My heart is overflowing and I just want to chat today. Maybe you could fix yourself a cup of tea or coffee and pretend we are sitting across from each other as you read. . .
I’m going to be very transparent here. One of the things I have struggled with while serving as a missionary is not “being there” or being able to provide some things for my kids. I know that some of you reading this will understand, some won’t and some will have different philosophies of raising children that will wonder what the big deal is. The point of this is to show that God meets us where we are and helps, directs and provides. I know that God has used these circumstances in the hearts and lives of our children, just as He has in mine.
I cannot be in the states with my son, but God is. He has proved it over and over these past 2 years. I see God directing him and providing for him daily. God never sleeps. No matter what time zone we are in, His eyes are everywhere! I may not be able to provide for some of the needs or desires of my children, but God can and does. When our son left for college, I wondered how he would ever finish without a huge amount of debt. When he finishes this second year, he will have very little debt, if any.
And then there are the lessons of this past week. . . Earlier in the week I read Psalm 35:27 in my Bible reading. “Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure [delights] in the prosperity [welfare] of his servant.” After reading this, I started to think about Psalm 68:19. “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.” As I was thinking about these verses, I started to think about how they applied to different situations in our lives.
We have been praying and searching for a new flute for our daughter for a little over a year. She wants to major in flute performance when she attends college. We knew that she needed a better flute if she was going to improve and pursue this. As we researched, we were rather floored at the expense. We had no idea. There was no way that we could pay for a professional flute. We were thinking that we would have to buy her a step-up flute and then start saving for a professional one for her later on. We had a price in mind that we couldn’t go over. I wanted to get her a Muramatsu or Miyazawa, but felt like that was impossible. I wanted to buy her a flute that would get her the whole way through college, but didn’t how we could do it. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that with God all things are possible!
Last year, we tried to buy a flute that was recommended to us. It didn’t end well. Basically, we lost half our money and ended up without the flute. A few weeks ago, we knew we had to do something. DD has a little over a year left before she begins college and she needed a new flute if she was going to improve. I contacted a friend who put me in touch with a lady at the college she will attend. She was very helpful and very informative. Still, I had little hope of getting the flute that DD needed for college. We were still praying that the Lord would lead and provide.
Meanwhile, there is a man here that is a friend of my husband. He has taken an interest in my daughter’s desire to play the flute. He helped us find the flute teacher she has now and occasionally will call about a used flute that he sees in his travels. When her beginner flute was beyond repair and the other flute deal fell through, he told us of the Yamaha student flute that she has been using for a year. On Friday, he told my husband of a used Muramatsu. DD and DH went to look at it. They called me and I tried to find answers to questions on the internet. We didn’t know the model, but it was in excellent shape. It was well taken care of and all the pads had been replaced by the resale shop. They bought the flute. We knew that even if it was the lowest model Muramatsu made, it was a great deal. It would at least get her started in college. But God answered “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.”
Each Muramatsu flute is handmade with a serial number on it. I contacted Muramatsu and asked for the specifics on the flute that we purchased. We have an AD model professional flute that meets North American standards. It is exactly what we were hoping for! The store obviously didn’t know what they had, but God did. It is probable that this is the only flute that DD will need to finish college, but if not I know God will provide.
This morning the Lord brought the verses in Psalms to my mind again and I was able to share them with my daughter with the Lord’s provision in mind. I pray that every time we see the flute, we will remember our God Who “daily loadeth us with benefits.”
“I will praise thee forever, because thou hast done it. . .” ~Psalm 52:9
Drinking at the Springs 
wow mom, I had no idea you wrote this! I LOVE YOU! And God gave me more than I deserve!