In our society we don't put much value on a penny, it's only one cent and it often ends up in a jar full of change to be used another day.
But for me on this day, a penny was a blessing. My husband is a union carpenter and recently his company didn't have any jobs, so he wasn't working. And no work means no money. We were being very careful about what money we were spending and I was trying to be creative about coming up with meals that didn't cost much. I was out on my weekly grocery shopping trip when my little blessing came. I was checking out of my favorite little produce place and the women in front of me dropped a penny when she was handed her change. It fell right by my daughter's car seat, so I reached down to pick it up. I went to hand the penny back to the women and she told me, "oh you just keep it". My mouth said thank you, but my mind was thinking "I hate pennies, they just fill up my wallet and I never use them". Not thinking much of it, I put the penny in my wallet, started my check out process and headed off to my next store.
I had a specific amount of money to spend on my shopping trip that day and I was carefully adding up my total as I went through the store. I was pretty sure that I was going to come in at my goal and nervously said a little prayer as I walked up to the checkout. I watch the number on the cash register climb and I was started to get a little nervous. When my total came up I reached into my wallet to pull out my money. As I counted it up, I realized that I was only one penny short of my total. And what had I just put in my wallet, a penny that I thought I was never going to use. That penny saved the day for me. I had been praying each day for weeks now that God would provide for all of our needs and today, he used one simple penny to provide. How amazing is God's timing and creativity!
So today I choose to trust! Trust that my God will truly provide for my every need, even with a simple penny.
