One Sunday afternoon in June of 1989, I sat at the kitchen table praying—and worrying a little. A year earlier, I had felt led by God to devote more time and attention to my family. My husband and I both worked full time, and we had two young children: a five-year-old son and a three-year old daughter. After discussing our options, I had reduced my work hours to part time for six months before quitting my job entirely.

Without the cost of childcare, and with some trimming of our budget, we thought we could make ends meet on one income supplemented by our savings. However, after some car repairs and a few other unexpected expenses, our savings account was depleted. As a result, I had recently used the money that was set aside for the next week’s groceries to pay a household bill.

I had seen this day coming for some weeks and had been praying for guidance, asking God if I should seek another job. All along, it had seemed that He was leading me to wait, so I had done so. Now, I wondered if I had misunderstood and made a big mistake. As I sat at the table with a heavy heart, my children brought me their Sunday school lesson. When I saw their new memory verse, my worries melted away. It read, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

I was a relatively new Christian, having surrendered my life to God less than two years earlier, so it was news to me that we could look to God for every need. I told the children, “We have a need, and this verse says that God will fill it! Isn’t that wonderful?”

All week, we prayed and checked the mailbox, expecting God to send grocery money. However, while I was focusing only on our immediate need, God was prepared to provide for our long-term needs as well. On Friday, as we were praying, there was a knock on our front door. When I answered, a friend of a friend offered me a job working from home. That was the perfect solution to spending time with my children while generating an income. I accepted the offer and returned to praying, thanking God for the job. We still needed grocery money to carry us over to my first paycheck, so we put this before the Lord again, and two days later, someone handed me $62.00. She said her husband had borrowed it from my husband the year before and had forgotten about it until now.

Since that time, my family has had ample opportunity to prove this verse. Over the years, as we have looked to God for spiritual, physical, or emotional help, we have found that He does, indeed, provide for every need.

Spiritual Needs

The greatest need any of us has is to be delivered from our sins and be reconciled to our Heavenly Father. Before we were even born, God saw us and made provision for this. He knew we would be born in sin, eternally separated from Him, and unable to make atonement for ourselves. Reconciliation would require the shed blood of a sinless sacrifice, which only His guiltless Son could provide. Yet, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Jesus became our sacrifice for sin, providing not only for salvation, but for all our spiritual needs. As my family has sought God for these things, we have found that when we come according to His Word, with humble and sincere hearts, we can expect Him to answer.   

Salvation. In my own life, when I realized that the hate in my heart was at the root of all my troubles, I repented of my sins, telling God that I no longer wanted to be that person or do those things. I committed my life to serving Him, and He forgave me for Jesus’ sake. Instantly, my heart was transformed as described in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Spiritual strength. Upon receiving salvation, we need help to resist temptation, and God provides the spiritual strength to do so. Fifteen years after I became a Christian, my husband came home from work in the middle of his shift, saying that guilt had taken over his thoughts. We prayed that evening, and God saved him. Then my husband confided that he wasn’t sure he could maintain victory over sin. He was anxious about returning to work the next day where he might be tempted to smoke or swear. I said we would both pray throughout the day and then assured him that the Gospel is real and there is power in it. I told him that if I had found this to be an empty religion, I would not have continued in it. The following day, he came home and exclaimed, “Why didn’t you tell me? God gives supernatural strength to resist temptation; we don’t have to do it on our own.”  

Sanctification. Another help against temptation is to receive sanctification, a second application of the Blood of Jesus whereby our inherited sinful nature is eradicated. When I learned of this second work of grace, I wondered if it was real, because I had never heard of it. However, the next time I was in church, the preacher paused in his sermon, looked my way, and said, “Just because you’ve never heard of something doesn’t mean it can’t be true.” I decided to research the matter in Scripture, and in John 17, read that Jesus prayed for His disciples to be sanctified. Then He prayed “for them also which shall believe on me through their word” (verse 20). I also read in Hebrews 13:12 that “Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate,” referring to where He was crucified. Not only had Jesus seen my need for sanctification, but He had paid for it with His own Blood and even prayed that I would receive it.

That summer, I attended my first Portland camp meeting and heard a teaching on the subject. As I prayed at the close of the service, I looked up to God and said, “Lord, if this is something I need, I know You will provide it.” Instantly, my soul was sanctified; every desire to return to my old sins was gone, and from that moment, I only wanted the things of God.

Physical Needs

God provides for our physical needs in many ways, including various forms of protection. When my children started elementary school, we began a habit of praying for God’s protection, which I continue to this day. In the mornings, we asked Him to shield us from sinful influences. In the afternoons, we looked for safety on the road while carpooling, and in the evenings, we prayed for a hedge around the house against intruders. Though we didn’t always see God’s hand at work, we knew He was there.   

