Written by Jennifer Azubuike
“I don’t know how to pull this off in two weeks,” I vented to Hazle, seated across from me. Her demeanor was so calm that it probably upset me more.
“I…” She started to say something, but I cut her off.
“The apartments I have seen so far were listed in the upper eight hundreds to thousands. Yet, they looked debilitated when I saw them in person. How could anyone list something uninhabitable at such prices?”
“Have you looked at the Zillow website?” She asked calmly.
“Yes.”
“How about Craigslist?”
“No, I could look there, too,” I replied, wondering whether Craigslist would list apartments in the area that other websites haven’t. “The crux of the matter is that I don’t have much time. I fear I won’t meet the deadline to resume my new job.”
Hazle paused for a moment while maintaining her gaze on me. “I recall your words last night while we prayed. You reminded me that God is faithful. Surely, that hasn’t changed, has it?”
“I…I…did say that,” I stuttered and blushed. I recalled that our emotional conversation about life situations had led us into intense prayer the night before. The prayers led to scriptural exaltations recounting God’s faithfulness. I spoke with such conviction that I must have boosted my companion’s faith, but here I was the following day, fretting about finding a new apartment.
I drew a deep breath and exhaled. “You’re right. God is faithful, and that hasn’t changed. He will provide.”
In the days following, I maintained that posture of faith, especially after realizing that someone was watching and looking up to me. I continued confessing that I would experience God’s provision. Later that week, I received an email from the pastor of a local church in the area where I was looking for an apartment. He was responding to one of the emails I had sent to several churches asking for recommendations. He listed the names and contacts of a few people who had told him they had available spaces to rent, and I immediately messaged the contacts, hopeful. Two weeks later, I was ready to move into an apartment that had all my specific stipulations, including being located close to my new workplace and at an affordable price.
Reflecting on my experience, many of the emails I sent were never returned, and the man who responded had no obligation to respond to my email the way he did. Besides, what were the chances that people just told him they were looking for renters before he saw my email?The experience re-awakened me to the truth that the Lord provides, but oftentimes, we need faith to possess it.
“Consider the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the pagans pursue all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” Matthew 6:26-32
Until next time. Stay lifted!
See an interesting short story here
