Subsidized Living

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19)

Years ago, during a lengthy time of financial difficulties, we were introduced to the concept of “subsidized living.”  This was not something done willingly and if it were to happen again, I would, as before, object strenuously to the Lord (you can tell Him EVERYTHING). Things just happened and God be praised, He got us through.  It was years of commission sales, and though I did my best, my efforts often fell short.

But there was God, taking the little I earned and making it enough for our needs.  You hear about these things, but we actually lived it: The utilities or the rent or whatever was due, there was no money, and there would be a knock at the door from someone who would say, “The Lord told me to give you this,” and they handed over a check for something like $500.00 or $600.00, which was always just enough to make up for the financial shortfall of the moment.  I was learning that God will allow sometimes far too little, in order to show us that He has more than enough to meet our needs.  He has “riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

It should be noted that God not only used people knocking at the door, but He got us through by a rich variety of methods.  Quite often He would use what I view as “secular” methods to meet our shortfall.  It wouldn’t JUST be a “Christian” person who was responsive to the Spirit’s leading – The Lord revealed a whole RANGE of abilities that came suddenly into our lives when they were needed.  A case in point is occurring right now.

Years ago, my mother, Adele, became the “care giver” for my father, Earle.  He developed an “Alzheimer’s-related syndrome” as it was called, and Adele’s attention was wrenched from the normal cares of life into full-time care for my dad.  Everything, including concern for their home was suddenly less important, for all that mattered was his safety from harm and the proper medical care.  And then, after years of difficulty and sorrow, he was gone.  That was in 1987.

Now it is 2004 and my 89-year old mother has been in a skilled nursing facility for more than a year and a half.  Many decades of memories resided in that home, in the form of cutlery, lamps, steamer trunks, literally hundreds of books, letters, newspapers, magazines, pictures, numerous sets of dishes, related materials and more.  When I mentioned that it’s time to fix the place up so it could be sold or rented, my mother’s response has been: “Not now, dear. Later, when I feel better.”  Bless her heart.  She IS a lovely lady, and many people (including me) care deeply for her.  My thought was becoming much like hers: Oh well, I would do it “someday.”

Two young men learned from my wife’s son that the house had been vacant “for a long time.”  They contacted us, stating they wanted to “help fix the place up and then rent it or buy it.”  Genevieve, my wife, who owned a beauty salon for more than two decades, specialized in children’s hair and had cut their hair when they were boys.  We agreed to their offer, stating the house would be rented to them.  That was six long weeks ago. 

They did an excellent job.  As young men, they had strength to lift, push and pull large objects out of nooks and crannies, into our waiting van and the other places these materials needed to go.  They had the strength.  As I observed them lifting down a total of what turned out to be six steamer trunks from the shelving near the roof in the garage, I realized we could not have done it without them.  As it turned out, there wasn’t one, but several households of goods within my mother’s home.  When Aunt Grace passed on in 1975, my mother had been in Maine, tending to her, and then, after Grace’s death, she had the goods shipped to California.  We found a will, stating that such a move was exactly Grace’s intention.  The steamer trunks, at least several of them, had belonged to my father’s mother, who died several decades ago.  There were other items constituting a portion of what can only be viewed as estates from those who had been special in my parent’s lives.

A key part of this job was to protect my mother’s precious items and we have increasingly devoted parts of our home to that endeavor.  Our guest room is “gone,” and so is part of the living room, along with about half the family room and the patio.  Some previous owner built a second story with stairs inside the garage and both stories are now devoted to my mother’s possessions.  The garage may never see another car inside it, until we have the time (and strength) to make similar decisions about those items.

The young men were exceedingly careful in all that they did, noting potential value, both sentimental and monetary, that we might have missed.  They often came to us, stating things like, “You should keep this.”  They were more often right than not – we were tired and might have otherwise thrown things out that should have been kept.

This week we rented a rug cleaner which the young men announced was insufficient to do the job and they came up with a couple of other young guys who had incredible rug cleaning equipment for a reasonable price.  My wife, Genevieve, and I had been endlessly wrapping individual glass, china, and porcelain items in newspaper and cloth wrappings before loading them in boxes for the van, for what seemed like “years.”  The wrapping now needed to be DONE, because the rug guys were here.  Immediately the young men and their friends (they even paid others to help with the job) were a flurry of activity on the floor of the dining area, and amazingly the wrapping and loading was finished!

The painter did the kitchen and bath and the linoleum people did the kitchen floor.  The job is at least half over, depending on how you look at the materials which now fill our home.

God sent those two young men (and sent Genevieve, also).  The young men may not know they were sent, and might even argue the point if we posed it to them.  But much like those years when my efforts fell short and God used all kinds of methods to get us through, God sent those two young men.  You may not feel that the Lord will use secular methods to achieve His ends in our lives, and decades ago, I would have agreed with you.  But no more!  God continually comes to us in a variety of ways, whether “spiritual” or not, and I KNOW that God supplies all our needs “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).  Part of trusting Him is to recognize how much He is ALWAYS doing for you.  Let’s thank Him:

Thank You, Father, for sending Christ Jesus and giving LIFE in Him.  Thank You that You continually care of each of us.  We praise Your Holy Name.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Ron Beckham, Pastor
Friday Study Ministries
www.FridayStudy.org
www.FirstChurchontheNet.org
www.BlessedHands.org
E-mail: Ron@FridayStudy.org
Tel: (562) 688-5559
PO Box 92131
Long Beach, CA 90809-2131
"While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)