As you might have noticed, I got out of the habit of posting Of God's Faithfulness Posts monthly, and it's one of my biggest regrets of 2018. I've recently been convinced that I need to start that again, so I jotted down all the things that I could remember from the past couple months and am publishing them today as kind of a catch-up. :D Be on the look out for more Of God's Faithfulness posts soon, because HE IS FAITHFUL, and I do not doubt that I will have something to share very soon!
Alright, here is my list of how God has proven Himself faithful, yet again, in the last couple months of 2018:
One of grandpa's employees was having some sort of heart surgery in which he was told he had a 5% chance of survival. Grandpa prayed for him and encourage him. Somehow, this man had the faith and courage to go ahead with it, even though the doctors didn't want even want to! He made it through and now it has been a couple of months since the surgery. He is a 62 year old Christian man. I got the opportunity to hear a conversation between him and grandpa, and I was very moved. With tears in his voice, he said, "I've been through hell! But God is so good." Indeed, He is!
I was trying to remember some of the things I've forgotten about God's faithfulness, and I remembered "Oh yeah! I finished my verses for Nationals!" That's a *big* answer to prayer, and it's something I only accomplished because of His grace.
I have gotten out of the habit of asking God for random special things since I've neglected these posts, so I forgot to ask God beforehand, but this proves that He "knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." I had run out of money at home when a photography and a convenience expense came up. Neither of them were necessary, but almost. I wondered what would happen. The next day at our thanksgiving gathering, I was playing the piano when my cousin walked up and placed a tip jar with a dollar bill on it on the top of the piano. I thought that was really sweet! It was the 3rd time I'd ever gotten paid for playing the piano. I got a couple tips! The next day I suggested the idea of buying some chapsticks from me to Grandpa, and he said that he had just run out, and he bought some! Amazing! Then I also remembered a stash of cash I had somewhere else I had forgotten about. Also, a few weeks later, I got paid very generously for one of my jobs - double what I usually get paid!! It just reminded me that God is universes rich, and He is sovereign.
One day I was cooking some oil. Our stove has a problem or two with it, so when you turn the knobs, you have to do it in a certain way or else it won't turn on - in particular with one of the knobs which decides to act up sometimes. XD :D One of my brothers figured out that if you put a spoon up to the place where it lights, it traps some of the gas and makes it easier to light. I was using that trick, and I was holding the spoon there for a couple of seconds, but it wasn't lighting!! So I leaned in for a closer look, forgetting that the longer the knob is turned on 'light,' the longer the gas is able to come out, and the bigger the flame will be when it does catch. All of a sudden there was a HUGE light, and I felt something on my head. I have no idea how, but I thought 2 things, and acted upon them in that second. My first thought was, "I'm burning. I need to turn the fire off." So my hand immediately turned the knob, then flew to my face and extinguished the flame that was quickly eating up my hair. I stood in shock, petrified for a second or two, then got some water from the sink and threw it on my head + face, just to make sure. Then I ran to the mirror to assess the damage. The fire had only lasted for 2-3 seconds, thankfully, and my skin wasn't burned. I could feel where it had been, but I couldn't see it. My hair, however, was quite singed at the top. My eyelashes had taken most of the fire, my eyebrows were slightly singed, but not bad, and my hair, starting at my part, was noticeably lacking. XD :D Wherever the fire had been you could see white little stubs, curled up like whittled pieces of bark. But it really wasn't all that bad, and I was thankful that it was my hair, not my face!! The damage was so minuscule that I had forgotten about it until writing this list! Then I thought to myself, "Wow, that could have been disastrous! I have super long hair, and if it had caught on fire, that would have been extremely dangerous. I could have had horrible burns all over my head, neck and back! Besides I would have lost my hair, and that would have given me not a few mental breakdowns.... just kidding. :D LOL. I'm thankful that the gas didn't build up for longer than it did, creating a larger fire. I'm thankful that I wasn't burned, and that my hair didn't all catch on fire. I'm also thankful that my hair grows back fast because one and a half weeks later, you'd never have been able to tell that anything had happened. God is sovereign.
For about a year or maybe a year and a half, I've had 4 people on my list that I've been particularly praying for (well, okay, really I have 20+, but I'm just going to talk about these 4. :D) For 3 of them, I was praying for spouses, and for the other one, I was praying for a baby. (I'm actually still praying for spouses for 5 other people still, so look out! I might be praying for you!! :D) Well, the lady I was praying for got pregnant!! And the three singles that I was praying for are now all either married or in a relationship!!! YAY!!! :D :D :D
You've likely seen the picture below before, but I had to include it in this one again, because it fits so perfectly. God showed Himself exceeding abundantly good to me this year in more ways than I could write down.
~ To The Utmost Glory Of God ~