You Already Have - a 3-Day Devotional With Andrea OlsonExemplo

“God has a constantly flowing river whose sparkling streams bring joy and delight to his people.  His river flows right through the city of God Most High, into his holy dwelling places. God is in  the midst of his city, secure and never shaken. At daybreak his help will be seen with the  appearing of the dawn.” 

You are enough

You have no limits

You never run out

Your love is endless

I’ll sing again and again and again

You are my joy

Goodness surrounds me

You are my strength

Every abounding

I lack for nothing, all I’ll ever need

You already have

Great is Your faithfulness

Great is Your faithfulness

Great is Your faithfulness

You don’t hold back

You don’t hold back 

Lyrics from “You Already Have” 

When my husband and I were first married, we struggled to make ends meet. Between his youth pastor salary and my private piano lesson studio, we barely made enough to pay the bills.  Yet, miraculously, we always had enough. Even if it was down to the penny, God did not hold back his faithfulness. Even so, we were working hard to try and get ahead. We have always had a desire to invest in furthering the Kingdom. We consistently prayed for the ability to give more.  To us, that day seemed impossibly far in the future. 

One weekend, we accidentally tithed twice. It sounds silly now, but it happened. We still aren’t sure where the communication breakdown occurred, but it didn’t matter. We had a choice to make because we did not have enough money to pay our rent as a result. The question that followed was, do we admit our error and get it back? Or do we trust in our faithful God to provide? We knew that we needed to trust God, even though it scared us. So, we left it all there and drove home, not knowing what was ahead. 

The next day, we were driving again, and the phone rang. I didn’t know who was on the other line, but I began to watch tears stream down my husband’s face. When he hung up, he shared with me that a man, whom I had never met, just walked into the church and left a check for us in the office. The amount? 4 times the excess we had given the day before. He said that the  Lord laid it on his heart to give that amount to the youth pastor and his wife (us). 

To this day, that story has marked me. It was and still is a monument of God’s faithfulness. A reminder that he will always provide. Now, everything hasn’t always worked out that way.  There have been seasons of life where money didn’t appear at our door. Yet, God always took care of us in his perfect way. However, that experience is a constant reminder that he does provide. He can carry us through anything we face, and the way he chooses to move is not up to me. My part is to trust God because every single thing we will ever meet is not a  challenge for him. It might not be what we asked for or what we thought would happen, but it’s always exactly what we need. Our all-seeing, all-knowing God possesses the power to take care of us, and that is enough. He is enough. 

All that you will ever need, he already has. Rest in that today, friend.

©2021 Something New Publishing. Written by Andrea Olson. All Rights Reserved.