly Father has given me a gift of living in a very blessed nation, even though I do not deserve it. The greatest gift is my salvation through Jesus Christ. He holds my life, my heart, and yes my stove, and my future in His hands.
There came a knock on my door. I answered the door, and my landlady’s maintenance man said these very words… “I have a gift for you.” I looked, and there was a brand new stove sitting at my door. I asked, and my Heavenly Father gave me a gift.
The stove was the right thing, but the lessons I learned along the way was the true gift from my Heavenly Father Who cares for me.