The Father Who Gives Good Gifts
“Sinungaling kang wallet ka!”
This had always been the scenario. Me shouting accusations to my liar wallet. Ain’t my Father in Heaven wealthy? Why is my wallet so much of a liar?
Okay.
So I had to go on with my usual day with just exact money for my transportation back and forth.
When I arrived at the radio station, I started working. Before lunch break, my friends asked if I’d be buying food with them. I told them no because I always have my baon with me so I continued with what I was doing. Lunch break came and I was heading to my bag when I remembered that I have no food with me!
“Magaling, Pauline. Magaling! How could you forget that?”
What I have was sandwiches. No rice. No ulam.
But I know God wouldn’t let me be hungry. I just don’t know how. But oh, when He moves His hands, He moves His hands! He gave me food through two other friends. One gave me pancit because it’s some extra food from her order, and the other gave me more than half of her red rice and more than half (get a hint, she’s on a diet) of her ulam which is something like sinabawang manok with vegetables all over. What a healthy lunch though!
So there! I had my lunch! Sandwiches, pancit, red rice, and ulam!
And then merienda time came.
“Lord, I want to eat something. But I have no money to buy anything.”
Then, all of a sudden, a friend craved badly for fries. She craved so bad that she had been willing to treat us all just to be able to eat some. So she went down the building and bought fries. But even before she came back, we have been called to proceed to the convergence to eat because someone bought a large bilao of spaghetti. And then someone (someone’s so generous!) gave me almond fish. It’s just a combination of almond and dilis but it’s too yummy!
“Lord, so much for my merienda! Thanks! Pero di ko pa po nalilimutan yung fries. Haha!”
So the fries came. There! My merienda! Something out of nothing — but prayer!
Time to go home. A friend walked with me to the bus terminal at Megamall. On the way there, I saw a milktea shop.
“Lord, I think I want that.”
Then my friend and I continued walking. Inside the mall, she said, “Wait, papabarya lang ako. What do you want to eat?”
Oh. Upon looking at many choices, she decided to buy some pastry for the both of us and … a milktea! Okay, okay! (Note that I’ve never told anyone of my sudden cravings — not anyone but God alone!)
At the bus, I was asking, “Lord, should I eat this?” I was thinking of saving it to give it away to somebody or maybe to my brother but He reminded me of my prayer about the milktea saying, “It’s yours. My treat for you.” Wow. So I had my milktea plus a pastry!
Of all the buses that I rode, this one’s just too, I don’t know, full of trashes. Wherever I turn my head, … oh no. So before I left the bus, I started picking up what I can. While trashing it out on a garbage bag at the pedicab terminal, somebody called my name. It’s my best friend’s mother. She went home with me and paid for my ride.
At home, I can’t help but look back and reflect on how my day had been. I have eaten that day more than how I could buy on days that I have extra money. I went home through a ride unlike the days where I would usually walk. I have experienced all these things with just exact money on my wallet for my transportation. It’s because my wallet is a liar (but that’s not my point). My point is: My Father in heaven is big enough and great enough not to forget to take care of His daughter living on earth. My Father is a Dad who gives good gifts!
At times I have been saying, “Lord, no, this is too much”, He sends me a gentle rebuke by reminding me of this verse:
“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!” Matthew 7:9–11
He is a Father who gives good gifts! It’s who He is! It is one of His characteristics as a Father. If I were to tell you all of His generosity stories in my life, I don’t think we’d come to an end. He was able to show me that all I need to live in two days away from home is 72 pesos and a BIG God. He showed me that if I ask Him of a laptop and a new phone, He will give it to me without spending even a cent. God sent me to camps and events I can’t even pay for myself. He showed me that He uses people to bless me and grant me my prayers even without the people knowing what I want or what I need. He feeds me when I’m hungry. And you see, in the story I shared with you, He gave me much more than what I prayed for. That’s who God is. That’s how of a Father He is. He is a Father eager to lavish His children with love and satisfaction.
God proves that His Word is true.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:25–26
You know what? GOD DESIRES TO PROVIDE FOR US — for you!
What are the things you are needing right now? Maybe “you do not have, because you do not ask God” (James 4:2). But be matured enough in asking God. Ask and state your motive for the thing you are praying for. Sometimes, “when you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3).
But do not be dismayed when God doesn’t answer your prayers immediately! Your prayer might be good and at the right motive but God answers prayers at His right timing. So do not give up, wait and pray. And if God doesn’t really answer your prayer, you can trust and believe God that He has better plans for you than what you’re actually praying for.
But surely more than giving you the things that you want, your Father in Heaven wants to provide for you a life everlasting, free from sin, free from hurt, free from guilt and where all things are abounding in love — the ultimate thing that you need — a personal relationship with Him alone.
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