Looking in all the wrong places...

This morning while I was brushing my teeth, I started thinking about teeth and upcoming dentist appointments and then was hit with a rather unpleasant thought. This time we won't have insurance. You see, the company my husband had been working at for the past 21 years unexpectedly closed its doors this month leaving my husband and about 300 other employees with no job - completely caught off guard and staring into the great unknown called the future.

Thankfully, I have a full time job and there will be unemployment benefits for at least long enough for a decent job hunt. Our insurance, however, will have to change. For the past 21 years we had been insured through my husband's work and while we are making the switch, I'm not sure our dental will be making the "trip." So, this time when we take the kids to get their teeth cleaned, I will have to pay the entire amount out of pocket. It will be a bit of a squeeze, but it's still do-able. For a brief moment, I even had a sanctimonious thought....at least I'm not expecting the government to bail me out. Those who look to the government to provide all their needs have made the government their god! Notice I said for a moment....then I heard that unmistakable whisper in my heart asking, "And who have you been looking to?"

You know that sick feeling you get when you realize you are wrong? The one where your stomach tightens a bit and feels queasy all at the same time? Yeah, that one. Well, I felt it because in that moment I realized I'd been looking to my husband's job to be our provider. I guess I'd kind of looked to our jobs instead of to God.

While my husband will find another job and will  be working, right now the provision isn't coming through his job or mine. I really do have to look to the Lord. Now I'm starting to learn in a new way what it means to say we look to the Lord for everything we need. It's different. I know that a new job will come, but for now we are having to trust the Lord for what we cannot see.

Don't get me wrong. We are doing fine. No one is going hungry and the power is in no danger of being turned off. Still, it is a very different feeling. We are not trusting in a job, or a bailout from the government, (although we do appreciate the unemployment benefits since we've paid into them all these years), and we don't expect to win the lottery or have some long lost relative leave us a small fortune. Now those dentist appointments or doctor visits or new glasses or any of our daily needs won't come from some company and the insurance that we have, it will come from our Father. It may come in the form of a new job, or some extra hours at work for me or through not getting sick, but I know it will come.

I guess you could say I'm still looking to someone to provide, only now that someone is not limited to earth and the things of man. Now I'm looking to the One who made the heavens and the earth; the One who knows what my needs are even before I do; the One who knows what the future holds for me and my children and their children and their children's children! Now I'm looking to the one who holds me in His hand and can calm the raging storms in me.

I don't know what your life is like right now. Perhaps you're doing better than me and have always been looking in the right places. But if you have come to a point in your life that you realize you've been looking in all the wrong places, may I invite you to join me in this new way of life. Looking to the author and finisher of my faith - Jesus. For in Him I find all that I need.

Not a bad start for a morning. By the time I'd finished brushing my teeth, I had a new point of view. I finally realized I, too, had been looking in all the wrong places, and it was time to make a change. Now that's enough to brighten the smile on anyone's face.

Psalm 105:4 "Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always."

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow...." Matthew 6:31-34


"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever." Philippians 4:19-20

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;" Psalm 23: 1-3a