A River, Not a Reservoir

Janelle Shelton

Early on in my CarePortal days, often an unexpected donation would come in, followed a day or two later by a request for exactly that item. This happened enough that we knew it wasn’t coincidental, but God confirming we were on the right track serving his kids. It was so exciting to watch God provide in advance again and again, and I quickly began to treasure those items and hold them tightly as I knew God had given them for a reason. I wanted to steward every dollar, every blanket, every bed.

My intentions were good, but I overplayed the importance of stewarding and waiting for the right moment to appear through my CarePortal inbox. Once we received a bunk bed which I stored for over a year waiting for the CarePortal request to materialize. It just didn’t come. Then I learned of a need for a bunk bed for a kinship family nearby, who didn’t have access to CarePortal. I felt like I should give it, but worried what would happen if we got a request for it and how I would replace it. (It’s funny in retrospect!)

Within a day of giving away that bed, the long-awaited request came. I texted my friend, who told me she already had a bed someone had offered to her, and there was no problem at all. Yet another bed came in right after that.

I laughed aloud as I realized the obvious. God could provide for requests in advance – but they might not all be CarePortal requests! And that same God could replace donations that went out the door just as easily as He provided them the first time. If I truly believe that He’s a God of abundance, not scarcity, I can be open-handed and believe that He knows how to care for kids better than I do. I can relax my need to steward limited resources to perfection.

A pastor from another church summed it up this way. God wants us to be rivers, not reservoirs. The resources He gives all belong to Him: We steward them for a time, and they flow through our hands to do his work. He has way more than enough to meet every need everywhere if we’ll surrender the process to him. There’s really no reason to worry about beds!

Even as I write this, God has performed the same miracle on a scale twelve times larger in another city. That leader saw her store of items go out the door, only to receive a request an hour later for what she’d just shared. She responded with excitement and anticipation knowing God was about to do something great. And He did – the same day – again!

He knows what His children need before we even ask, and He’s ready to act. His mercies are new every morning! Great is His faithfulness!

Reflection Questions:

1. How has God taught you to be open-handed?

2. What can our attitude toward giving reveal about what we believe about God?

3. What does it look like to trust God for our “daily bread”?