Loving Provider

A couple of months ago, soon after we had moved to our current home, our dishwasher stopped working. Now we had been without a dishwasher for several months in our temporary housing and it felt like we were constantly washing dishes by hand. With 11 people in our household it doesn't take long to have a sink full of dishes, and if you get behind on just one meal, you are severely backed up! So, we were elated when we finally moved in ....partly because now we had a dishwasher!! Still alot of dishes to do, but not so time consuming and wearisome (except those pots :) When it broke, then, it was disappointing but we would get it fixed, right? Well, first the repair man came to assess it and thought it was one thing, but when he fixed that, he realized it was something bigger, so we decided to order a new dishwasher since it wasn't worth the price to fix it. When they came to deliver it, it couldn't be installed because of the type of piping we had.... one delay after another. In the meantime, we were once again spending lots of time washing dishes.

And then....just when I was probably feeling sorry for myself, our clothes washer broke! (Now our girls, who love learning about pioneer days, had recently commented that they would love to wash clothes the old fashioned way... and that is what we had to do)
This was right before we took a trip up north to visit John's parents in New Hampshire. So we had dirty, wet towels and clothes hung around the bathrooms so they'd atleast dry out and not get moldy while we were away...quite a mess! Once we returned from our trip, we had to take 14 trashbags full of laundry to a laundromat to get our things clean.
We began wondering what we should do. We knew we couldn't keep that up.

We got a call from our neighbors and members of the home fellowship we are a part of...
that a dishwasher and dryer were being delivered that day. Not just any washer and dryer, but a Speed Queen high efficiency one which is ideal for a big family that uses their machines as much as we do. Not a loan we were told, but a gift...from the church.
We were amazed, humbled, thankful.

I told our kids that everytime we do laundry we can think about this amazing provision from God who cares about our every need. We can thank Him for how He works through His people and be reminded of how we are to minister and help one another in the church, which is the Body of Christ.

We feel unworthy of such a gift....we know the families that contributed don't have alot of money and have lots of their own expenses...not to mention our church fellowship is small. We often buy used things so to receive such a gift was incredible. In our society (which stresses "independence" and self-sufficiency, it is hard in some ways to be on the receiving end. But we also know that God put this on their hearts. Not only is it an act of LOVE to us and to God, but ultimately it is a gift of love to us from GOD who works through His children. We also know it delights GOd when His children love sacrificially. So despite my husband's natural inclination to view it as a loan (and pay it back first chance he gets) we are thanking God and hoping that we can be just as generous to help others in need.

I realized that weekend that I had caught up and actually had all the laundry done for once! (it sure helps having an efficient dryer as before we'd have to put the dryer around a few times to get it dry ) What a blessing to know God knows and cares about our struggles and daily lives.A few days after the washer and dryer arrived our dishwasher was redelivered and this time the delivery men installed it. So glad :) I know there is much character building when things are hard ( for mommmy and the children) and I have much respect for people long ago that did everything by hand, but I am thankful that our load is a bit more manageable which means more time for each other. What a blessing to know that God cares about our needs and struggles. I know God wanted us to learn some things during that time, and also to show us, in His timing, that He is our loving provider and can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.