A Stove and Seven Baskets

"How is it that you still do not understand?"
Mark 8:21

A few weeks ago, Golden Rule Movement received a message from a nurse connected with our ministry.

She wasn't asking for herself.

She was asking for someone else.

She told us about a surgical tech named Megan.

The kind of person every workplace hopes to have. Dependable. Compassionate. Always willing to make someone else's day a little easier. The doctors appreciate her. The nurses appreciate her. Most importantly, the people who know her best describe her as someone who consistently puts others before herself.

One story stood out above all the rest.

A coworker was preparing for arm surgery and needed several weeks away from work but had already exhausted her paid time off. Without hesitation, Megan donated 100 hours of her own PTO so her coworker could recover without worrying about a paycheck.

One hundred hours.

That's the kind of person Megan is.

Then the nurses shared something else.

For the past year and a half, Megan had been preparing meals for her husband, her children, and her father-in-law...without a stove.

Everything was made in an air fryer.

Dinner.

Family meals.

She had even figured out how to bake cakes in it.

When people asked why she didn't replace the stove, her answer was simple. Their family was working hard to pay off debt, and she planned to wait another year or two before purchasing one.

She wasn't complaining.

She wasn't asking for help.

She was simply making the best of what she had.

When the nurses reached out to Golden Rule Movement, it didn't take long before we knew we wanted to help.

At the time, we had about $500 that had been donated to stock our storage hub with food and supplies for future needs.

That was the plan.

But sometimes God gently redirects our plans.

One of our amazing volunteers walked into Home Depot, shared Megan's story with the store manager, and simply asked if there was anything they could do.

He listened.

Then he did something incredible.

A stove that normally sold for around $1,200 was discounted all the way down to $500, making it possible for Golden Rule Movement to purchase it, deliver it, and have it installed for the family.

What an incredible gift.

But God wasn't finished.

That very evening...

After the stove had been purchased...

Golden Rule Movement received a $500 donation.

As I sat with everything that had happened, my mind didn't immediately go back to the stove.

It went to my Bible.

The next morning during my devotional reading, I found myself in Mark 8.

Jesus reminded His disciples about the miracles they had already witnessed. He asked them,

"When i broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"

"Twelve," they answered.

Then He continued,

"Also, when i broke the sseven loaves for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"

They answered,

"Seven."

As I read those words, I couldn't get past the sevens.

Seven loaves.

Seven baskets.

The same God who took what was placed into His hands multiplied it, cared for everyone in front of Him, and there was still more than enough.

I couldn't help but think about our own little story.

We had about $500 set aside for our storage hub.

Then God placed Megan's need in front of us.

So we simply placed those resources into His hands.

That evening, Golden Rule Movement received a $500 donation.

Not because God owed us anything.

Not because generosity is some sort of formula.

But because, once again, He gently reminded us that everything already belongs to Him.

The money wasn't ours.

The stove wasn't ours.

The storage hub isn't ours.

The supplies aren't ours.

It's all His.

We are simply stewards of whatever He places in our hands.

Sometimes He asks us to hold it.

Sometimes He asks us to give it away.

Our responsibility is simply to trust Him.

Then Jesus asked His disciples a question that has echoed in my heart ever since:

"How is it that you still do not understand?"

As I closed my Bible that morning, I realized something.

This story was never really about a stove.

It was about a faithful God who still provides.

A nurse who cared enough to ask.

A store manager willing to help.

Generous donors who quietly gave.

Volunteers who served.

A family who was reminded they weren't forgotten.

And one more reminder that what God places in our hands was never ours to begin with.

It has always been His.

May we never become so familiar with His faithfulness that we stop trusting Him with what He's entrusted to us.

"How is it that you still do not understand?"

💛