God makes me laugh, and smile

I have been fairly stressed out about money issues lately. I work two jobs pretty frequently through out my weeks, but I don't make very much. They are more than able to cover the costs of the things I have to worry about right now (gas, bills, and a little extra for whatever) but still, it always seems that I come up short just at the most horrible time. I'm trying to get everything lined up for my Florida trip on Friday and have just been worrying up a storm about how I'm going to pay for things down there.

Does God not make it so totally clear that he will provide? I have been somewhat ignorant to that promise in the midst of my stress. I tend to ignore the promises a lot, actually, because in the heat of the moment of frustration, stress, irritation, or worry I become quite human and just rely on myself to get myself out of it. Well, that is, until this little thing called my conscious reminds me that I have someone watching over me who will MORE than take care of it.

Anyway, the other day, my mom and I had to switch cars for a little while so that I could take Bernice, my elderly friend, to get her hair done. She has trouble getting into my car. Heck, I have trouble getting into my car. So we swapped. My mom ended up having to leave for work before we could switch back and I remember feeling really bad that I left my car on practically empty, and then I began to stress about the fact that I would need to fill my tank as a result. My mom got home around 8, I hugged her goodbye, and drove off in my car, to see that she had filled it with gas. My car isn't expensive to fill, but it's a gas guzzler getting about 12 miles to the gallon, and right in the middle of a stressful moment where I thought I'd have to shell out forty dollars to re fill, my mom just does that. I was so happy, and so thankful in that moment. First, I called my mom to tell her I loved her and appreciated her a million times over, and then, I prayed and thanked God for the same thing.

Now, this is really weird. I have this wooden shoe box underneath my bed that I keep old cards and notes in. Dusty actually got it for me one year as a birthday present and carved my initials into the side. It's a cool little keepsake, and tonight, for some random reason, I decided to go through everything in it. I'm weird in that I save EVERY birthday card that anyone ever gives me. I know that's weird to some, but I just don't like to throw them away for some reason. I was reading all the notes from birthdays gone by and skipped over the one from my grandparents, mainly because they say the same thing every year. I then immediately felt bad about it, so I decided to go back and read one. And when I opened it, three 5 dollar bills fell out.

What!!!

Alright, so 15 dollars isn't that much, but hey now?! When do I ever sit in bed on a Sunday night at 1:45 in the morning (it's finals week) going through old cards like that? And when do I ever open up one from the grandparents to find a random three bills fall into my lap?

Do you think that God is trying to tell me something? Oh, I dunno... maybe it's "Hey, Case, I really am in control. I know you are stressed about money, but you don't have to worry. I'm going to take care of it."

In my head, that's what I heard God saying tonight. I wanted to give off my joy some how, not to brag about suddenly being fifteen dollars richer, or to brag about having such a wonderful mom, but to totally brag about the fact that I was in need of something bad, and through a little prayer and lesson, God showed me that he would be there for me. I laughed out loud, and then I smiled. God, you just have a way of doing that to me :-)

(PS, I should probably pay my grandparents a visit tomorrow to tell them that story. I think it might warm their hearts, maybe just a little.)