Holding It All Together With One Finger

I have NO idea what would have triggered this particular memory for me this morning, so I choose to believe that the Holy Spirit brought it to my mind to encourage me. I'll share it here so that it might encourage you too.

When my dh and I first met, we attended a church that averaged attendance of about 100 to 150 on Sunday mornings. We weren't really big enough to have both a teen ministry and a young adult or college age ministry. This church had a "family" atmosphere anyway, so the teens and early "twentysomethings" often hung out together.

My relationship with my husband began this way~attending the same church, same Sunday School class, and the same church activities even though we weren't "officially" together. He later told me that he had very little interest in most of the church "get togethers" that we went to, but he went anyway, just so he could flirt with me. :) But, I digress........

At one of these "get togethers", we played board games. Dh came and joined a group of us at a round table where we were playing Jenga. If you're not familiar with Jenga, it's a game that involves a tower of intricately stacked wooden blocks. The object of the game is to remove one block during your turn WITHOUT making the tower fall.

I began to notice that I was doing much better than usual at this game. I usually manage to knock down the tower on my first or second turn. This time, we had made 4 or 5 rounds, and the tower was still standing, even though I moved a couple of blocks that I just KNEW were going to make it fall.

Then, my dear, sweet husband ( though he wasn't my dh at this time) got caught. He didn't move his hand quickly enough when my turn was over. I saw him pulling his hand back, and I realized that during the whole game, he had been slyly reaching over with just one finger, holding up the tower of blocks so that it wouldn't fall on my turn. :) I think I must have been the only one at the table who didn't realize what he was doing the whole time! :)

I thought it was very sweet then, and when, for whatever reason, it came to mind this morning, I thought again that it was a very sweet thing to do . My very next thought was this:

Our life is, to put it plainly, a little bit of a mess right now. I mentioned in a post yesterday that we've had some things to tear up in the house lately, other things to just stop working, our van needs some repair work and new tires, and because of very tight finances, we've not yet filled our propane tank for the winter. But, we are managing. God has met each days needs as they have come.

God is doing for us just what my dh did for me that evening so long ago. God is holding up our block tower with just one finger. We may move the blocks. We may shuffle them around a bit, and we may choose to move the wrong ones, but as long as God has His finger on the block tower, it's NOT going to fall!!!

This is my prayer today:
Father, thank You for holding our teetering block tower together. You know every detail, Father, and You are in control of it all. Our needs seem great to us, even overwhelming, but they are not so to You. You are able to meet each need by simply speaking the Word. Our needs are not a surprise to You, and I thank You for that.
Guide me today, Father, in all that I do~in my words, my actions, and the use of my time. I ask You to touch dh today. Encourage his heart, Father, that he may KNOW that You are in control, and that You are moving in our lives at every moment. I ask that you bless us and our loved ones with health and protection today.
Thank You, Father, for meeting our needs, and for reminding me this morning that You ARE holding it all together with one finger.
I ask these things in the precious, sweet name of Jesus,
Amen.

Vicki