Financial Skydiving

My husband and I have tried (although imperfectly) to follow what we believe is God's will for us, even sometimes if it doesn't make financial sense.  God has proven time and time again, that indeed, "all these things shall be added unto you" (Mt 6:33).  

Despite this, we sometimes worry and stress out about finances.  One morning, as Keith and I were talking, I said, “I guess I’m waiting on God to solve this financial problem for us”.  He said he felt the same way. We have been entrusting the situation to God in prayer and have seen His ability to provide enough times to know that He can indeed solve this problem.

That same day… I opened a Christmas card with no return address with $300 in cash inside.  That same day. Amazing.   While that didn't solve our problem completely, it was as if God Himself had written me and said, “Trust Me”. 

Fast forward a few weeks later when the surprise and gratitude of that gift had begun to wear off and a new bill came in the mail, I began to worry once again.  My toddler brought me a book and asked me to read it to him. I told him it was a book for grown ups. Wouldn’t he rather read “The Grinch”?  But he insisted and I read:

“It is important to know one thing: We cannot experience this support from God unless we leave Him the necessary space in which He can express Himself.  I would like to make a comparison.  As long as a person who must jump with a parachute does not jump out into the void, he cannot feel that the cords of the parachute will support him, because the parachute has not yet had a chance to open.  One must first jump and it is only later that one feels carried.  And so it is in the spiritual life: ‘God gives in the measure we expect of him,’ says Saint John of the Cross.  And Saint Francis de Sales says, 'The measure of Divine Providence acting on us is the degree of confidence we have in it.'” 

                        -Father Jacques Philippe “Searching for and Maintaining Peace”

I am humbled and amazed by the many ways God finds to speak to us.  How He knows just what we need and gently and loving encourages us.  And I do feel like we have jumped and are feeling those parachute strings holding us… now we’re just hoping for a nice soft landing.  Having jumped many times before, I am growing more and more in my trust in God’s providential chute. I just wish I could enjoy the beautiful view from up here a little more and worry a little less. J