When the new year began, God seemed to be saying in many ways, "Don't worry, just grow!".
When you grasp that God is All-Knowing, you begin to appreciate and discover the personal notes scattered all around you to reassure you of all that He is to you.
I didn't quite understand why God seemed to be telling me to trust Him even more than I had before, to surrender all cares, knowing that He would be sufficient.
Over the past few days I've observed that indeed, there was a residue of previous worry, anxiety, and despair lingering around my heart.
"How was I going to get through another year?"
I honestly found myself thinking at times,
"OK, God, I miss the security of a paycheck,but I know you came through last year when I needed a miracle. Through every bumpy road of doubt I met along the way, You have taught me that I didn't need barns to store up my provision because You were all the provision that I needed in this life."
Such words sound and feel somehow significant when you know that He really came through for you.
However, as the year progressed, I began to pray a new type of prayer:
"God, please grant me consistency."
I have observed that a prayer of consistency is comparable to building myself a barn to store up for winter. It's meaningless to build yourself a storehouse when God is putting you through a "manna" season, because it shall never stand but will rot by morning (Exodus 16:20).
A season of manna is when you have enough to last for a single day, allowing your faith to mature into the kind of faith that goes to bed knowing that manna will be waiting for you in the morning.
So, as the new year begins, God is asking some of us to endure and hold fast to Him during our season of being served Manna, because God Himself has made that kind of provision.
This is a beautiful reminder for the start of the year, that when we are in our time of exodus in the wilderness God always provides for our needs. The prayer of consistency of faith in our part is a beautiful one, since it is in our moment by moment consistent gratitude that our eyes are open to see that God has been consistent in his provision. It can be diheartening to be put in a place where you have to be still on outward achievement to gain the kingdom within. It is by this manna we know His presence is with us and to take heart.
Thank you Redeemedn for this beautiful reminder.