God Will Provide

By Jenny Dendinger

For years, when my kids outgrew their clothes, I packed them up to store in the attic. What started out as a sensible practice while in the season of having babies, slowly turned into a bad habit. The more I packed and saved, the more it fed my fears of God not providing for us in the future.

I’m not saying that saving my eldest son’s clothes for his younger brothers was wrong. My boys are all two years apart. That was just common sense! In that case, saving was prudent.

But eventually, God helped me to recognize that some of my saving was spiraling into hording. When I packed everything away, it helped maintain my disordered views of self-reliance. 

We have been blessed with an amazing support system in our homeschooling community. Instead of saving things for the future or donating to local charities, many families offer their items to our group first. We can also post requests for help with clothes or even furniture, and assistance is almost always covered in record time. 

The generosity I have witnessed has been such a beautiful and uplifting example to me! 

I recently helped a sweet friend push her stroller into church as she carried her baby inside. While it rolled just fine, I noticed that the basket underneath was ripped, and we had trouble getting the seat to recline once her baby fell asleep. 

As I sat in church, God reminded me that I had a stroller in my attic. We had stored it there years ago, just in case we needed it again one day. I joyfully realized that day had come! 

My friend’s face lit up when she saw my stroller, and I was equally excited to offer it to her. At first, she was hesitant to accept. What if I needed it again? 

“Well,” I said with a confident smile given to me from experience, “if that happens, then God will provide.”