My Easter Sunday Chat with God

I have been really blessed in my life. I have a great, loving family. I have a beautiful, talented wife. I have friends who are kind, funny, and caring. I have a job I love with a boss that gives me as many opportunities as she can. And I have perfect daughter who was designed specifically for me and Mindy. God has given me all of these things, yet sometimes I forget he is here.

Yesterday I dropped Mindy, Lily, and Pete off at church, and then started to drive around to find a parking spot. As I was scanning the streets for an open spot, my mind turned to money as it often does when I am alone. I was doing math. I have to pay our landlord $1,000 by Friday. I know I will get a check for $700 Friday morning, and I know Mindy has lessons lined up this week for general living expenses. But where am I going to get the extra $300? Well, I have a week to figure it out. My mind wonders….

“Maybe one of my clients will want to do some work this week”
“Maybe the IRS will find a mistake they made and send us additional refund money”
“Maybe Mindy will get 4 new students that all want to start this week”

I start to pray … again. I have been praying for financial blessings a lot this past year. I feel like they are unanswered prayers, because times are still tough. I have not yet come into a windfall of cash…yet every month we manage to get by. We are still here. We still eat everyday. We still have a roof over our heads. I just wish God would let me know that he is still here watching over me because at least once a week I feel completely defeated and helpless. My prayer always turns away from money. I always end up praying for hope…for some sort of comfort and knowledge that God is there for me.

I find my parking spot fairly easily, and head to church. I see Mindy by the elevator and walk over. I am feeling better. Our church has great people and just seeing everybody smiling with joyful attitudes took my mind away from the rent and financial burdens. Mindy says: “Matt (One of our pastors) wants to talk to you.” So I head through the crowd to find him.

I found Matt, and he says “Let’s go outside and talk”. I agree and follow him out. As we are standing there, he proceeds to tell me that in between the morning and afternoon services he was given an envelope by someone who said “I feel like someone needs this. Would you give it to someone who could use some help?” Matt then handed me the envelope and said: “I feel like you are the one that needs this.” I open the envelope, and the chills began to crawl all over my body. The envelope contained $300.00. Exactly. No More. No Less. This is the amount of money, to the penny, that someone felt the need to give. This was the amount, to the penny, that was missing from my rent check.

This gift was more than money. Yes, it is nice to have the extra cash, and yes it will help to cover the rent. But more importantly, it was the gift of God speaking directly to me. “Yes, I am watching over you. Yes, I know your struggles. Let me handle it for you…I know what I am doing”

I am going to remember that God gives people struggles for a reason. I am going to remember all of my blessings. I am going to continue on my path, reassured that I am doing the right thing with my life. And through this story, I hope that my readers realize that whether your day is good or bad….God IS there. And he is working on big things for you!