Our Envelope

The envelope showed up at the beginning of February.

The doorbell rang as we were sitting around our worn dinner table. I don’t remember what we were eating, but we had just finished bowing our heads and thanking God for the food. It wasn’t fancy food…but we were thankful for it. Finances were sparse again. Unemployment was plaguing us again.  Again…that word added weight to a difficult situation. Stress and fatigue had etched itself into my husband’s handsome face.  Despair stood knocking on the door of my heart.  We had been walking by faith, doing our best to trust that a job was in our future. On this particular weekday though, it felt as if our hope reserves were as low as our bank account.

But despair doesn’t win. When you wait on HOPE, He comes for you.

The ringing of our doorbell  startled all four of us. We all got up to go open the door, finding no one. Instead of a person,  a simple envelope lay upon our welcome mat. Our kids excitedly questioned what it was. My husband picked it up and his eyebrows shot up in shock as he looked inside. It was filled with money.  Whoever had given it had been extremely generous.

We were speechless.  Tears came.  Our kids saw God tangibly reach out and help their mom and dad. Our little family hit our knees thanking our good Father and praying for the amazing people who we would never get a chance to thank.

With that simple envelope our God had reminded us that He does not forsake those He loves. He breathes hope into hopeless situations through His people. And He provides for our needs…sometimes in mysterious ways.

The story of the anonymous envelope of money would be an encouraging one even if it ended there. But God wasn’t done with this one.  It became miraculous.

Do you know the bible story from 2 Kings;  the one about the widow who was in a hopeless financial  situation and only had a tiny bit of oil left in her jar? God had her  pour that oil into another empty jar given to her by a neighbor…and it filled it up! And then another jar, and another…the oil did not run out! Do you know it? It’s a good one. Sometimes I need to be reminded that the God who did that for her, is the same God that I cry out to today.  He didn’t get older, or less caring of His kids, or tired of miracles. His glory shines just as bright now as it did then. His love is just as tender.

The envelope was placed in a safe place and we began to pull cash out of it when we needed it. We tried to stretch it, but honestly our needs were great. Groceries were needed and so to the envelope I would go. Bills were due and I would return to pull out more.  A month went by and I noticed we had not run out. Strange, I had thought, since it had seemed like we had spent the total. Another month passed and there was still a thickness to the envelope. It truly made no logical sense. I thought about counting it, but something held me back. I began then to believe that God was doing a miracle with that envelope.  And so, without seeing how much we had left, I carefully replaced it in the drawer and thanked Him for whatever He was doing. 

The ‘oil continued to pour’ and each month we would stand in awe that the envelope was still not empty! We never counted it, and God kept giving.

That single, anonymous, generous, miraculous envelope lasted for 6 months.

You read that right. 6 months! There is no way the initial amount, as generous as it was, could have lasted for 6 months of groceries and bills.

Even now I can hardly believe it.  For half a year that white envelope sat in a drawer and was a constant reminder that we were not on our own in this fight. That despair would not get the last word, that HOPE lives here and we belong to HIM.

He Is Good.

We used the last bills from it just this last month. It was beautiful timing as we had just moved, and begun to settle into our new chapter of life, including employment! The manna is gone, it is no longer needed, for our God leads us on into His promises.

Every generous act of giving and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father who made the heavenly lights, in whom there is no inconsistency or shifting shadow.  James 1:17

–Kallie