Widow's Oil

Last Sunday our pastor preached on a story I hadn't heard in a very long time. He preached out of 2 Kings 4:1-7. It's the story of Elijah who met a woman whose husband had recently died and she had 2 sons and no money and her creditors were going to take her sons into slavery and she didn't know what she was going to do. All she had was one jar of oil left. Elijah told her to get as many jars as she could and pour the oil into those jars until it ran out. Which sounds like a crazy idea when you are looking at that one bottle of oil. But she poured and poured and filled up all the jars anyone had. And at the end she had enough sell and to pay off all of her debt and to live on. My pastor said "what if she hadn't trusted God enough to pour out her oil. What if she decided to lean on her own understanding and hold on to that one jar?" That really struck a chord with me because so often - I hold on very tightly to my plans (or my oil) and what makes sense to me and the way I think will be the best and what would happen if instead - I give up my plans and I give when God tells me to give and just trust Him - what kind of blessings does He want to pour out on me and how much better is it then the plans I have for myself.
I shared this with a friend of mine who is going through some stuff and this morning she e-mailed me and said "You won't believe this but I am doing a Bible Study and guess what they had for us to read this morning?" You guessed it - the widow's oil story. She said "I'm pretty sure God wants me to hear this and get it".
Scott and I started some fertility treatments this month and I just know that God is going to use this to bless us with a family. Today I was in tears because I was so thankful for my sweet doctor who is helping me but I'm mostly thankful to God because He is able to use her to fulfill His perfect will - whatever that may be. Right now - I'm just trying not to hang on to my oil - but to be obedient to trust God to provide for us.
I saw a church sign that pretty much summed this up for me - it said "Being Content means knowing that Jesus has already given you everything you need".

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