I went to the dentist’s office this week, and came back with three new appointments. Ouch. Turns out a bunch of my childhood fillings are failing and need to be replaced. And I need a tiny surgery to keep my gum tissue from receding on one tooth.

Total bill: $1600.

Ouch. It’s not in our budget. But I set out to do what we always do – figure out a way to handle it ourselves. We take care of our own problems. We’re New Englanders!

But I sensed God saying something else. He’s been talking to me for awhile about how I leave him out when I solve my own problems. I make it hard for myself, when he wants to make it easy.

We’ve seen this in our friends’ lives. They don’t have a savings to draw from, or access to lots of credit (debt). So when they need something, like a $500 transmission job on their vehicle, they ask God to provide. And the money came.

“Okay…so, God, …will you please provide the money for these dental bills? Um…thanks?”

That was this Monday. The bill will be due January 7^th. I prayed that prayer, trusting that God would take care of it, but expecting that the solution would show up somewhere around January 6^th.

Today, Wednesday, Andy calls me in the middle of the day.

“Jen, your prayer was answered. We’re going to get a check on January 1^st.”

I was blown away. How gracious a gift – not just that it’s now taken care of, but that I know ahead of time and won’t worry?! God is good. He is a generous caretaker, and I am so thankful that I didn’t try to handle it myself.

What are you trying to handle by yourself?