Everything We Need: Trusting in God's provision

Our family visited Branson, MO, this summer for vacation. Before we left, we went shopping. We went to Kohl's and Old Navy to buy swimming suits and flip-flops. We went to the grocery store to buy snacks and drinks for the road trip and late night munchies in the hotel. We went to Target for small bottles of shampoo.

By the time vacation started, we had... everything we needed.

School starts today. The last couple of weeks have been full of many more shopping trips. Old Navy again – this time for school clothes. Target for notebooks, pencils, protractors, rulers, and the list goes on. Famous Footwear for new shoes.

All this prepping – hopefully when I pick up the girls at school, they will tell me they had... everything they need.

God also provides everything we need for life. Seem impossible? He promised to do so in His Word...

God gives us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him.

Or, our knowledge of Him gives us everything we need to grow in our relationship with Him.

As a family, we would have been crazy to do all the shopping and work to get ready for vacation and then not go. We wouldn't sit in our house for a week – looking at the suitcases packed with new swimsuits and flip-flops beside a cooler packed with road trip treats.

We wouldn't take time out of the last days of summer to shop for school supplies if my girls didn't intend to start school. Who would waste time and money on these things when we could be doing a lot more fun stuff?

We did the work so we would have everything we needed. Then we could better enjoy our vacation and my girls will enjoy school more.

It's the same way with getting to know God. We do the work and then better enjoy the experience of having a relationship with Him – better enjoy serving Him – as He gives us everything we need for life and godliness.

To learn more about all of this, I encourage you to check out my book, Everything We Need: God's Path to Know Him Better.