Just Enough!
God gave me some encouragement in prayer last week, which I want to share with you. I was feeling discouraged about all the gaps in our schedule during the first half our Lenten 40 Days for Life. The constant anxiety that I was putting on myself, thinking that I had to fill in for these empty hours had me questioning whether or not I could continue leading 40 Days for Life. I realized that this discouragement was likely just a trick of the devil, but I couldn’t help but ask God for help in discerning, so I asked Him to give me a sign in the Mass readings that day.
Well, the reading from that day was the story of the widow of Zarephath. Do you know the story? During a famine in Israel, God commanded the prophet Elijah to go to a town near Sidon (Zarephath), to find a certain widow who would give him food. When he found the widow, she was gathering sticks to cook her last little bit of flour and oil, so that she and her son could eat their last meal before dying of starvation. Elijah told her that if she would trust him and make a little cake for him first, that her jug of flour and oil would not run out before the famine ended. You know the story, right? She trusted him. She made him the cake. And lo and behold…there was just enough flour and oil left in the jug so that she could still feed herself and her son.
So, that does it, right? We can trust the Lord to give us what we need, right? Well, as I meditated on that scripture passage, something occurred to me. I thought about that widow getting up the following morning. She must have looked at that tiny bit of flour and oil in her jug…still not knowing when the famine would end. She had to make another cake for Elijah and for herself and her son. The jug was still almost empty. And the third day…again. Still almost empty. Constant anxiety, right?
Why didn’t God just FILL her jugs to the BRIM with flour and oil? Then she wouldn’t have had to worry about the next day, or the next. She could have rested easy, knowing that she had enough. But instead, she had to TRUST. Every day, she had to trust that God would provide JUST ENOUGH for that day.
I realized that widow is ME! There I was, asking God to fill the vigil schedule completely…to the brim, so that I wouldn’t have to worry about having to constantly scrape and scrounge. Then, I thought about the manna in the desert; for 40 years, God provided food in the form of Manna, but the people had to collect it from the ground EACH DAY. When they tried to store it for even one day, it became full of worms.
Maybe God, in His Wisdom, knows that it is not good for us to have it too “easy“. Maybe we would get lazy if we didn’t have to strive, and trust Him each and every day. We are not to worry, right? As St. Padre Pio famously said, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”
This was a lesson for me. I hope it helps you too.
Keep reading for today’s stories from the sidewalk…
Cathy & Peggy
(From Cathy) – Rather busy this shift. Two women together, a couple, and several singles including a teen whose mother, I guess, dropped her off. Peg offered help to the mom but she refused and said we should not judge. The girl did come out later as we were leaving. She had a paper in her hand. Are we sure they are only doing abortions at this point?
Julie
(From Julie) – This Wednesday was a rainy gloomy morning, fitting for the busy shift we had. I believe they were “Tears From Heaven” showering upon the women that entered Planned Parenthood today. Praise God Almighty we had a wonderful prayerful group; Pastor Father Brian, Mary Ellen, Marion, Keith, Jim, Frank and Elsie from Divine Redeemer Parish. It was very sad to see 6 young ladies going into Planned Parenthood which I call “The Mouth Of Moloch.” Two of them had either a husband or boyfriend with them. The one couple were holding a toddler and accepted literature. We tried to encourage them not to enter but they still went in. Elsie was steadfast holding the banner with a picture of a baby in utero in front of the door windows to prick the conscience of all these ladies. Two young girls from the 7-9 am shift exited with one taking literature from Elsie and the other came out with a medium size bag not wanting to engage so I yelled out, we can help you and abortionpillreversal.org. About 50% of the folks walking by accepted literature. The bright light was an older lady that agreed with what we were doing and two young men very interested and accepted pamphlets and agreed that abortion is murder. There is ALWAYS hope!!!
Nikki
Sadly it was an extremely busy abortion day today. The Heavens wept profusely. Thankfully, the sadness was mitigated by the prayers from a beautiful cloud of witnesses, sent by God from Indiana, PA. A faithful group of about 11 people from St. Bernard of Clairvaux arrived at 11am with their arsenal of prayers well-stocked. They prayed rosaries, Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Stations of the Cross. When the downpour became mixed with thunder, I opened the Little Lamb for many of them to take shelter and to pray from there, but three stayed huddled in the doorway next to PP, continuing to pray throughout.
I was struck by the amazing callousness of those going in to kill their children today…and on many other days recently. One couple (a young mother and her friend) laughed at me when I tried to encourage them to choose life, and as they stood at the desk waiting to sign in, they continued to laugh and point at me. In fact…this is a first…they took a selfie of themselves, making sure that they got me in the background (I was holding the large sign that says, “abortion kills a human being”. So now, this young mother of a dead baby has an actual photographic reminder of the day she killed her baby…and the person who tried to convince her not to.
Jesus’ words keep ringing in my head, “Work while you have the light. For the time is coming when it will be dark, and then you won’t be able to work.” I think we are at dusk. I think the day is almost spent. The love of many seems to have grown cold. Maybe the time for the catacombs is approaching.
Chris, Kevin & John
(From Chris) – Who knew it was monsoon season in Pittsburgh? Joining me in prayer today were my faithful prayer partners, John and Kevin, from Regina Coeli Parish. A little before 2:00pm, we were in the middle of praying the Glorious Mysteries when our phones sounded an alarm. An alarm not for a tornado watch, but for a tornado warning in downtown Pittsburgh, directing everyone to take shelter. Then the heavens opened up. As quickly as we could, we picked up the signs, the displays, and the camera and sought shelter in Little Lamb (thank God, it’s there!). While the signs and displays dried out inside we continued praying our Rosaries in safety.
Judy & Beverly
(From Beverly) – For the most part, it was just basically drizzling we were able to give literature to several people. Judy is obviously very good at it and made a lot of contacts. There were two women standing in front when I got there and I thought they were from 40 days so I asked them and they said no I think they just came out of PP and I offered the one girl the literature, but she wouldn’t take it and then the person with her interacted with me and I was able to have a little conversation with her that we’re just there to pray and help people and not judge them.
These sad stories are balanced by the happy faces of the prayer warriors who were on shift today. Thank you for your brave witness especially to those who mock and scorn you. Beautiful meditation about the widow’s oil and flour. Yes, Yaweh yireh, the Lord will provide. And He did for you today, wonderfully, from the “tears of heaven” with shelter in the Lamb. God bless you all. And please pray for my sister Amy who suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage on Monday and was lifeflighted from PA to Cleveland Clinic. She had emergency surgery at 2 a.m. Tuesday and is now sedated and intubated. Prognosis is grim but not hopeless. She is still compromised from neck and head cancer from 2019. Now this. We are praying for a miracle of complete recovery. God is good. Thank you.
Joan, we will hold you and Amy both in our prayers!
Thank you, Jen. Your prayers will help. It means a lot.
Nikki, THANK YOU so much on the beautiful reflection on scripture with the widow and the flour. So profoundly said. I will share this amazing reflection of yours. it penetrates the heart to TRUST in our Lord no matter what happens in life. Again, thank you.
Nikki,
Those insights you gained from that OT reading are fantastic. I hope to remember them myself.
Thank you Nikki for the timely reminder to ” Trust in the Lord with all our hearts. Lean not on our own understanding. In all our ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths” Proverbs 3 v5&6.