Providence

Providence is the "protective care of God."   When I am going through difficult times, providence always comes to my mind.  It's not talked about a lot.  It's not something you hear preached about but it's something God always whispers in my ear. Providence.

I've seen God's providence in my life so many times!  The first time I remember God's Providence over my life was waking up one morning before school  when I was in 3rd or 4th grade and asking my mom if I should go get the mail that morning.  Everyday I got up without ever asking and went and got the mail.  But that morning, I asked and my mom she said, "No don't worry about it. Just enjoy your breakfast and go on to school." When I left for school, there was an ambulance at the Post Office.  I found out at school there was a shooting and a man died.  My mom went to the Post Office later and the Postmaster was still cleaning up the blood.  He was shaking and told my mom that the shooting happened at the time I show up every single morning.  So he had grabbed his gun and was going to protect me and shoot the shooter if I walked in!  God's Providence!  He covered me by prompting me to ask my mom, he prompted my mom to send me off to school and he prompted the Post Master to be ready just in case! God's protection was there even if I had been disobedient and not asked, God had layers of providence in place.

Later at 14 when my dad died, there was  God's providence !  Looking back, we lost my dad and the family business all at the same time.  I can only imagine now how scary that all must have been for my mom.  But God provided for us and still does.

Then at 25 I was leaving work and didn't put my seat belt on because I never did.  I saw 3 police cars, before I went ahead and put that seatbelt on. 5 minutes later, I was hit on the highway going home and my car flipped.  I found myself dangling upside down with the passenger door right next to me and the back of the car was all the way to the driver seat.  The wreck was so bad they called for a Medi-flight but after being cut out of the car and taken to the hospital on a backboard, I walked out of the hospital with just a few cuts and an encounter with an angel (but that's a story for another time). God's providence!

The doctors had told us that we wouldn't be able to have kids as my heart wouldn't be strong enough. I found this out before we got married and tried to call of our marriage so that Chad could have his own kids.  Again God's providence showed up and Chad refused to NOT marry me!  And 5 years after heart surgery, I was pregnant with Lindsay! When I was very sick and our son was born premature at 4lbs 11oz and he and I left the hospital together in just a few days!  God's protection was over us both!

When we built our first house, I was naturally drawn to the "Providence" Floor Plan and that is the one we selected! I loved the idea of the foundation of our life and our home is on "Providence".

In everything, from jobs, to our safety, to our family, to our home, God has continued to show His Providence over us. I am blessed beyond measure how a whisper from God saying "Providence" immediately plays a long list of examples in my life where His providence was shown and it forces out the worries going through my head!