“You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity.” Philippians 4:20 (The Message)
We just came back recently from a family weekend away in Ohio. Two weeks before we left, I started to pray a selfish prayer. It was incredibly selfish and I even told God about my selfishness as I prayed it anyway.
We have a tradition where instead of just handing out food throughout long car rides, we have “trip trunk treats.” We borrowed the “game” from my sister approximately 6 years ago and it’s stuck ever since.
About two weeks before this trip, I started praying, asking God to provide the money to buy our “trip trunk treats” simply because I didn’t want to use the allotted money from the budget for our meals. It was a selfish prayer, pure and simple and I acknowledged it while I prayed it. I told God something like this,” Abba, I know that we can afford to pay for trip trunk treats. I just don’t want to use that part of our budget and would love it if You would provide for them in another way for us. I don’t care what way You choose, and if You don’t, then I’ll know this request is purely selfish and I will happily use that budget for this part of the trip. This request isn’t about trust –it’s selfish, pure and simple.”
I didn’t pray this prayer every day, but I prayed it occasionally throughout the two weeks leading up to the trip. The Monday before we were supposed to leave, I thought about it again and had another conversation with my Heavenly Father. “It’s almost time for us to leave. But I also know You are the God of last minute miracles, so You could still be waiting to provide. We probably should go buy the trip trunk treats either Wednesday night or Thursday night since we’re leaving early Friday morning. Again, this request is purely selfish, but I’m praying it anyway. If You want to provide the money through another means, that’d be awesome. If not, we have the money and I will use it without complaining.” During this conversation, I started thinking about how nice it would be to use a rebate check or something for the treats, but since I hadn’t mailed a rebate in lately, I didn’t see one magically appearing in the mailbox, so I dismissed that thought almost as soon as it entered.
Two hours later, our oldest went and got the mail for me. He handed me a bill and what I thought was another bill from a doctor’s office. I had a procedure in February that was supposed to be covered 100%, and yet I kept getting billed for it and kept having to talk to the office and the insurance company about this bill I wasn’t supposed to have to pay. I thought, “Oh boy, I guess I need to add talking to the doctor’s office to my schedule today.” But then I looked closer and I noticed it wasn’t a bill – it was a check. A refund check for $39! Plenty of money to pay for trip trunk treats! Money that wasn’t coming out of our budget and coming from a “rebate” instead!
Friends, He even hears and sometimes answers with a “yes” our selfish prayers because God cares about us – down to the tiniest details, even about trip trunk treats and which budget will pay for them.
Come back next time when I share about how God doesn’t do things halfway. He heard my selfish prayer and blessed our family not once, but twice.
© Cheri Swalwell 2018