The Extraordinary Faith of a Single Mom
We don’t even know their names. Yet their stories, recorded in the Bible, feel strangely familiar. They could be your stories or mine…
One tells us of a single mom, a widow. It is recorded in 2 Kings 4:1-7. She had two boys and a huge debt. Her husband had been a religious man in the community. His death had left her destitute. Now the landlord was coming to take her two young boys to work for him in lieu of her debt. She was desperate. She ran to the home of Elijah, the local minister and sobbed out her story. Elijah, directed by God, asked her what she had left in her home. There wasn’t much. But she did have a small vial of oil left in her cupboard. Elijah told her to go home and borrow all the empty jars she could. Then he told her to take her boys, shut her door, and begin to fill the jars with oil from the small vial she had.
This woman’s faith is extraordinary! She did just as Elijah said. I would have been tempted to write off such an outrageous idea. Yet she didn’t. She boldly went to her neighbors and gathered all the jars she could. She boldly took her boys inside her kitchen and reached for the oil. Can’t you just imagine the happy amazement this small, desperate family felt as they saw jar after jar fill to the brim with oil! After all were full the vial was still not empty. A miracle had happened right before their eyes!
This single mom ran to Elijah’s home to tell him the amazing news. He told her to go to market and sell the oil. There was enough money to pay her debt and take care of her boys as well. Her faith made the miracle possible. Without that mom’s faith nothing would have happened. Extraordinary faith from an ordinary woman!
Ask God to direct you through the complexities of life. Call on Him. Expect Him to answer. Be willing to risk. Our faith is part of the miracle.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20, 21
Father God, increase my faith. Help me to step out in faith. May I model to those coming behind me a life of trusting You even in what seems impossible. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
Going Deeper
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Well, thank you ladies one and all. I didn’t get to the devotion first thing this morning as is usual for me. I’ve tried to life my entire life knowing that my cup was at least half full all the time. I enjoyed the devotional this evening but most of all I enjoyed what each of you shared. You ladies have lifted my heart. Thank you all for sharing. I’m also being taught that when one is brave enough to “share” you just never know how or who you will help. I hope you have all had a blessed day … and thanks again for sharing.
Your sister in Christ,
Gramma
I had shared this miracle with the ladies in my prayer group,which numbers 73 at the present. I also am forwarding this series of devotions to them each day. I just wanted to tell you how much this story of the woman with the oil jars reminded me of what a police officer told me when I miraculously lived through a close call with an eighteen-wheeler.
I was driving from my mom’s house back to my Fort Mill hometown, which is usually about an hour and fifteen minute drive, when I switched to the left lane to pass an 18-wheeler. I got about half-way around him when I saw his front wheels starting to cross over into my lane. I honked the horn, and he still kept coming. I laid down on the horn, and it didn’t make any difference. It was clear he was coming over on me. I was already into the paved shoulder part of the left lane. I tried to steer the car off the road without hitting the brakes because I was afraid that I would lose control and be hit by him. Suddenly I was all the way off the road and headed down an incline… into a concrete ditch and then back up the other side of the median with all kinds of traffic headed toward me. I managed by the grace of God (and I was certainly screaming out to God) to go between all of the oncoming traffic with two 18-wheelers side by side headed straight for me. By now, my car was out of control and I was fish-tailing and my car spun around and hit the guard-rail and bounced off and ended up facing the south-bound traffic… but out of the road in the emergency lane.
I was hysterical at this point and had my head down on the steering wheel and gripping it with both hands when a man came up to the car and tried to open the door and started tapping on the window. I unlocked the door and he asked if I was okay. I got out of the car and just broke down. He said that he was coming southbound and saw me coming across the medium and didn’t know how I had made it through all of the oncoming traffic without getting hit except but by the grace of God. Next, a lady and teenage girl stopped and said that they had been behind me and thought that the truck had hit me. They had gone to the next exit and had come back south to check on me. They talked with a county officer who drove up and then they left. I guess someone else had called 911 and had him come. He was kind to me and told me that I had handled the car real well to have not flipped it or been hit by any other cars. Then the highway patrol came and he stayed with me until David, my son got there and had called a wrecker for the car. He had me sit in his car and as I was trying to tell him what had happened, he told me “You know there is a song now for that, called Jesus take the Wheel.” He told me that it could have been much worse and that to always remember that my cup is always half-full. Even when he was leaving, he turned and told me…. “Your cup is always half-full !”
I thank God and praise Him that I came through this without a scratch… I know how close I was to being with God and my husband of 38 years that I lost about fourteen months ago ….so I know that God has more for me to do here on earth and it was definitely not my time to go. I give him all the glory and honor!
I was again reminded by your devotion today that my cup is not half-empty when some may think it is…. but always half-full. From now on, though, I am going to consider my cup full; even when I don’t seem to have enough. God is certainly in control of my life and will bring me through it all. Praise the Lord!
