Every Good Gift Comes From Above
Growing up I always used to wonder what people meant when they said that God provides for us.
My parents took care of me so I never got to experience it personally.
However, as I’ve gotten older, I learned that He provides for what He calls us to do and what we really need, but I wasn’t sure if He would provide for things that aren’t necessities.
Does He provide for our desires?
Would He provide for something such as this vacation?
I knew before we left for Florida that God was leading this trip and giving His go ahead. I was so excited to see what He would do.
Thursday morning, January 15th, during devotions, I was asking God if I should really be spending this much money on something of leisure.
I told Him, Maybe I should stay home.
It just didn’t seem like a wise idea no matter how bad I wanted to go.
But he seemed to comfort me and said, No, I’ll take care of you.
I decided to take that and choose to trust Him to provide.
Later that day someone gave me a $200 check with a post-it-note on top that said, A gift from the Lord. I was crying for an hour just being so grateful to the Lord, texted a few people, called my mom, and was just worshiping God, confessing my doubt and asking for forgiveness for not trusting Him. The givers probably had no idea that such a gift could cause a deep, emotional time of worship, but it did and I thanked them from the bottom of my heart.
I had no doubt God would provide for my bills when I got back, so I left with confidence, peace, and a full heart.
Day One, January 16th: Travel!
After packing the car, not knowing where exactly we were going besides Florida, we left Ohio taking 77 to 95 all the way down. Since this was a last minute vacation decision, we prayed God would lead us to the right reservation before we got to Florida. The drive seemed to have just started by the time the mountains of WV came into view and the scenery became beautiful, but what I loved the most is when the snow began to disappear and palm trees started to replace the bare tree trunks that had lined the road.
We could finally open the sunroof!
Oh how I was longing for warmth and sunshine.
It made my heart swell with happiness.
The only challenge for the trip down was an approaching winter storm that would cross en route and in trying to beat it, not being able to find a hotel we approved of, we had to stop at two rest stops for cat naps.
Usually when a situation like this would come up, I would reach out to someone asking for prayer, but figured no one would be awake since it was after midnight.
Yet God provided.
My friend ended up responding to a message I had sent her earlier and so I quickly asked for prayer to get to our destination safely and that we would find something clean and cheap. Finally at 2 am we had booked a hotel in Georgia where we could get a few hours of much needed shut eye. Praise God!
Day Two, January 17th: Finding and Getting to our Destination!
Getting up at 7:30 we ran down to get breakfast and headed out, stopping at a coffee shop in Pooler, Georgia called Grounds of Grace. Being Christian owned, they used biblical names for their signature coffees. The Burning Bush containing cayenne, cinnamon, and cardamom intrigued me and I was surprised that it was quite satisfying. Definitely a place I would recommend checking out if you’re ever in the area.
The fun thing about choosing a place to stay for our vacation was all the prayer put into it by many people, not just my mom and I. Since my vision was messed up from being sick over the holidays my mom drove while I flipped through rentals on AirBnB. I had woken up Friday morning with Clearwater on my heart, so the gulf side is what most of my search consisted of. Then this morning, Saturday, I woke up to a blue house.
Five hours before we arrived, we put our reservation in for the Blue Bayou, on the Anna Maria Island, a 3 minute walking distance to the beach. Less than an hour later it was accepted and we were praying the whole way there, Please let this be clean and really nice.
We arrived after sunset and though it took us a minute to realize our driveway was on the main side road instead of where maps took us, I was ecstatic for my mom to see it. I had run up to check-in making sure we were at the right place and peeked inside only to see that our prayers were answered!
We were both pleased with how nice of a place it was for the price we got it at.
Last minute reservations actually have perks!
Even though this place was not exactly what either of us were looking for, it turned out to be perfect.
Being within our budget, we each still got our own bedroom and bathroom, there was a big dining table, nice size corner couch living area and full kitchen stocked with every kind of basic cooking supplies you could want. It had an outdoor shower, a wagon to carry supplied beach chairs and sun huts or beach umbrellas. Being a duplex I was worried about how the neighboring renters would be but was pleasantly surprised to find out that the front porch and landscape were secluded and beautiful.
I felt at home right away.
Before retiring for the night, we unpacked and crashed on the porch to enjoy our first supper in Florida.
Our vacation had finally started!
Even though at the time of writing this it’s been a couple weeks since we were in Florida, it still brings tears to my eyes when I recall how God provided and showed me His love, even continues to as I ask Him to be with me here in the dead of winter. I pray that this vacation is a continual reminder of His love and something He can bring to mind throughout my life when I doubt His faithfulness or struggle to trust Him.
Since Thanksgiving God has been laying Psalm 103:1-5 on my heart and I was sure this vacation was going to prove those verses and bring them alive.
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindess and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
-Psalm 103:1-5
Though I cannot describe how impactful and life changing I believe this trip was, in my next post I will do my best to share how God proved His love in a way that I could see and easily grasp with my finite mind. It was truly an answer to a long time prayer that completely threw me for a loop wondering what kind of God I really serve.
Until next time,
Happy Running!
Be Still and Run 