Musings from Graceland

I'VE BEEN SINGING...

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...a certain song off and on for the last day---"They'll know we are Christians by our love".

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You ask why?

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Okay, so maybe you didn't ask but I'm going to tell you anyway.

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But first, let me go back a couple of months ago.

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My husband and 3 of our children were stopped on a country road because the car in front of them was turning and they were hit from behind. The car was totalled and so for the last several weeks, we've been down to one vehicle. We had insurance money and with what we had in savings, we came up with an amount of money that we felt was a wise amount to spend. We didn't feel it was wise to go into debt with a car payment but we also really needed a second vehicle. Living way out in the country and having a family our size makes it very difficult to just have one mode of transportation.

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So we've been praying and reading classifieds and calling numbers on parked "for sale" vehicles and looking online and even going to a government vehicle auction. But nothing panned out. And so we waited and prayed and waited and wondered why we couldn't find something for $3500 or below that would suit our needs and seemed like a reliable, good deal.

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Enter Christian friends and God's provision.

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Yesterday morning I called a friend to see if we could borrow a vehicle from them for a couple of days this week. They'd loaned us their husband's truck before and our one vehicle, a 15 passenger van, was really, really needing to go into the repair shop due to brakes going out and other issues. She didn't answer so I left a voice mail.

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We went on to church and even discussed on the way there the importance of keeping on trusting in God to provide us a vehicle.

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After church, we pulled into our driveway and saw my friend's white van sitting there. We figured they'd just decided to bring a vehicle on over without calling back since they couldn't have called us in church.

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So I called her back to find out where she'd left the key and that's when she informed me that the van wasn't a loan, it was a gift.

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A gift!!!

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For us!!!!

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The white van was for us to keep if we wanted it.

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Well, needless to say I was shocked!

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I thanked her profusely but still was just blown away and the reality hadn't sunk in.

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We'd prayed and waited and God had come through in an amazingly wonderful way.

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And it was then that I was reminded of the old song from the Jesus People era and started singing snips over and over again...."and they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes they'll know we are Christians by our love".

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Because see, this is supposed to be the norm. We shouldn't be shocked when Christian brothers and sisters love each other in such practical ways. Because the Bible states very clearly that when we love Him, we'll love each other. And we're called to do for others as we would want done for us.

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And that's what my friend's family did yesterday. They're not financially rich. They are a family with a lot of little children living on a very limited, one-income budget. But they saw a need, they had the means, and they stepped out and became the way that God provided richly for His children.

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God is good.

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And so are His people when they reflect the sacrificial, abundant and extravagant love of the Father.