none can deny...

God's faithfulness.

i feel like this year that has been a HUGE theme. in my life.

i can't say, 'Lord, I am so so thankful' enough. ever.

when you want to ask God for something, ask him to show you his faithfulness. you won't be disappointed.

i got going on this thought last night when i was sitting in church listening to my father in law preach. our church gave pledges this weekend for a 3 year giving campaign beyond our normal tithe. his last point in the message was : caution: reward for generosity comes in many forms. he said that in his life he's had at times a blessing of monetary value and at other points in life would have given every cent he owned for it to be the change of a circumstance or fill in the blank... thus to say that usually the monetary reward is worse than the others.

i can honestly relate. so i thought i'd recount some of the amazing faithfulness stories i've seen this year in my {our} life. {this week}

lets start small. at the end of the month money gets a bit tight. i'm not saying we're poor because by world's standards we're not. in fact we are blessed. but, we do a cash system so when it's gone. it's gone.

at the end of october, i was in fact a bit short. i had hosted an event and well the cash was gone. i went to the store and spent $25 extra dollars on necessities... like mega-cheap dinners. we were making it through fine but i had no snacks for the kids...

i'm talking all we had was stale animal crackers & a stack of graham crackers.
{please don't think i'm crying a river here... just making a point.}

but i had this bit of hope in me that God would provide.

i said to myself, 'my kids can eat apples for snacks all week. who needs curious george fruit snacks anyway?!' {carter thinks he does;)}

sorry... i'm getting to the point.

i hadn't told luke about the need or anyone else, i was just thinking, 'ok Lord, i know this is crazy but i know you... you always provide, you are always faithful.'

it was a thursday morning and we had to get all the way to monday to make it to the 31st but at that point halloween candy would hold us over. ;)

We had a family picture event and my mother in law and a family friend had brought snacks for the kids. (yes, i bribe my kids to make them smile... no perfection here:)) as we were packing up to leave the family friend said...

'hey, kristen, do you think you could use these pretzels and toy story fruit snacks and juice boxes.'

i am not even kidding you i just about stopped dead in my tracks.

we didn't need those fruit snacks
or pretzels
or juice boxes.

TRUTH:
any family with kids gets tight at the end of the month.
because let's just put this on repeat: there's always something.

but that day God grew my faith.
he knew our needs... as non-existent and as stupid as it might have seemed: snacks & juice.
but when we trust him in obedience
he
always....
always...
always....
i think you get my point.
always
provides!

God is faithful.
to him be the glory,
a family that saw his faithfulness first hand.