Several years ago, when the Powerball lottery was at some unfathomable amount, a person my wife works with gave everyone Powerball lottery tickets. We had never played the lottery before and have no plans to play it in the future, but we accepted the kind gift. For a split moment, we wondered what it would be like to win all that money (as I am sure many people did that night).
As expected, God decided not to instantly grant us a half billion dollars. We were both fine with that. We are happy with what we have and didn’t feel the need to become mega rich. But I was a little disappointed not to win the money for another reason.
You see, we were just starting the process of adopting a baby from overseas and would soon be asked to pay money we did not have. We felt called to adopt so we continued in the process, believing that God would somehow provide for us. Bills came and went and over the course of the year we paid the ones that were absolutely necessary and ignored the ones that could wait.
Fast-forward several months and the adoption bills had continued to pile up. We owed $10,000 ($9,700, to be precise). We knew if we ignored the bills any longer, they would delay our adoption. But there was nothing we could do about it, so we ignored the bills and continued to pray for God to work out the details.
Then things quickly changed.
Within a period of a couple of weeks money came powering in! A friend contacted us about giving some money. We filed our taxes and learned that we had a large check coming our way. My wife’s salary was a little higher than normal that month. All these little things added up.
After calculating all the extra money we had and the money we received through gifts and tax returns, the amount added up to the exact amount we owed. To the dollar.
But God is not about making our lives easier, he is about making us more like him.
It would have been a lot easier to win the Powerball. But God is not about making our lives easier, he is about making us more like him. Making us wait and depend on God taught us to become more dependent on him and also grew our faith.
After that time, more bills came in. We still had another $19,000 we had to pay over the next year. But from that point forward, we never worried. We knew God would work out the details. And he did. We were awarded some grants, we raised more money, other people generously donated. By the time we returned from China, we had enough money come in that we were able to pay back the loan we took out that we thought we would need to pay for the rest of the adoption. God provided every step of the way!
What about you? Are you stepping out in faith to do what God has called you to do? And if so, are you trusting in him to provide? Instead of praying to win the Powerball, pray that you will become more like him. Because the more you become like him, the more you will walk in his path, and then the more he will provide. And when that happens, watch out, because God will do amazing things!
