Day by Day

Give us day by day our daily bread. Luke 11:3

This verse caught my attention. The Lord's Prayer that nearly everyone recites says, Give us this day our daily bread. (Matthew 6:11)

This one was different.

Day by day, it said. 

Do you, like me, look at the future instead of today? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? Next year?

This week I was encouraged, as day by day the Lord gave strength for what seemed to be impossibilities.

I shared with my church sisters on Tuesday how I was failing to find the grace of God real in my situation. I want to think I would be strong in the face of persecution but I was not finding God in my life now.

The response was encouraging as they prayed for me in the moment. Even more than that they assured me of their prayers as I went on with life.

I hadn't wanted to attend the monthly Sister's sewing day. But having a food assignment forced me to go. That was when I shared my need and just spending the day there, sewing for the needy was refreshing. Getting my mind off myself.

Then different ones shared encouraging verses or devotionals with me throughout the week along with repeated reminders of their prayers.

My own devotionals were speaking to my heart, telling me to relax in God's control, being anxious for nothing.

Friday as I drove the boys to school for P.E., the rain was coming down but in the distance we could see sunshine. Then we drove out of the rain and almost into a rainbow. It intensified in color and became a full arch and even began to repeat itself before fading away.

It felt like Almighty God was giving me a big hug. He was so near and real in all that beauty.

Another reminder of His care came in the form of honey and maple syrup. Stephen brought some home as a gift from his workplace. 

My sister gave me a jug of honey for my birthday in December. When that was gone some friends gave us a quart of honey. That was nearly gone when this appeared.

We use only natural sweeteners so this has been a huge blessing. If you use natural sweeteners, you know that they are not cheap. I've been working hard to whittle our budget down and it feels like God is blessing that effort.

My friend offered to make my food for the church dinner today and then she sent the leftovers home with me. 

Another friend sent a pan of meatballs over yesterday.

♪♪"Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here...."♪♪

These are words from a song we sang last Sunday (the 7th) and this truth has become very real to me this past week.

The Lord blesses day by day; with grace... and with food.

Today I am thankful for...
...God's grace.
...the prayers of saints.
...little things.