I am a single mother of a 12 year old boy. His dad is constantly in between jobs and currently owes a substantial amount of money. He was involved in a serious car accident this past weekend and has been hospitalized indefinitely. My initial reaction to the news made me feel as though he deserved to be injured for the way he has abandoned my son. But, through prayer I realized as a christian, I needed to pray for him and have done so. However, because my son’s father owes child support I can not afford to send him back to a christian school where he has been since preschool. I go to the church that the school is affiliated with and I tithe every Sunday, and yet I feel like God has not heard any of my prayers to keep my son in a christian school. What I have learned from the “Single Mother’s” devotional is that I need to increase my faith that God will do what is best for me and my son, and that he could perform a miracle in my life as well, if I just continue to believe!
To the ladies in the Lord,
May we stay ever mindful of the GOODNESS of GOD! Praise His Holy Name!!!Though we are “saddled” down with the cares of this life,He’s able, if we just trust and stay faithful,,,that story of the widow woman always keep me encouraged whenever i read it or hear it…my prayers are with each of you who are reading this through this medium…Trust and Faith,,,Faith and Trust,,,Be ever blessed…
dee
This is exactly what I needed this morning. A reminder that God still performs miracle when we hold fast to His Word, be obedient and trust in Him. I’ve been going through a difficult situation that I’ve never faced in my life. It took me a while to position myself for a miracle to take place in my family. Before, I was so independent and thought I could do it all. I recognized who God is, but I failed to establish a relationship with Him. When situations started coming in my life a rapid speed, instead of running to God in prayer, I went in the other direction, trying to fix it myself. As you can imagine, I made a bigger mess, and it came to a point that I had to humble myself before Almighty God. I am glad because now I have a relationship with God, and each day I just release all of my worries, and believing He’s going to grant my family a second chance of living togther as a unit with God being Number 1 in everything. God is still good and able to do more than we can ever ask. Thank you Jesus for not giving up on me. I pray for all of my sisters who are going through. God is still moving on our behalf. Keep Believing! Be Blessed!
This is just the reminder that I needed today that I need to put and keep my faith in God and he will take care of me and my family.
I needed this reminder today ~ I’m in the mist of a personal medical storm. Both my husband and I are having or have had major surgeries. We are prayerfully relying on God to help us through. This was exactly what I needed to hear today. I have seen doors opening as our bleak times are trying to over come us. In difficult moments we all need to continue to Seek God…. He is there ALL the time.
Thank you for your devotions.
Grandma Frog
I see something rather amazing in this story. Elijah told this woman to do something that must have seemed outrageous and silly to her (before she did it). Yet she did exactly what he instructed her to do. She would have had no idea what the outcome was going to be. In the end, she was blessed for her faith and her obedience.
What about us? When God gives us directions that seem to be ridiculous, are we willing to obey them exactly as given? Or do we try to ‘modify’ them to be more ‘reasonable’? Or do we go back to God and ask Him to try again, to change the directions? How strong is our faith in a God who can do the impossible?
If you had been in this woman’s place, do you think you would have obeyed like she did? I’m not sure what my response would have been but this devotional has undoubtedly spoken to my heart. What I need to do is to obey even when the instructions don’t make sense. That is what God is asking of me (and quite possibly, of you as well).
Have a great day with the Lord.
Praise God for the women in the his Word…their stories really are inspiring and a reminder what we are facing today is not something new its just a new twist to the same old dance!
May our faithful God bless each one of us through what we are going through, may the Holy Spirit remind us how faithful our God is and to remember the blessings we have even in the middle of hardship. May he God provide us enough faith to move the mountains in our lives – being it grief, debts, hurt, abandonments, war, anything that is causing us to be troubled…just as the ordinary woman may he fill our hearts, with enough love and faith to pour out to our situations and see his miracles.
God bless you ladies for sharing …
stay blessed
colenga!
afternoon
i cannot tell u how that specific passage in the bible applies to me . i have been waiting for a baby for 15 years and eventually this year on 1 january 06 i got saved and i woke up been thirsty for our LORD .i have just adopted a beautiful baby girl and that would have been impossible if i did not beleive and have faith in our father . as i result i have a lot of debt that have know accumulated but i know that through my faith that yoke of bondage will be broken . please pray for me that my financial status will be disolved
may god bless you richly . i know what i feel for him and how greatly it has enriched my life
bless you lorraine
Thank you for sharing this story and for the encouraging message. I recently lost my husband and am going through the grieving process and have a lot of debts to pay. This gave me the courage to go on and to know that God is a God of miracles and that He can do anything. We have an awesome God.
This what i needed ,a reminder that miracles still exist and it’s faith waht we need.
Sisters all lebanses ppl thank you for ur prayers. Great is Our God forever is his mercy
This story reminded me of a time in my life when I was left with two boys to raise when my husband went to prison for domestic violence. I had no job, no skills and no way to feed and care for them. God gave me an extraordinary faith that pulled us through that difficult time. As I was reading and remembering, my thoughts were, “That was 10 years ago–what am I trusting God for today and I honestly cannot think of anything, so this devotional has encouraged me to begin praying for faith that my Father would do something new in my life.
b nichols