“I have been young and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.” Psalm 37:25
Driving down Cooper Street in Arlington my 1996 black maxima began to shake, sputter, slow down and I gripped the wheel and worked my way to a parking lot as it sputtered its last breath and came to a stop. This car had 296,000 miles on it, and it had seen better days. However, it had been faithful since it was given to me 100,000 miles before by a lovely couple in my monthly Bible Study Group. The car just happened to stall in the parking lot of a foreign car garage owned by a very kind man. He let me know that this car’s next home would be a junk yard, gave me $300 cash and offered to help me get home safely. He allowed me to you use his phone to call a friend. My friend picked me up and helped me pick up my children from school and home. She offered to help me for awhile until we figured out what I would do about a vehicle.
Accepting my friends help, I began to pray to God to provide a vehicle for us to get around. The maxima had been given to me by another couple at her house. She was an instrument in God’s hands, praying and networking to bring about provision for this single mother.
God provided. We might have been hungry, we might have had little, but we always had food, provision, a place to lay our head and transportation. Five cars have been given to my family over the years. Truly I have not seen my single motherhood forsaken or my children begging for bread.
Do you trust in God’s provision? Have you fallen to your knees and prayed for God to make a way for you? You do not have to be a single mother to truly believe God’s word, that He provides.
Single motherhood presented itself to me one June afternoon in 1994. Pregnant with my 2nd daughter, after years and years of endless dramatic events, I found myself in a state of destitute pondering. How did I get here?
God answered me. He has never stopped answering me. Sometimes it might be a $5 refund check in the mail the week me and my daughters had nothing to eat, or a car, or a joy that surpasses all understanding in the middle of mayhem. In fact, even if I lost my way, and there have certainly been a few times that I did, He was always there providing a window, an open door, and a quiet knowing.
He waits for you like no other husband ever would. He provides for you in ways humans cannot. He gives grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, power, strength, wonder. Knowing God’s provision is in the trusting and in the wrestling with our own limitations and ethics.
Many years ago, before I married, I purchased auto insurance from an Allstate Agent, I was 19. I called one day to ask for a copy of my insurance card and the agent offered me a job. I declined, went to work the next day, was laid off, called him back and I started that Monday making $5 an hour. 36 years later I could write a book step by step through God’s truly amazing provision for my family in a career that has grown along with my faith.
God is trustworthy. God’s promises are true. God provides in endless ways, through others, through our job, through the church family, through your hard work, through you trusting and believing in His Sovereignty. Sometimes through a spouse, sometimes not.
You do not have to be single to know that marriage is a picture of God’s marriage to His people, and He is the perfect spouse. All others will always fall short. That does not mean you will not find one, it just means that you should trust Him and live for Him and let the chips fall where they lay, they say. That might sound cliché, and I know our hearts long to be loved and cherished in physical arms. However, many marriages are absent of joy, of peace, of grace and mercy.
Whether you are a single mother, or a questioning spouse, or a happily loved and cherished family, knowing God’s hand is working in your life, holding you close, leading you forward, building your faith is crucial to your walk with Jesus. Imagine fearing not. Imagine having faith even when it seems like things are waning. Imagine trusting God in the details of your life and working in honor of His gift and provision.
There were times when things were financially tough, emotionally empty, and spiritually weak. I know that God showed himself faithful to me during those difficult times. There were times when we were financially ok, emotionally strong, and spiritually on fire. God showed himself to me during those times too and reminded me how he walked me through both.
I have been a single mother for thirty years. Three decades of walking with God, sinning, repenting, seeking guidance, stumbling through my own way, choosing the wrong direction, desperate for companionship and being gently guided back into my purpose and for God’s glory in all of it. God provides for you single mothers. God provides for you married women. God provides for you in your loneliness, in your shame, in your times of great courage and in times of deep sorrow. He promises to never leave you or forsake you. He promises you nourishment from the Bread of Life.
I am just here to testify; it is the truth. I have been young; I am now old. I have not been forsaken, nor have I begged for bread in those thirty years.
Dearest Lord Jesus, I want to lift thanks and praise for your provision and guidance and the gift of your grace and mercy on my life. I pray for each of these ladies here, single, or not, who struggle with trusting you to provide in the different aspects of their life. I pray you show them personally how much you love them and provide them with wonder and grace so they can also testify to your walk in the pages of their stories. You are THE all in all, the Bread of life and we love you Lord.
(This article will be featured on Delightfully Your Ministry blog soon.)
Blessings Susanne
Susanne Moore 