Give us today our daily bread. Matthew 6:11
“I feel there are especially necessary for me in this life two things without which its miseries would be unbearable. Confined here in this prison of the body I confess I need these two, food and light. Therefore, You have given me in my weakness Your sacred flesh to refresh my soul and body, and You have set Your word as the guiding light for my feet. Without them I could not live aright, for the Word of God is the light of my soul and your sacrament is the bread of life.”
Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ) excerpt from Chapter 1, “Imitating Christ and Despising All Vanities on Earth (Grand Rapids, CCEL), p. 173.
I am safely in Pakistan and all is well. I am in a remote setting called Nathiagali, near Abbottabad.
God does little things in my travels to show me I can trust Him to provide necessary things such as food and light, or in today’s case, an extra bed. Long story short, our team needed an extra bed for lodging. We got to the place and the room God supplied had an extra bed in it.
Little things like this are not little. If you need food, ask for it. Jesus invites you to ask in the heart of the Lord’s Prayer.
Or we might share opportunities to help with others. Like yesterday, I asked you all to pitch to help with unexpected trip expenses yesterday, and no one responded so I am asking God to help. Come to my aid, Lord!
And if you need light, give thanks for the Word of God, which as Thomas puts it, is a “guiding light” for our feet to help us navigate this present darkness. Or the rolling blackouts – frequent daily power outages – that Pakistan is experiencing at this time.
When we aim to live, give, serve, and love generously, we often have needs, experience little human help, it is in those moments that we get to see God miraculously meet them. Yesterday, His divine provision of the extra bed strengthened the faith of the team members.
Where ever you are, God is with you. You can trust Him for food and light. I pray this helps sustain your generosity and remind you of the faithful source of everything you enjoy and share.