Manna

I've been a little busy around here lately.

I've been gathering manna.

You know about manna right?  You know....the food that the Lord provided for the children of Israel while they were in the wilderness for 40 years.  You can read about it in Exodus 16.  It's also called bread from heaven and angel's food. ( Psalm 78: 24-25)   Sounds amazing huh? Bottom line, it was stuff that was supernaturally  provided by the Lord to sustain a certain need His children had.

Well here is my manna.

And no..this stuff ain't food.

But it was supernaturally provided for one of His children to meet a certain need.

Most of y'all know we just had a wedding for our second daughter eight months ago.  And we are planning another wedding for our youngest daughter in just  ~gulp~  seven months.   All this on one income other than the little extra my Honey Pot Shop produces.  It doesn't make sense on paper how it all comes together but God always does His thing.  I'm not gonna lie...there are days that I stress out when I begin to dwell on how we will pay for it all.  And then I just recall what He has already done with our other two daughters and the beautiful wedding celebrations He provided.  I know He will do that this time to.

He already is doing it.

Which brings me back to my manna and why I've been absent on here the past couple of weeks.

You see, just like He provided the manna for the children of Israel...they still had to get out of their tents to gather it.  He didn't just supernaturally fill their bellies.  He provided the means and they had to be obedient to His instructions and get out of their tents and do a little work gathering it up.

Well, this is what He did for me.  He provided the manna and I've been busy "gathering it up" so to speak.  A dear lady in our church who is very involved with her sorority alumni  is part of the planning for their convention this year and she approached me about making pins for their favors.  She had most of the materials...all I had to do was assemble them....as in 255 brooches made from vintage crocheted pieces!  Their extreme generosity in what they have paid me for my labor is a God thing and I'm so thankful, humbled and amazed for this opportunity.

Now honestly...I was thinking this was gonna be easy peasy.

And it woulda been if I was only making like 20 of them.  But let's just say I have a new found appreciation for all the people who work in factories at assembly lines doing the same tedious work day in and day out.  Whoa.  255 of these babies took waay longer than what I had anticipated! There were so many steps from start to finish.....Cutting them, trimming them up, starching them, tracing circles for backs, cutting out the circles, tracing hearts for the pin covers, cutting out the little hearts, gluing all of this together, embellishing with a pearl, attaching to card stock, embellishing the card stock with a punch, bagging them, and tying them up with a bow.

Whew.  Gathering manna is work y'all. 

(My sweet man helped me dip and starch them.)

My manna.

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generation , forever and ever. Amen. " 

 Ephesians 3:20

We have a wedding dress shopping trip planned during Lauren's spring break.

Will y'all pray with me that just like He stretched the life of the the children of Israel's shoes and clothes for those 40 years, that He will do the same with this money while we are shopping?   That Lauren will find the dress of her dreams in a store going our of business for 90% off or something?  Hey it can happen.  Just ask Lydia.  That was her manna story. ;)

He is able!