Faith like a mustard seed

The photocopier at the school is unreliable at best. It's been known to jam 4 times when running 3 copies. For several days running I couldn't get it to work at all. So, the other day when someone asked me to run a copy, I said, "pray for a miracle". And then, I did pray, set the paper on the glass, and hit the button. And out came the copy! I was happy, handed it off to the teacher, and went back to working at my desk. Where I realized that I needed to run copies of something for the first grade class. As I set the paper down in the copier again, I found myself praying something along the lines of, "Well God, I know you already gave me one miracle copy, but I could really use another 6. I know it's a lot to ask, but, if you could . . ." As I looked up at the sky I realized what a ridiculous prayer that was. Here I was, talking to the God of the universe, the creator of everything I see, who has power to raise from the dead, and I was thinking that 6 copies was a lot to ask for. How big is my faith really, if I can doubt God's ability to intervene with an ornery copy machine?

God's grace is definitely greater than my faith. My 6 copies printed without a problem. All day long, I'd pray before hitting the button, and out would come my copies, just as if it were a normal copier that worked.

On Thursday, I squeezed what was close to the last of my hand cream out of the bottle before heading in to Luz y Vida. As I thought to myself that hand cream isn't something I really want to spend the money on right now, I said to God, "it would be nice if someone gave me some. But, seeing as it isn't my birthday and there isn't any other special occasion, I guess it isn't all that likely . . "

A few hours later in Luz y Vida, I met Rebecca who used to work here and came back for a visit. She reached into her bag. "A friend of mine from church wanted to give gifts to all the missionaries I could think of. Here, this is for you". Can you guess what one of the things she handed me was?

Each morning as I put on my hand cream, it reminds me- God sees us. He hears us. He cares about the little things. Even when we don't see the answers, when what we ask for seems too big or out of the ordinary, or just not important enough to bother God about, God is more than able to answer in ways that surprise us.

Seeing God work in the little things reminds me he is in control of the big things too. If he cares enough about me to continue to supply me with English novels, to send me hand cream the day I ask for it, to make an "impossible" copier function, than surely he cares about the more pressing things on my mind. And if he cares, he will act. Not on my timeline. But he hears me. He sees me. I am loved and I am not forgotten.