Just Enough

The other day I was sharing a story with the Primary kids at church.

I retold the story that my Great-Great Grandmother, Sarah Davis Hawkins, recorded in a letter, "When we left Utah to go to Arizona, we took only enough food to last two months, but one of the horsed died and we were delayed and our bread stuff gave out. When it came to the last batch of flour, I told your Grandpa, "There is only enough for one more batch of bread," but it was like that for two weeks. There was always enough in the sack for another batch til we got to Woodruff, a little after Christmas [1880]."

When Eric called and told me that we had been offered the teaching position in Alaska I knew immediately that we were to go. It simply felt right. Alaska was where God wanted us to live, to raise our boys, to learn and grow as a family. But once we arrived we were inundated with little bills like turning on the water, setting up a phone line, getting power, etc. Then we had to license our cars, and get driver's licenses, and were completely shocked when the tiniest cart of groceries came out to be over $150. Everything as it turned out in Alaska is bigger . . . the price for fuel, utilities, even diapers. The constant sticker shock went on for SEVERAL months. I panicked and started crunching numbers. . . and the numbers told me that there was no way we were going to make it.

I logged onto our bank. Though the numbers were low, they were significantly better (like on the positive side) than my personal calculations. I checked. I double checked. I double double checked. It was then that I got the distinct impression, "I am giving you just enough. Enough for this month and little left over for the next."

I put the check book aside for several months and let the Lord take over the ledger. I wasn't surprised when I looked back later to see that we had had JUST ENOUGH.