All That I Need

In my personal daily devotions the other evening, I read Psalm 23 (among other passages from the one year Bible...check it out online.)in the New Living Translation. It reads: The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything that I need. As I ponder that thought, it has hit me, that I spend way too much time concerned about my needs, and not nearly enough time thanking God for meeting those needs. Like many people who live in Florida these days, we are having to find a new homeowners insurance company. We got non-renewed by Lloyds of London, I guess because of our hurricane damage claims from 2004. We were paying about $1,200 a year for insurance three years ago. It went upto $3,900 for 2005 and 2006 with a wind damage deductible jumping from $5,000 to $7,500. Today, the best deal we can find has an annual premium of $4,400, and a wind deducible of $12,000! I have sweated bullets over this, but after shopping around, this was the best deal wecould find. So, if another hurricane does hit us and we sustain the kind of damage we did after Francis and Jeanne in 2004, well, I know that God will provide. I just have to have faith. I still believe that God wants us here in Vero Beach. Our work here is not even close to being done, so, I have to believe that God will provide our needs. Of course, I am praying that we have no morehurricanes hit us. But, even if we do, and even if our damage is $12,000 (or $11,999), God will provide for our needs.

I don't write this to try to come off as some spiritual giant. I have struggled to getto this point. I simply write this to publicly proclaim that God is able to do more than I ask for or even imagine, and I trust that God will provide for all my needs, just as He has done all of my life.