A testimony to God’s provision

For a lot of incoming interns, money is going to be a source of stress. Never fear, God to the rescue. Hopefully I can spark some hope in you with my story.

The magic number is $12,000. That’s how much I figured I would need over the course of a 10-month year. That number covers tuition, mission trips, and everything in between. It’s a little different now because there are days you can work, but when I first started the internship there was no shot anyone could get a job. “Back in my day . . . I had to walk three miles a day through two feet of snow to get to church!” 😉

Nonetheless, 12k is ton of money coupled with the fact that I couldn’t get any of it by working. Do you think you could raise that amount? I didn’t think I could. So you know what I did? I prayed about it. Good Alex. But you’ll never guess what I prayed for. I prayed for half the money – $6,000.

Honestly, I was like there was no way I would be able to raise that kind of cash so I told God I would be content with 6k. Worse comes to worse I’d tap into some savings. Not the ideal situation, but doable.

A couple of weeks out from the internship, I think I had a few hundred dollars raised. Not quite the floodgates of Heaven being opened up for me. But not too long afterwards, $600 was committed to me each month. $600 from one supporter. Let’s do the math on that one. $600 * 10 months = $6000. Hey! Would you look at that, half the money in one fell swoop.

Obviously, I was extremely grateful and thankful to God for the money. But I remember praying and thanking God for it when my spirit was just crushed. God was asking me why I had only asked for half. What kind of trust was that? What kind of faith? Really, what kind of confidence did I have in God? Zero! It didn’t seem to do me much good in the faith department.

I tell you all this to remind you that God is called Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide).

Genesis 22:14
So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

In the case of Abraham, he was in a desperate situation . . . about to sacrifice his son. You will come to find God always comes through in our desperate situations. Please don’t do what I did and shortchange what God could do financially.

God will never go halfway with us.

At the end of the year, God had gone beyond what I had asked for and beyond what I needed. I found myself in the path of the floodgates of Heaven. I finished the year with $16,000 in donations.

Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

Get Email Updates

I write about a hodgepodge of things. Much of it will be what God’s teaching me—hopefully it encourages you too. I also enjoy deep diving into product recommendations, reviews, and other random but useful nuggets.