Today has been a day of remembering. Remembering a loved one, all the memories we shared. His family and friends coming together and sharing another memory together. Memories are something God gives us to help us move forward. We were riding through Starke today and it is filled with so many memories. More for Jeffrey than myself. Where he graduated from high school. The same high school his Dad graduated from. His first job. Kind people... not so kind people haha We moved to Starke when we had been married for 6 months and began making memories of our own. As we drove through town today and with our minds already going down memory lane, we passed a Pizza Hut. A special Pizza Hut. One that we remember even 15 years later. I said "you know, we need to write down all the times that God has miraculously provided for us. We forget." Jeffrey said "take a picture and blog about it". TWIST my arm... :) I love to proclaim God's wonders, his miracles!!!!
We were... um, a little less than poor at the time. I was pregnant with Micah. It was a normal Sunday where we went to church that morning. We had nothing at home to eat. Now I'm not just saying we had a pantry full of stuff but didn't know what to do with it... we had nothing. We had $12 in the bank so we were going to go by the store and get something. I had been really sick and didn't feel like making anything so Jeff says "well, we can trust God by going to the grocery store or we can trust God by going to eat pizza". So, we went to Pizza Hut. We knew we had JUST enough to buy our lunch. When we walked in, we saw the price for lunch buffet had gone up. Jeff said "I'll go pull out more money and come back and pay". He needed to eat something so we ate first. While we were eating, a family came in that had 6 kids. We really enjoyed watching them interact with the baby. This baby had special needs but like so many... no one told him that ;) He was probably about 2 years old. Jeff finished eating and left. The youth group from our church came in right as Jeff was leaving so I talked to them a minute and went back and sat down. The dad of this precious family came up to our table and said "God told me to pay for your food". I said "oh, no sir! We have it, we just didn't have enough... so he went to pull it out". He just said "God just told me to do this" and then he left. I sat there just in shock. Jeff walked in a few minutes later and I told him what had happened. We rushed out the door to pay the man. He was so calm, getting all the kids in the van. He said "we live in Palatka and we have no reason to come to Starke. Today God just told us we needed to come eat here. All I can tell you is do what God has you to do". Jeff thanked and thanked him and still tried to pay him. He said again "I'm just doing what God told me to do. Just go do what God has told you to do". We told them bye, got in our car and drove in teary silence most of the way home.
God has used many times like this to encourage us, to remind us "HEY, I'm here!!!" Yet, somehow, we still forget. We worry when money gets low, when loved ones get sick, when plans go COMPLETELY different than we had planned. Not only do we have the Bible with countless accounts of God's provision, we have modern day miracles and we still FORGET to REMEMBER!!!! I'm thankful for these precious precious memories!!!
1 Chronicles 16:12 "Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced"
