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This process of trusting God to be your ultimate Provider will take time and commitment on your part. However, the more you learn to live this way, the easier and more exciting it will become.

Today, I was awakened at 5:37 a.m. thinking about all the things to come in the next weeks and months.

What and how will I provide for these things -  family, ministry others?  How can I maximize the next two weeks when we are back in Oklahoma to spend time with our son before we move him to Chicago in a month, so he can begin the next chapter in his life and college career?  How can I maximize the time we have to set up appointments with the people we need to talk with in order to promote our ministry?  How can I maximize the time we have to meet with our friends, to reconnect and catch up on each others' lives?  What is the order of importance to all these questions, when the biggest question of all seems to be. "What is the best use of our time in providing for our growing ministry needs in order for us to be able to reach more couples for God? "

In answering this question, I am continuing to look to myself for the answers, and that is why it is 5:37 a.m. and I am wide awake. I have been working on a TO DO list for the next two weeks with input from my beautiful "Lover"(Jaimi my wife) over the last couple days. 

Before I go any further, let me expand upon   "Lover".  Jaimi and I refer to each other as well as teach other couples to refer to their husband or wife, as  "Lover".  We like the term "Lover" more than husband or wife, because it speaks so much more about the way we believe God created our relationship to be.  Because being lovers to each other and each other only we can become the "One Flesh" that God calls His children to become through their covenant relationship.  We are also Lovers of God and His wonderful creation.  Last, but not least, we are Lovers of the great adventure God has us traveling on together with Him.

Sorry to have digressed, but I like it when I have a chance to expand and recreate how we encourage couples to think about the word "Lover" and how it pertains to their marriage. In doing so, our hope is that we as Believers can recapture the word from the distortion of the world and make it what we believe God intended it to be.

Now back to the TO DO list that I mention, it has been a tool that I have used to "provide" for as long as I can recall.  I can remember when I was managing a Sherwin Williams Paint Store (my first career job after college), the sales rep that worked out of my store would always harass me about my TODO list as he called it.  Please don't hear me saying TO DO lists are wrong or not worth doing. I (we) teach that couples should have TO DO lists, goals, dreams; however, make sure to always include and provide room for God to enter and provide what you need to fill the holes and shortcomings that would be impossible for you to fill without Him.

So my encouragement to you today and every day is -  instead of looking to only how you will "provide" look towards our real Provider, our Heavenly Father, who;

Philippians 4:19New King James Version (NKJV)¹⁹ And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

How do we do that in a world which tells us everything is dependent on what we do to provide?  Let me take you back to a time where God is faithful in providing for His people.  When you read Exodus 16, you will see people today aren't much different than they were thousands of years ago. You will also understand God's promise to us is the same as it was to them. We have to live in such a way that we trust God to provide when we are obedient to His Word.

I am learning to approach each day trusting that God will provide the manna that I will need for the day.  However, sometimes God has to remind me just as He did yesterday morning while I was settling down with my second cup of coffee on the back deck at Port O'Connor.  I was just sitting down in my chair with my Bible and praying, "God what do You want to speak to me this morning?"   I also have to learn to not put God in a box when desiring answers from Him, because His voice may come in the form of a ship passing by in front of you.  The name of this ship, "Provider", causes me to go to Bible to discover that God is my ultimate Provider when I put my trust in Him.  Timely words for this early Saturday morning.

So how do we get to the point of trusting more in God to be our provider than we trust in ourselves and the world to be our provider?  These are the reminders that came to me during my time of reading and prayer:

     1.  Begin to be led by God when deciding on everyday routine tasks that are on you TO DO list.

     2.  Be aware when God is speaking and directing you to specific paths that He has planned for you.

     3.  Be willing to travel the path God is leading you down, even when you can't see past your next  step.

    4.  Trust God as your ultimate Provider.

This process of trusting God to be your ultimate Provider will take time and commitment on your part.  However, the more you learn to live this way, the easier and more exciting it will become.  God will lead you on adventures you could never find on your own, if you will just take the next step in putting all your trust in Him.

You will still have times of doubt, like at 5:37a.m.; however, God will continue to direct your steps if you continue to pursue Him.