Article August 13, 2018 Issue

The promise of God’s provision

Bob Minnocci

Some years ago, I found myself desperately struggling to pay bills. My income was well below where it had been previously, and I felt alone and engulfed in fear over meeting everyday expenses. I was frequently paying bills long after they were due, and I spent many hours praying for an answer about how I was going to pay the next bill.

At one point, I shared my concerns with a friend, who suggested that I begin taking stock of the talents I had. “What can you do with what you already know?” he asked. His suggestion reminded me of the Bible story about the prophet Elisha and the widow who was about to lose her two sons to a creditor she couldn’t pay (see II Kings 4:1–7). Elisha asked her what she had in her house. She responded that she had only a pot of oil. He advised her to borrow as many containers as she could from her neighbors and fill them with the oil. She was able to fill all the jars and have oil left over. He then told her, “Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.” The abundance of oil, which illustrated God’s unlimited spiritual resources, was right there when the widow was willing to open her thought to the good at hand and follow Elisha’s divinely inspired guidance. I began to trust that just as God had a practical answer for the widow, He also had one for me that would meet my immediate needs.

One day, I decided to take a long walk while praying. My prayer was simply, “Tell me, Father, what to do.” Suddenly, I had the intuition to turn around. When I did, I saw the open door of a small grocery store with cakes and pastries on the shelves. Because I had been in business at different times and like to cook, I saw this as a sign that I should start a cake business.

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