21 Days: Day 16

Hello, Be Hope! Welcome to another day of 21 days of prayer and fasting. Today's devotional is coming to you from the Book of Matthew, chapter 17, verses 24 through 27. In this story, Peter and Jesus arrive into town, where tax collectors shortly after approached Peter and questioned him and whether Jesus is going to pay his temple tax.

Jesus then tells Peter to go down to the lake, cast in his line, and reel in the first fish in the mouth of fish, Peter finds a coin, and the coin is worth just enough to pay for the tax for both Peter and Jesus. And Peter didn't find that coin and the normal place he found it in the most odd place of all things.

And I believe that Jesus was showing us, as well as Peter in that moment, that he's going to provide for us, but sometimes just in ways that we would never expect. In my own life, I had a point in time where I was unemployed, and I was uncertain of how my family was going to continue to sustain financially.

And at this time, it was the end of the year. And Pastor Brad had been talking about our end of the year offering and how if we just to give our finances to the Lord and allow him to work in his own ways, that he's going to show up in ways that we would never expect. So I did exactly that.

I chose to give the last $27 that I had in my bank account, and just prayed to the Lord that I give him everything, and that I trusted him to just show up and provide for my family. And he did exactly that. Shortly after, my husband's work situation changed, allowing us to be able to live entirely off of his income alone, which in turn allowed me to continue to be the stay at home mom that I felt so heavily called to do.

I believe that God had a plan for my life all along, and it was just playing out in a way that I would have never expected. And I believe that he has a plan for your life as well. So my challenge to you is to cast out your line, give it all to him, allow him to work for you in ways that you would never expect. Trust him and know that your coin in the fish's mouth is on its way.

Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for this community that we have here at Be Hope and our ability to glorify you through 21 days of prayer and fasting? Lord, I pray that you continue to uplift and encourage each and every one of us every day and those hard moments, and that we may remember to turn to you when we're struggling and to give it all to you and trust in your ability to show up for us in ways that we could never ask or imagine.

Thank you for all that you do for us, all that you have done and all that you have yet to do. It's in your mighty name that we pray. Amen.