When the electric bill went up

Dear Sisters,
I hope you are enjoying the New Year. We've made some changes already this year, and it is so good to see what the LORD is doing in our lives and in our home. He is abundantly good to His children. This verse is so true, isn't it?
"You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance." Psalm 65:11
Last year it was so, and this year it will be so as well. May we have eyes to see His incredible goodness in our every day lives.
As many of you know, we are experiencing an electrical increase in our area of California. This past month our electrical bill was $275. (This is without the 9% increase due to begin next week.) I was sick when the bill came in, and I didn't feel any better reading it. But as I lay there, it gave me ample time to pray about it all. When I got back on my feet, we took some necessary actions and shut down our water heater and refrigerator. We bought a small 5.7 cubic foot refrigerator without a freezer at a second hand shop. We've been heating water for bathing and dish washing, which takes some getting used to, but it's really not that bad. I am allowing myself one load of wash a day to cut down on the cost of using the washing machine. Of course, we now hang dry everything.
You know, I have heard lots of comments from people about what we're doing. (They figure it out quickly when they see us wash dishes or go into our new refrigerator. Or when they spend the weekend with us, as my brother-in-law and his girls did recently.) I have been told that we may as well go back to the frontier times. One woman even called me a "Looney." Ha! I laughed over that one. But I don't feel like a Looney. On the contrary, I feel so blessed by God.
You see, I've lived in a volkswagen van for three months with my family of four when I was in junior high. We didn't have a home, much less electricity. We cooked off a small propane burner and slept at truck rest stops.
When I was seventeen I spent three months as a foreign exchange student in Tunisia, North Africa. The conditions were very difficult. A refrigerator, small or large, was unheard of. A place to bathe was unheard of. The toilet could be above the ground, but there was no flush. Or it could be just a hole in the ground. Running water in the house was a plus, but we did stay in a home for a week with no running water or indoor toilet. It was incredibly hot and the flies seemed to multiply daily.
Was this all for naught in my life? No. It has taught me to be so very thankful for what the LORD has given to me. It has taught me how to use what is put into my hand. It has taught me how to avoid debt and work with foresight. The former pain brought gain in my life.
My husband remarked last night that I seem to have no problem with the recent changes made in our house. I told him that I'm so thankful to be able to turn on my lights, heat up my stove, start my washer, put things in my small refrigerator, and write on my computer. God is so good!
I keep praying for the LORD to help me stretch what He so graciously puts into my hands each day. I love to read about Joseph. For no matter where the LORD put that young man, and no matter what the conditions were, he did his best with what he had to work with. This verse is so true about him:
"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much." Luke 16:10a
No wonder Joseph could be trusted with Egypt. He had been faithful with the very least. Even a prison. He could be trusted with the very much. Even Egypt.
"And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?" Luke 16:12
"Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? Luke 16:11
Now we got news this week that our water will be doubling in the next few months due to the electrical increase and the rise in pumping charges. Our gas prices are one of the highest in the nation. Of course it has a domino affect. Food will go up. Goods will go up. Tempers will go up.
But the One we believe in is a sure Foundation. He will show us what to do. There is no need to worry or get upset. We come to Him in thanksgiving with supplication. Our requests are made. His peace passes which passes all understanding guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
We're bathing in two inches of water, so we're definitely cutting down on our water bill already. You see, God is so good! It has been wonderful to watch my children rally with us on cutting down the bills. I know they will be richer for it. As will my grandchildren. Pain brings gain. Especially when it draws us closer to our Precious Savior.
May God bless you this coming New Year. I look forward with you to what the LORD will do. I can't thank Him enough for His bountiful blessings to us. I worked out our budget for the New Year while I was sick. I put in a small garden when I was better to help defray our food costs. I grew some wheat and barley grass to blend for our fruit smoothies. I dried some spinach, beets, and orange peels for my many recipes. I copied herbal remedies from an herb book to defray the cost of buying the remedies already made. I began reading magazines on organic gardening from our library. I started another compost pile. I began reading books on budgeting and cooking in bed at night. I started crocheting a blanket for my friend's baby due in April. There is so much to learn, so like the ant I try to do a little every day to build up our home and help defray the many costs that can so easily beset us.
Do you want to know my secret? I have the most wonderful Teacher in all the world!
"For I know the thoughts that I have toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give to you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:10-13
I have sought Him. I have found Him. I have poured out my heart to Him.
"Your Words were found, and I ate them, and Your Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by Your Name, O LORD God of Hosts." Jeremiah 15:16
Praise His beautiful, beautiful Name!
"I will instruct and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My Eye." Psalm 32:8
"Lead me in Your Truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day." Psalm 25:5
"The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe." Proverbs 29:25
May I be faithful in everything, little or not, that He puts in my hands this year. And may He be glorified again and again and again.
"Who is the 'woman' who fears the LORD? 'Her" shall He teach in the way He chooses." Psalm 25:12
I'm a sponge ready to soak up His every Word. May I be found faithful in a little that He would one day count me faithful in a lot.
"You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance." Psalm 65:11
God bless us all this coming New Year!
Love,
Laine

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