Not by Bread Alone - Warrior Mom Wisdom - Week of June 25
Not by Bread Alone
Man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4
Have you ever been out of the ingredients you needed to make a recipe? If you ever have been out of what you needed, you may have just hopped in your car and ran up to the store, got what you needed, rushed home and made it. Easy solution. This is an easy solution if you have plenty of money to run to the store and get what you need. About a year ago, I was out of ingredients and I was out of money. Considering the state of the economy, there is probably someone reading this is my same boat. And then, regardless of the economy, there is always someone somewhere who is short a little money and a lot of ingredients. There are single moms, there are college students, there are people who have always worked hard and just not made much money, there are people laid off, there are people with massive medical bills, parents with children with more special needs than they have special funds, you name it – they are out there. You may be one of the people I just mentioned. I’m writing this because I’ve always been one as well. Last year about this time, I found myself short of ingredients and short of funds. I hadn’t been this broke since those years where we paid 20,000 a year for my son’s special needs on a teacher and a secretary’s salary. We were broke. We were getting by though; we were fine. But then….. I won’t go into all the details, I’ll just fast-forward to the point where I was in a real bind.
I was a small group leader at my church. It had been a wonderful l semester full of growing in the Lord and forming new friendships. All of us in the Bible study class planned a celebration lunch for our final meeting. I was to supply the soup. I was going to make a wonderful creamy, potato soup, with bacon, and celery and yummy, yummy things. Fall season was ending and we were heading into a cold winter.
Long story short, I couldn’t just run up to the store. We had some extra medical expenses, and well, let’s just say: we had 2 days and 12 dollars to live on until pay day. “Why couldn’t I have scheduled this celebratory lunch after pay day?” How embarrassing! I didn’t want discuss the medical bills with the ladies; I didn’t want to tell them and have them think they needed to give me money. We were fine; we had 2 days and 12 bucks. But still, I couldn’t just run to the store for my ingredients. I won’t lie. Tears escaped my eyes. I was tired from being broke so long. I was exhausted from trying, and I was out of everything for the soup!
With tears in my eyes, I filled a big pot with water, and I asked God to provide for me the same way that He did for the widow in the Bible. I remember how God filled every jug with oil and it kept pouring and pouring until she was out of jars.
For the jar of flour will not be used up and he jug of oil will not run dry until the day of the Lord gives rain on the land.
1 Kings 17:16
As I shook a little salt into the water and waited for it to boil, God said, “You have what you need.” I wiped my tears and said, “But, I’m out of everything….” Then I realized I did have a bag of potatoes in the garage in the fridge. I started digging in my pantry. I had a can of cream of celery soup. I looked in my freezer and found a frozen pack of bacon. Then, I found 2 onions and a block of cheese in the fridge. “God, you are right! I do have everything don’t I? Sure, it’s not fresh celery, but I do have what I need.
I got busy making the delicious, creamy potato soup. I added salt, pepper, and a tad-bit of Tabasco. I grated a bowl of cheese for the ladies to sprinkle atop their soup. I was set. I dished up a coffee-cup size of soup for myself. After all, a cook better try her soup before she serves it. I sat down, dug my spoon into the soup, and closed my eyes and I put it into my mouth. As I did so, I prayed that God would make it taste amazing….
My taste-buds screamed with excitement. I heard the applause of my heart, the thunder of victory, the praise and shouts of angels, my kitchen ceiling opened up and a bright light shone down upon my pot of soup. Okay, that last thing didn’t happen for real, but it did happen in the spiritual realm, I just couldn’t see or hear it with my physical senses.
The ladies came and set their pot-luck dishes upon the table. They excitedly talked amongst themselves and buzzed around getting everything ready. They walked past the pot of soup, completely unaware that God had prepared it, and added His miraculous touch to it. I was giddy with excitement for them to taste it. As we all sat down and joined hands, one of the ladies said a beautiful prayer. She even prayed for me and my family, asking God to bless us beyond measure. Little did she know He already had. He cooked the soup for my company!
I sat back as if watching a good movie. I silently waited as the ladies brought that first spoonful of beautiful potato soup to their lips. How did they respond? You ask. You guessed it: they loooooooooooooooved it! They raved about how delicious it was. They said they needed to get the recipe. I smiled real big. I was beaming with gratitude to God.
That day I truly learned that…
Man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4
Warrior Moms Unite!®
Love,
Kristina
The Warrior Mom Ministry was founded by Kristina Seymour, author of The Warrior Mom Handbook – Equipping Women through the Word, a Bible study for moms who desire to live by faith in the midst of their everyday lives. Kristina has learned that moms can't survive on caffeine and animal crackers alone; women in the Word and in community are united and able to stand firm. To learn more about The Warrior Mom Handbook, the Warrior Mom Ministry, and to sign up for daily encouragement, visit, www.warriormoms.net.
