Thrifty time!

4:07 p.m. Today's project was to fax in a Content Approval Form to Tate Publishing, since I obtained proofreader Kathy Langtry's signature at church yesterday to go along with mine. We signed to confirm that there are no more changes to be made on Galatians, and it can go to the layout department. Exciting times!! I also needed to exchange a lovely dark brown thin-line felt-tip pen--is it a bit obsessive that I enjoy my journalling pens so much? It ran dry in one use, so I went to the UPS store where I bought it. No problems, exchanged without question. I've been a customer there since they opened, probably 20 years ago, as a Mailboxes, Etc., so I would expect no less from owner Ron Purkey or his staff.

Now came a big challenge: go to the Ralphs store in the same parking lot and spend as little as possible for a small amount of groceries. What made this a big deal is that I have avoided going to buy groceries for the last week or so because we are in between the receipt of the rent check from our Wyoming property and Steve's Social Security check. Praise the Lord that He has shown me over many years as a mother at home, and now as a granny on fixed income, how to scour through the cupboards, pantry, fridge, freezer and deep freezer for foods to creatively combine for Steve and me. God has truly been multiplying our "loaves and fishes" this month, with meals that actually have been pretty tasty! But Steve ran out of the bananas he eats when he takes his meds in the morning, and is just about out of bread for his sandwiches. I'll not waste money on dishwasher detergent, so we've all been washing our few dishes and cookware by hand. So we're saving elecricity and water at the same time!

I just love the Luke 8 story of the "Feeding of the Four Thousand," where the people have been listening to Jesus all day, and He didn't want to send them home hungry. The disciples were highly skeptical about feeding so many people in the wilderness, just like we would be! "He (Jesus) asked, 'How many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven.' " (vv. 1-5)

That's me these days. The Lord points out to me what we have, and then graciously shows me what to fix for dinner. Same with Steve's medications. He'll be out of his Aricept by the end of the week, so instead of paying the $50 co-pay ( !), I remembered the boxes of samples our neurologist gave me and they can tide him over for days. His four other meds have $5 co-pays.

However, today I absolutely had to buy bananas, bread, and coffee creamer. I prayed as I went in, and got a large French Vanilla creamer. I thought about getting bread, but Steve has two slices left. However, the day-old bakery cart in the back of the store had a big bag of lovely round, oblong, large, medium, seeded and onion buns, some white, rye, or whole wheat. Only $1.79! What a find--Steve will have variety of great breads for his sandwiches. And the way he goes through bread, staleness won't be an issue, any more than day-old bakery goods had a chance to get stale when I bought armloads of them for our young family.

Next came the bananas. They seem to be 67 cents a pound everywhere, so I carefully weighed 4, then 3, then finally 2 small green ones to keep to 1 pound. At the machine checkout, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the bananas were only 42 cents! Out of the store with the items required to make the next few days livable, and all glory goes to the Lord for providing all that we need!

God says in Psalm 50:12: "The world is mine and all its fullness." God has no lack, either of supplies or willingness to meet our needs! And in verse 15 we can take such reassurance:

Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me.

Today, Steve and I stand delivered, and the glory is God's alone!