He Provides.

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This week has been a doozy.

But I think it's been that way for a lot of mamas. Something must be in the air. Because I'm pretty sure most of my friends' kids are also are boycotting naps/getting sick/acting a fool this week. Seriously. Something must be in the air.

And it's not just the mamas either. My friends who work outside of the home have also had interestingly difficult weeks. Again... I'm pretty sure something is in the air because there is a whole lot of crazy going around. And I'm hearing a theme in my conversations this week that goes something like this: Exhaustion. Confusion. Frustration. More Exhaustion.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I've been studying Joshua. And once again... something spoke to my heart. Joshua 5: 10-12 says this,

"While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year."

While the Israelites were wandering, God provided food for them in the form of manna. But once the Israelites arrived in Gilgal, the manna stopped. Yet they didn't go hungry!

And it hit me... God's provision for His people didn't stop, it just took on a different form.

He provided a safe way through the Jordan river and in a few chapters we see Him deliver Jericho into their hands. His manna might have stopped falling from the heavens, but instead he provided manna from the ground.

I think sometimes when our season of life changes and thus God's provision for our life changes, we get thrown off a bit. It's tempting to accuse God of withholding our daily manna when in fact, He's still providing! Its just through different means!

I feel like that's a lesson I'm learning even through parenting. How quickly our children grow and we enter into different seasons of parenting! And as I flounder through, ahem... enter each new phase, I need a new mercies to be able to love and guide our girls. I'll be honest with you. In this new season, most days I'm tired. Some days I'm frustrated. And almost everyday I feel like a fish out of water. It's all new and I have ZERO clue what I'm doing. But as I read that passage I was reminded that Jehovah-Jireh, God provides. Always. His provision might not look like what I'm used to, or how He's provided in past seasons... But nonetheless He provides.

So whether your day is full of dirty diapers and moments like these...