What's in Your Hand?

There I was in the garden working away on this project then the next all the while my mind was a whirl. I was thinking of the children and what projects they should be involved in and what we be good for us to work on as a family. I was thinking and hoeing and my shopping list was growing. Has this ever happened to you? We want/need to do such and such, but we don't have this so we must buy that. And on and on it went. Every single idea that came to my mind had it's own shopping list attached. I thought I'm worse than little children:). I need, I need, I need......

Well, thankfully going shopping to buy a bunch of "stuff" to "do" some really great things was simply not an option. So hoeing and thinking, hoeing and thinking the question popped into my mind-"what's in your hand?" I was immediately reminded of God's discussion with Moses about leading His people into the promised land. Moses is questioning/doubting his ability and God's provision to Moses in Exodus 4:2 was "what is in your hand?"

Is it just a female trait- why do we always want to "go shopping"? How many times have you bought something you already had or really didn't need? And the big question is what has God given us? Have we exhausted our resources before we go in search of more?

Now I like to try this challenge- how much we can do/make without purchasing anything. What do we already own that we are not using? What do we own that can be used in a different way?

I have found as I strive (this is a serious challenge for me) to be content, to look around, to think outside the box most of the time very creative answers come. Here are a couple that were solved that day in the garden. Project-I was wanting the girls to have a booth at our town's annual Christmas fair; provision- we had shelves full of egg powder and milk powder that were sitting unused and we started making baking mixes. Project- I wanted a green house to grow lettuce in through the winter; provision- we filled black trash bags with leaves and made a wall of sorts around our lettuce beds and when the temperature dropped really low we covered the top with black plastic at night.

You've had it happen to you as well. When your back is up against the wall and you simply can't make it to the store-how did God provide? Now what if we changed our thinking around and committed ourselves to "seek" before we "shop"?