"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:34
Whether it be for a global pandemic and people panic buying, bad weather that prevents me from going to the store, sickness or natural disaster, I prepare for these times but I do not do it out of fear or worry.
I do it trusting God for the future but also
believing that he has given us resources now in this time to prepare for a time ahead.
My mum always has a full pantry and her mum before that also. My dear nana had so much food to feed an army, even when it was just her after grandad passed away. Mind you, she did have 7 children. My other nana was the opposite but both had different experiences from the depression and World War 2.
So why did I begin this post with a scripture talking about not worrying about tomorrow?
I am going to explain something here which some of you will understand and some of you may not but I hope it will fill you with some peace and understanding.
Firstly I will just explain that here in New Zealand we are always being reminded about having emergency supplies of food and water incase of an earthquake or other natural disasters, so I always have extra on hand anyway to see us through several weeks. Also as a busy homeschooling mum I don't always get the opportunity every week for the ideal weekly shop to match my desired menu for the week so having extras always helps in this area as well.
At the very beginning of this year when the coronavirus had started overseas, I felt God speak to me through scripture about preparing our harvests and provisions for the months ahead. Even though the coronavirus had started I didn't think at this stage it would turn out to be a pandemic so I thought that perhaps we were just going to have a hard winter! We have actually had a pretty good winter here except for a few times of heavy rain and flooding. But having the extra food put away has helped if it is pouring of rain for days on end and I don't want to go out to the grocery store.
"Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest." - Proverbs 6: 6-8
As it was still the middle of summer I didn't think too much the first time I read this verse but by the end of the week it popped up 4 times through different readings and I don't normally have that. Each time it came up I started to think, hmm maybe this means something but by the fourth time I was like, ok God you have my attention!!
So I started out by preserving excess vegetables that we had a glut of, which turned into buying a bit more in the weekly grocery shop, eventually that turned into autumn and our fruit trees were producing more than we could eat, so they became canned fruits and jams etc. You can read my earlier posts on preserving.
Eventually it was March and it was pretty much a full blown pandemic and we were only a few weeks away from lockdown. Did I need to panic? No I didn't. Was I stressed? A bit. Things were crazy and no one knew what was going on. I did do a little extra stocking up because I had a feeling with everyone at home supplies would be in short supply.
However, because God had prepared me, I felt that everything was going to be ok. Obviously we still didn't know how all this was going to play out and what decisions our government would make but I did have peace that we were going to be ok, that we had been prepared in advance and God was going to take care of us and he did.
That gave us tremendous hope, that if we were being prepared long before the event then we were going to be ok, we just needed to continue to trust in God through all of this because.... worrying only borrows trouble which leads to stress and anxiety.
Everyone has different views on stockpiling or preparing which is fine, I do believe however that there is wisdom in being prepared for unexpected events. This will look different for everyone depending on your circumstances and finances. Even just having enough put aside in a separate cupboard or box for a few days would still be a help if that's all you could do.
Just recently all my boys have been unwell with a bad case of hay fever and colds and so my time has been limited for grocery shopping as I have had to take care of them, allow them extra sleep and also take on their paper delivery job. So having an extra supply of food has been very helpful in this time.
I hope this post gives you all some encouragement in some way. I hope all is well with you wherever you live and may the peace of God be with you all.
Blessings,
Fiona
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