One time while we were on the road, I felt prompted to change lanes and sensed this was from the Lord. I looked to my left and saw that there was very little room to merge. However, I signaled and began to inch my way over. As I did, the tire blew out on the car that had been in front of us and that vehicle slowed abruptly, almost coming to a stop. If not for God’s protecting hand, we likely would have crashed.

Basic needs. Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount, “Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? . . . for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Matthew 6:31-32). As my family has taken these types of concerns to God, we have found Him to be generous in providing not only groceries and employment, but also transportation, housing, and more.

Oftentimes when we turn to God for a need, He supplies our wants as well. When my husband and I accepted an offer on our first home. We had thirty days to move, and though we had been looking at houses for weeks, we hadn’t found anything to our liking. Our realtor said he could be more helpful if he had a list of what we wanted. However, when I gave him our list, he laughed and handed it back, saying, “You might try being more realistic for your budget.” I took the paper home and laid it before the Lord. He had been speaking to my heart about placing less value on the things of this world and now I was ready to consecrate my desire to have the “perfect” home. I prayed, “Lord, I will not look at another house. You see what we want, and I’m sure You will find something nice for us.”

The very next day, as I drove past a yard with a “For Sale” sign in it, I felt a sudden urgency to “buy that house.” However, it didn’t appeal to me, so I kept driving. When the same urgent thought came a second and third time, I remembered my consecration to let go of perfection and let the Lord choose our house, so I circled back.

At the front door, a realtor answered, and I told him, “I would like to buy this house.” He asked if I wanted to see it first. However, already within my view was a fireplace framed by built-in bookcases, and in the opposite room, a floor-to-ceiling built-in hutch—two items from my wish list. I was touched by God’s generosity. He had heard my prayer for a need, and with this house, had provided for some of our wants as well. I declined to look further until my husband, parents, and realtor could be present. When we returned later, we found that the house, though it didn’t have everything on our list, was perfect for us, with a good foundation and within our budget. In addition, the sale went through on the same day that we had to vacate our previous home!

Healing. When I came into the Gospel, I had a work-related back injury that two doctors had diagnosed as beyond help. From month to month, my symptoms varied from muscle spasms, to being unable to lean forward or lift over ten pounds, to being bedridden. However, one constant was pain.

In March of 1989, my back locked up, and I arrived at church for the Good Friday service unable to fully sit or stand. I listened to the sermon while leaning against the back pew and heard the preacher quote from Isaiah 53:5, “With his stripes we are healed.” Afterward, my mother-in-law asked if I knew what that Scripture meant. Then, she explained that when Jesus was beaten before He went to the Cross, the stripes on His back paid for our healing. She assured me that just as we can look to the Cross in faith and receive salvation, we can believe and be healed. She also encouraged me to get prayed for according to the instructions in James 5:14-15: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” That evening, the ministers prayed for me, and while I didn’t feel instant relief, my mother-in-law said to hold on in faith. Two days later, while driving home on the evening of Easter Sunday, I had to pull the car over and pray because the pain was unbearable. The Lord helped me get home, and the next day, I realized that I hadn’t been in pain since. To test this, I stood up and raised my hands over my head and then lowered them to the floor and up again. My back held, and I knew God had healed me.

Recently, I experienced a different type of back problem. The ministers came and prayed, but this time the Lord chose not to heal me instantly. Instead, He led me to a good doctor who diagnosed a herniated disc and was able to help me over time. It is not always God’s will to heal us instantaneously—sometimes He has a better purpose. The Apostle Paul was once denied healing for a visible ailment so that pride would not be his downfall. He responded with gratitude for God’s grace, saying, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Perhaps God is helping me adjust my priorities or is using me to encourage someone at the doctor’s office. Whatever His purpose, I know His way is best.

Emotional Needs

At different times in my Christian walk, I have needed emotional support and have taken comfort in Isaiah 9:6. In foretelling the birth of our Savior, the prophet said, “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Over the years, in situations bringing emotional stress, Jesus has been all of these to me. In marriage, He has been my Counselor; in trials, He has proven Himself mighty to deliver; and in grief, He has been my Source of peace.  

Peace. When my mother-in-law died, I was devastated. She had been in my life since I was sixteen and was like a second mother to me. On several occasions after her death, I thought to call and ask her about something before remembering that she was gone. In those moments, grief would overtake me. Five months later, when that year’s Portland camp meeting began, I was in need of relief for my grieving heart; I was in need of the Prince of Peace. At the altar, I wondered if the Lord offered more than comfort and would remove my grief completely. Then I prayed, “If You could, I pray You would do it for me.” In that moment, I felt a touch on my heart, and the pain of loss was gone—all that remained were my good memories.   

God will supply

What is your need today? If you are having trouble making ends meet, if a loved one is suffering from illness, or grief has overwhelmed you, I know God can help. The One who filled all these needs for me and my family is waiting to do the same for you.