Manna.The name that was given to the food that God used to feed the children of Israel when they traveled in the desert for forty extra years. They would have gone into the Promised Land much sooner, except for their unbelief that God could actually keep His promise and help them drive out the heathen people who currently lived in that land. Yet even though they were being punished, God did not neglect to provide for their needs. He gave them water out of a rock, and bread from heaven--each morning except for Sabbath, for forty years--and Sabbath was provided for with a double portion being given on Friday.
In the past few months I have thought a lot about "manna". No, I do not feel like we are wandering in the desert--quite the contrary. I love where God has moved our family, and I do not feel like we are being punished at all. Yet at the same time, as everyone well knows, costs and expenses have very much gone up in the U.S. over the past several years. And for most people--us included--income has not gone up. I am VERY thankful for my husbands good job. And several months ago God started showing me one of His ways to provide for us, of which I knew nothing.
Last August I ended up learning about coupons from a lady who goes to our church. I mean, I knew coupons existed before--you know, a measly 25 cents off your purchase, and it hardly covers the tax on the item. I would occasionally use a coupon here and there, but usually felt that I could save more by merely purchasing the store brand of whatever item I was needing.
I have now learned a completely different way to shop. In a nutshell, my friend taught me all about stores that have "Buy one, get one free" sales, and also stores that double manufacture coupons. I now save my coupons and try to spend them when the item has already gone on sale--thus being able to purchase it for much less than normal price. Of course, you end up with kind of an odd meal, if you were going to go right home and prepare it all for one meal. Sale items do not always go together into a well planned meal--so you have an extra pantry or shelves where you store the "extras" that you were able to buy. Then when you need an item, instead of going to the store and paying full price, you go to your own shelves filled with items you bought when they were on sale, and "shop" there.
Today, as I made my weekly "what's on sale?" shopping trip, I was able to purchase $101.15 worth of groceries for only $35.95. And it would have been even less, except that we were totally out of natural peanut butter so I went ahead and spent $7.17 on three jars. (I now cringe to have to purchase something that is NOT on sale, but sometimes you have just got to do it anyway!) I don't think we will eat the pineapple, Triscuits, peanut butter and popcorn all together in the same meal, but I have other things in my cupboards that these foods can go with.
Water out of a rock? Bread from heaven? God has a thousand ways to take care of us. And we only need one.
"Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. " Is. 59:1
3 comments:
What a great post! I am so glad you are enjoying couponing. We were able to get a really good deal to have the newspaper delivered to us on the week ends. So now I can check and see what the coupons are and see if I want to go to the store and buy a double pack to get more coupons. It is so nice. Since we live a ways out from the store there were some weeks there that I was not even getting the paper to get coupons. But we do so much better when I use those coupons. I don't think I have it going as good as you do though. What store do you get the best deals? Where did you go today?
Lisa :o)
Hi Lisa! Yesterday my shopping trip was to Publix--I don't think Texas has them. But the web site I use to help me match coupons with sales at the stores does list Kroger and HEB. I have not looked at the sales for those stores, since I do not have them here where I live now. But I know you have them not too far away, so you should check out the sale listings for those two stores and see what you can find. The lady who does the web site will also have links to coupons you can print off--half the time at least I am using coupons I printed off the internet, and a smaller half of the time I am using coupons from Sunday's newspapers. Anyway, go check out www.southernsavers.com I will post later and show you what my coupon binder looks like, and how I organized it. It is not the "right" way to do it, but may give you one idea anyway.
Thanks Susan! Have a great day! :o)
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