Recently, our family has been asking God for some pretty big things. My husband and I have been feeling like the weight of the world is on our shoulders. We know it’s just a blip in time and soon (but not soon enough), we know this will pass. But, like many others, we don’t love this feeling of wallets getting tighter while the prices of things continue to rise. We actively live our lives with the mentality of “God will provide” while simultaneously watching our spending.
I truly believe that God blesses people who allow Him to work in their lives. It’s SO easy to lose sight of making room for God in our lives ESPECIALLY when it comes to the worldly necessity of money. People sell their souls to their careers – careers that may certainly provide for their family, but potentially at the cost of their family. But I know first hand that God will show up if you continually place your trust in Him. It is not something that I’ve learned overnight, and I firmly believe God is still trying to teach me this lesson every single day.
It’s easy to feel like God isn’t listening to our requests. And like I said, they feel like big requests lately. We have desires. We have dreams. We have bills. We have Catholic school tuition. The list goes on. But God always finds a way to remind us of His love and care for us. This time, maybe the lesson we are being forced to learn is this:
God will always provide when He WANTS. Not when we WANT. Now we are to learn that just because He provides, it doesn’t mean we know what we need more than He does.
A few Friday nights ago, we were all inside and our son was shooting a basketball in a small over-the-door basketball hoop. He’s gotten pretty good at it, but of course, this type of hoop has its limitations. So, as a pure throwaway comment, my husband said “man, it’d be really great if we could get a real basketball hoop”. I looked at him and said “yeah… oooookay.” Because again, we are watching our spending.
The next morning, our neighbor texts me. He asks me if we’d want their outdoor driveway basketball hoop. They were upgrading theirs for their pre-teen boys. I started laughing – literally out loud. I joyfully shared the text with my husband and soon enough, he was laughing, too. I kept saying “THIS? THIS is what He chose to give us? Out of everything?!” It was so funny to me. Less than 24 hours after the throwaway comment, we found ourselves all shooting hoops in our driveway. And nearly every night since, we are out there as a family playing together. Every time I beat my son in “BUG” (because playing PIG is too boring, I guess), I say a small “thank you” to God… and send up a reminder of those big requests, too.
God is certainly listening. He’s reminding us that our big requests aren’t unheard – it’s just not time yet. So when I find myself stressed or worried, I try to cling to the fact that God has something REALLY good for us, and He will give it to us exactly when He – and we – are ready.
So for now, we have a basketball hoop. One day, we may finally get that full-size basketball court that my husband keeps saying we “need”. And one day, God will answer our big requests in a way we won’t expect, but certainly won’t be surprised by.
