The Simple Wife

Still no baby, but yesterday my water broke in the car…water bottle that is. I was getting ready to leave for work, trying to maneuver my big ol’ tummy into position behind the wheel, along with my getting the water bottle in the cupholder and purse beside me when splash! All my lovely, cold water spilled all over the seat. –Sigh– It, of course, had to happen on a day when I had been busily congratulating myself on being so far ahead of schedule, and reveling in the thought of getting to work early. I had to go back to the house to get a towel to put over the seat, lest people see my wet skirt and think, “Oh my word! What’s that woman not doing in the hospital!?” or merely sympathetically shake their heads in acknowledgment of the fact that pregnancy had begun to affect my bladder control (sidenote: in a way it has–I have to be so careful when someone says something funny that I hadn’t been anticipating…or whenever my husband tickles me).
I keep giving Robbie updates on our schedule. Now it is only 5 days until Grandma comes, 6 days until Mama’s birthday, one week until his shower, and after that, he can just pop right out! Which, BTW, I have discovered is people’s favorite way of referring to my condition. I can’t even tell you the amount of time I’ve heard the phrase, “You look like you’re about to pop!” I think to myself, “Just give me a pin…’cause if I could, I would!”

“It sometimes happens, even in the best of families, that a baby is born. This is not necessarily cause for alarm. The important thing is to keep your wits about you and borrow some money. “ –Eleanor Goulding Smith

I can’t remember the first time my mother told me the words “Jehovah Jireh”, but I do remember that we heard the words a lot growing up. It could have been when we were studying the names of God, or when we were looking over the story of Abraham offering Isaac on the altar. Whenever it happened, it became something of a codeword for our family whenever we received an unexpected blessing or surprise–Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide.

While I remember both hearing and saying the word many times through my teens, it has only been since I’ve been married that they have become even more precious to me. I had my share of the typical fears and apprehensions about marrying a man in the ministry, but I knew in the back of my mind (albeit flippantly) that the Lord would for mine and my husband’s needs. I will freely admit that in my first year and a half of marriage, that truth has become more and more real to me every day. God has proved again and again that He not only can, but will provide for our needs.

All of this came to mind yesterday when David and I received two blessings. First off, anyone who has been keepign up with us knows that our air conditioning has not been working. Yeah, yeah, I know that back when you were growing up “Nobody had air conditioning,” (the last holdouts I can remember were both sets of grandparents who have each had a/c for a minimum of ten years) but that is no longer the case, and it is difficult to do much when it is 90 degrees inside your house other than sit on the couch feeling miserable, wearing as little as possible, trying not to move, and hoping no one comes to the door. We finally broke down two days ago, got in touch with the man who fixes the a/c for our church, and set up an appointment. I spent much of the evening and next morning praying that it would not be too expensive to get it fixed and wondering what level our desperation had reached (I figured if it would cost $2,0000 to get it fixed I would somehow tough it out for the rest of the summer, anything under $200 would be great, the lower the better). The man came out, check the unit, decided what needed to be replaced, and $40 later, cool air began to breezily fill the house. Jehovah Jireh!

However, we had another special blessing yesterday as well. When David and I got home and walked to the front door, we noticed a large package sitting on the doorstep. Puzzled, because neither of us have ordered anything lately, we brought it into the house and looked at the label proclaiming “To Precious Baby Reed and Family”, with a random address in New York (we do not know anyone in New York). We opened it up and although we could not find a signal packing slip, invoice, card, or note, we did find four packages of diapers, several different kinds of baby lotions, baby magic, baby oil,  baby gel, Dreft stain remover (perfect for getting stains out of little baby clothes), baby powder, and several bottles of Johnson & Johnson baby wash. I must admit, I have been a bit apprehensive whenever I began to wonder how we would fit the cost of diapers into our tiny grocery budget, but looking at our unexpected windfall spread out across our couch and piano bench, David and I kept repeating again and again, “God is so good! God is so good! Praise the Lord, He will take care of us!”

Anyway, I wanted to share these two blessing we had yesterday because they proved to us once again, that no matter what happens, Jehovah Jireh–the Lord will provide. As David and I serve Him (or rather, try to serve Him, sometimes I think we get in the way too much), He provides all of our needs, whether it was our blessings from yesterday, last week when someone paid for our lunch after we decided to splurge on a Mexican restaurant, when the radio station bought new tires for our car, when Grandma and Granddude Vaughan bought a crib for Robbie, or we received a gift card to Wal-Mart in the mail right when we needed it, God has always, and will always provide! In fact, of all the many aspects that come from being involved in ministry (where work is abundant and pay is not), getting to see the Lord provide for our needs has added a level of excitement and anticipation to our walk with Him. After all, if His eye is on the sparrow, why won’t He watch over us, too?