Her Story is My Story

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, who agonize to taste of this righteousness.” Thanks, Erwin.

I recently heard the story of abandoned children in Zambia who have known hunger and starvation. After being taken into orphanages and fed, they surprisingly don’t go to sleep easily. I thought it is perhaps because their little swollen bellies are in pain as they feel a brand new feeling – food, not emptiness. But it isn’t because of something in their bellies; it’s because of something in their mind.
They are afraid, even terrified, to go to sleep for fear that there won’t be food there tomorrow. The workers there began putting pieces of bread in their hands so they could go to sleep at night, which gave them the promise of something to eat the next morning.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about trusting God and his provision. I struggle to differentiate between faith and foolishness. I want to trust God to provide day by day but I also want to be wise with what he’s given me today so I will have tomorrow. I have a friend who also struggles with this.

As she and I talked I remembered hearing about these Zambian children. She wasn’t abandoned. She hasn’t known real hunger, much less starvation. She’s never been without shoes, clothes, or shelter, yet she still feels the need to stockpile, to hoard, and to hold on. “What if…?” sits in the back of her mind. She must be prepared. We both confess our lack of faith.

Sometimes she can’t go to sleep because she doesn’t know (trust) that there will be some tomorrow. As we journey along, I’m so thankful for a patient God who put bread in our hand last night so we could sleep even though there was plenty for today. A God who, as we lay our heads to rest, tucks a piece of bread in our hand so that we can sleep tonight even though he already has provisions for tomorrow. A God who will continue to tuck a piece of bread in our hands, who will show his faithfulness moment by moment and day after day, until we trust him enough to go to sleep “empty handed”.