I had a lot of time on our drive to and from Florida (16 hours each way) to thank God for all of my blessings and to thank him for his beauty and serenity that I got to experience in my short week of vacation. I got to visit three beautiful beaches with soft white sand, calm clear beautiful water in the Gulf of Mexico and Charlotte Harbour, millions of miraculous sea shells, and tons of other Florida native wildlife (birds of all colors, shapes and sizes, crabs, fish, dolphins, turtles, etc.). While some say they "need" a vacation, I would agree that in my mind, I "needed" this vacation from the normal busy life, but we all know that we really don't "need" vacations, we just want them.
Pastor John spoke this week about
God being our provider. "And my God will meet all your needs according to
his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19. God…through
Jesus…has provided everything we need. Through my faith in Jesus, he provided
for me and my family on this vacation. We didn't have a lot of money to spend
on a big lavish vacation, but he provided us with shelter, food, good health, beautiful
scenery, precious family time together, and a reminder that not only do we need
to slow down our lives to allow for enjoyment of ourselves and families, but we
need to slow down to experience God and thank him for our blessings and what He
does provide for us. He also provided the protection we needed as we traveled.
When Pastor John asked this week
what we need that we must trust God to provide? I don't "need" a vacation. I do need love, patience and forgiveness
though. Not only do I need each one of these things from Jesus, I must also
give those things to others. Last week, I needed a break from my busy schedule
so that I could focus on God and my family more. The more faith we have in God,
the less we should need.
