Grace

I know I haven't posted pics in awhile. I will do that tomorrow since Jaron's 6 month appointment is tomorrow and I can tell you how much he has grown. Today I have a great story to tell.

As many of you know, Jason hurt his knee a couple of weeks ago. He is still on crutches and today he is having an MRI done to find out what is wrong with it. Jason isn't able to help much around the house or take care of the kids. The house isn't has clean as I would like it, but God is giving me the strength to care for my family.

The hardest part of the whole knee thing, is how we are going to pay for the MRI and subsequent treatment. What if he needs surgery and extensive physical therapy? We have an emergency fund, but that got dipped into when Jaron was born and we haven't been able to add money back into it. We've also had unexpected expenditures with the car and house stuff that the thought of a big medical bill is scary and overwhelming.

Saturday night I picked Jason up at the airport (he was in Memphis). As we were driving home we began to talk about how we were going to pay for his knee. Should I go and get a part time job? Is there something I can make and sell to get a little extra cash. We finally decided to not talk about it. We decided to trust that God would tell us what we needed to do when the time came and there was no point in worrying about.

Well...the next day, we were sitting in church and the preacher, Greg, told the congregation about our concerns for Jason's knee (which by the way, we didn't talk to Greg about our concerns). He went up to the alter and laid a check down. He said he was going to help us and if anyone else wanted to they were free to donate. By the time we left church we had enough money to pay for Jason's MRI. I looked on line as to how much an MRI for a knee costs in our area and it said $1300. Guess how much money we got? You guessed it. $1300.

After church we ate lunch and went to life group. When we got home we found that our lawn had been mowed. Jason can't do it, and it is hard for me to find time to mow it while taking care of the kids and Jason. Someone from church had asked Jason about it and came over and mowed it while we were gone.

We also got a call from one of our elders this morning saying someone wanted to donate more and wanted to know how much more we needed. We won't know the details of the treatment Jason will need until later this week, but needless to say I am no longer worried about how we are going to pay for whatever medical expenses come our way.

So we give praise to God for his provision and his faithfulness. He has explained to me that grace, which means an undeserved gift, is more than just Jesus' sacrifce on the cross so we could spend eternity with God. Though that in itself is way more than we deserve, he provides us undeserved gifts in this life, too. We have the gifts of the church (which was God's idea) and our loving and supportive families. We do indeed serve a loving and awesome God.

I hope this story strengthens your faith, as it has mine. I hope it reminds you to thank God for all the wonderful gifts he has given you. And as you think about all the gifts he has given you and you just get so full gratefulness that you feel you are going to burst, share with someone else. They deserve to know about God's abundant grace, too.

P.S. For those of you that worship with us in Corvallis. We love you and are grateful for all you do for us!! God couldn't have blessed us with a more loving, supportive church to work with.