A woman named Nell called the church this week - she needed money for rent and a water bill - 

She lost her job and was feeling scared, alone, and desperate - a place you and I have probably been before-

And as I prayed with her I couldn’t help but think of the Gospel story you and I will hear this weekend - 

Quick quiz: What’s the only miracle story that’s found in all 4 Gospels? 

It’s the loaves and the fishes - the feeding of the 5,000-

And in this weekend’s story, the Disciple Phillip comes to Jesus and says, ‘All these people have followed us out to the desert and nobody’s got any food”

And the passage says that Jesus tested Phillip by asking, ‘What are you going to do?’

And the disciples said, ‘Well, there’s a little kid here with some loaves and fishes’

And Jesus took those, gave thanks, broke them, and handed them out - 

And everyone was fed.

When we apply that to Nell and her bills - and learn three things - 

First, let’s never forget that in every challenge: God is up to something.

We don’t know why Nell is broke, or why 5,000 people walked into the desert without any food -

What we do know is that God is up to something - sometimes it’s a test -

Because tests are meant to make us better - nobody develops a callus without skinning their knee - 

Second, we see these disciples looking on the up side.

They said, ‘Hey, we’ve got some bread and fish!’

Ever hire someone? Look for two things: Are they on time? And are they enthusiastic?

Nell and you and me make things better when we look for the up side and remain positive about what God may be doing.

This leads us to our third point - give thanks.

This is the act of getting the spotlight off of ourselves and our own problems and onto something more productive - in this case, it’s thanking God for provision.

Of course. we many not always get the answers we want - 

Nell may or may not have gotten what she wanted -

But we don’t pray ‘Our will be done’ - we pray ‘God’s will be done’ 

God has not forgotten about us, God is well aware of our needs, and God is working on God's own timeline to meet those needs.
In every challenge, let’s look for the blessing.