Implications

It’s good to get excited about what the Lord says, but itvs obvious that I donvt comprehend all the implications at the time.

Case in point: the building of my addition. I was fully convinced the Lord wanted me to build. I was fully convinced He hadnvt given me a budget (I admit it made me uncomfortable not having a budget—I used to be addicted to frugality). I was fully convinced that He OKvd my getting a line of credit, and I was convinced that He gave it to me as training wheels.

This is the part I didnvt comprehend. If I had no budget, and if the line of credit was training wheels, it meant the cost of building the addition would exceed the line of credit. Because I hadnvt comprehended, I was not prepared for what I would face.

The further along the project progressed, the more certain I became that the expense would indeed be greater than what I presently had funds to cover. I became afraid, and the fun Ivd been having with this addition for a little while fizzled. I continued to make decisions based on the idea that the Lord would provide, but my own lack of joy was a very good indication that I didnvt really believe it.

A couple of weeks ago another aspect of this situation came into the picture—something that had nothing to do with finances. My hope for the prompt and thorough completion of this project disappeared into thin air.

Clearly, however, the Lord didnvt intend for me to "run out of money." Running out of money isnvt particularly dramatic, and God loves drama, so He precipitated some. Into the middle of my mental turmoil about running low on building-money came this passage: "And Abram gave him a tenth of everything." Ivd already written a COD check for the door being delivered on Monday, and the plumber would collect some money after he passed his rough inspection on Friday, so when, on Thursday night, I wrote a check for a tenth of the line of credit, I had five dollars and twenty-five cents that remained available. In other words, nothing.

When I woke in the middle of the night, it occurred to me that I hadnvt given a tithe on the house or the car the Lord had given me, either. My stock, which I had been holding dear as a back-up, in case the Lord didnvt provide some other way for me to finish the addition (not that it would have been enough, either) would just about cover that. So there went my stock.

So here am I, broke, with an addition perhaps two-thirds complete.

And when I became broke, it opened my heart so I could hear the Lord saying that finishing the addition, which seems such a big deal to me, is an insignificant part of what He will do through this.

Ivm thinking about training wheels; Hevs thinking of the Tour de France.

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