«I’ve learned to be happy with what I’ve got.
I can live in poverty, I can live in abundance; learned to saturate and endure hunger, to be in abundance, and in lack.
I can do everything in Jesus Christ strengthening me» (Philippians 4: 11-13)
Often enough, both from unbelieving relatives and from brothers and sisters in Christ, we hear the question: «What do you live for now?» Sometimes there is a logical and understandable answer: the husband moonlights. But more often we answer in slight embarrassment: «Yes, we ourselves do not know, there is no money, and we have no need for anything, God blesses everything necessary». We boast of the Lord, friends!
«Everything that is needed to live and serve God is given to us by the divine authority of Jesus» (2nd Peter 1:3).
Almost a year of life near the front line in Ukraine taught us to rejoice in the small and be grateful for every good: for a warm dry bed, clean water, peaceful sleep. That’s so much already! It happened that we slept in a damp cold basement, and it happened – on the gym floor with dozens of refugees, but there were nights and days when we did not sleep at all, and then all the same for cold and damp, I just want silence.
In Tajikistan, God blessed us with a comfortable spacious apartment and a peaceful sky, which we, without exaggeration, sincerely enjoy every day!
At the same time, in the same war, we also had great blessings, not only spiritual, but also material. We were provided with everything, literally, everything that we needed and even everything that we wanted. I confess that we have not yet learned not to want earthly benefits at all, I want to eat hearty, and the shampoo is good, and I also want to drive a car. But our God is good and loving, He knows all our desires and often gives us even more than we ask.
«And He who acts in our power can do incomparably the most that we ask, or what we think, to Him glory in the Church in Christ Jesus in all childbirth, from century to century» (Ephesians 3: 20-21).
Now, in Tajikistan, we do not have permanent earnings or sponsorship. What do we live for? God himself fully provides us with everything necessary for life and service. He remains faithful, as always! God sends His blessings (not only financial, but also food, clothing, fuel for the car, etc.) from the most unexpected sources – each time it is a small miracle! We are often blessed by our parents, but we never ask them to do so.
For us, security is a matter of trust in God, as well as a matter of patient expectation. There are days when there is no way to buy even bread (just don’t tell my mother about it!), And then I bake tortillas and thank God for eating flour. At the same time, I am not worried, because I know for sure that God will send us bread before this flour is over.
«I was young and old, and I did not see the righteous man left behind and his descendants asking for bread: he mercies every day and gives a loan, and his offspring will be blessed» (Psalter 36: 25-26)
But waiting is not inaction. Therefore, the husband is always open to the opportunity to earn extra money with his own hands, like the apostle Paul was not against sewing tents, God blesses in this way. In addition, when we manage to earn our hard work, we can spend part of the money on a family trip to the mountains or to the sea without a twinge of conscience, just enjoying grace.
I also wanted to write about the law of sowing and harvest, how it clearly works in our life 100%. But you know, all the same, God provides for His children, as a loving Father, not for any merits and correct actions, not for the number of donations or hours in service, but for grace, because he loves. I will not get tired of boasting the Lord!
«Look first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all this will be added to you» (Matthew 6:33).