My father, Charles Edward Cary, Jr., wrote this phrase in a letter to me in 1979. “We are in this life to spend and to be spent.” Sadly, I have spent most of my life trying to maintain a tidy, structured life and keeping everything under control.

Paul spent his life spreading the Gospel and worked to support himself, 2 Corinthians 12:14, 15. On top of that he paid the expenses for others out of his own income.

Acts 21:24, “Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses…”

How will you spend your life?

2 Corinthians 8:2, “For in  the midst of an ordeal of severe tribulation, their abundance of joy and their depth of poverty [together] have overflowed in wealth of lavish generosity on their part.”

I received my last paycheck in 2007, and although I have ads on my frugalfish.org blog, I have not generated any income on it or this website.

I am determined to live within our means, even though my husband’s income has also been reduced four times. We set aside a small percentage of our income to help others and are consistently looking for items we no longer need to give to Good Will.

God has honored our giving beyond my wildest dreams. We have paid off our medical expenses, credit cards, van, truck and house during these last five years.

When you serve God, you get abundance and over flowing generosity.

I knew this when I asked my husband to replace a board on our new front stoop. He is just coming from vacation and had his mind full of everything he needed to check on at work. He didn’t want to even think about that stoop. I had bad timing.

2 Corinthians 6:2, “For He says, In the time of favor (of an assured welcome) I have listened to and heeded your call, and I have helped you on the day of deliverance [the day of salvation]. Behold, now is truly the time for a gracious welcome and acceptance [of you from God]; behold, now is the day of salvation! [Isaiah 49:8.]”

“The Greek of the latter is more emphatic, “well-accepted.” What was “an accepted time” in the prophecy [Isaiah 49:8], Hebrew, (“in the season of grace.”), becomes the “well-accepted time.” Critical and Explanatory Commentary, Vol. II

When I read today’s verse, I realized I should have prayed about talking to David. I should have asked God to tell me when it was a good time to discuss it. I should have waited for a time of favor (of an assured and gracious welcome).

These cards are “Remembering Cards.” On the year anniversary of a death, I send a card to the family members with a favorite memory of their loved one or a scripture verse. Sometimes I send a poem.

God never fails to give me the words of hope and encouragement. After all, He is the Father of sympathy.

2 Corinthians 1:34, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement), Who comforts (consoles and encourages) us in every trouble (calamity and affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort (console and encourage) those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort (consolation and encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted (consoled and encouraged) by God.”

Do you…

• Need sympathy?
• Need pity?
• Need mercy?
• Need comfort?
• Need consolation?
• Need encouragement?
• Have trouble?
• Have calamity?
• Have affliction?
• Have distress?

Call on the Father of sympathy.

I was touched – and impressed with God’s timing. I received the card on Flag Day, 5 months to the day of Olivia’s death in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.

My first thought was, “She’s beautiful. I can’t wait to meet her.”

Someday, I will join her in heaven and at some point, during eternity, I will meet her. I will tell her about my granddaughter, Olivia, and about my grandmother, Marie Rose. I will ask about her brother, Brayden and tell her about my nephew, Brayden.

Today’s verse reminds us that our hope is not restricted to this life.

1 Corinthians 15:29, “If we who are [abiding] in Christ have hope only in this life and that is all, then we are of all people most miserable and to be pitied.”

I will continue to pray for all the families who were affected by this tragedy. I know God answers prayer. He answered my prayer for my computer, which was not repairable. I was able to replace the broken components with the cash we had on hand in our “appliances category.”

I thought I had a virus and went to pctuneup.org to fix it. That was a mistake.

After downloading two programs and spending a ton of money to “fix” the virus, my computer will no longer turn on correctly. It turns on to the sleep mode and will not wake up. Even though I have instructed the computer to never go into sleep mode.

If I turn it on and shut if off several times, eventually it came back on. Our solution was to never shut it off. That is until the thunderstorm did it for us.

I borrowed my son’s laptop to post this, but I am locked out of my financial programs and photos to write frugalfish.org posts. Everything has come to a screeching halt.

As I weighed my options, I decided not to try to fix it myself. God is going to have to open a door to someone knowledgeable to fix it. Three weeks ago, I wrote this as a prayer request and submitted the card to the prayer team at church. We are all waiting on an answer.

The thing is, if an expert looks at it, they will know how to fix it the first time.

The Holy Spirit is an expert. When he revealed the Gospel to Paul, the doctrine matched the Gospel Jesus revealed to the apostles.

Galatians 1:12, “For indeed I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but [it came to me] through a [direct] revelation [given] by Jesus Christ.”

“Thus Paul is an independent witness to the Gospel. Though he had received no instruction from the apostles, but from the Holy Spirit, yet when he met them his Gospel exactly agreed with theirs.” Critical and Explanatory Commentary, Vol. II

Dear Jesus, Please provide an expert for my computer. I need one my husband will approve of and one we can afford. Amen.

In the natural, it looked like I would be housebound until I died. By faith, I continued playing the piano, believing that one day I would play in a church service again. I planned ahead, just like Joseph did in today’s verse.

Hebrews 11:22, “[Actually] by faith Joseph, when nearing the end of his life, referred to [the promise of God for] the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his own bones. [Genesis 50:24, 25; Exodus 13:19.]”

In November of last year, I was released to attend church on Sunday mornings. In March I was again playing the piano substituting for the keyboard player at regular services.

After reading today I realized, since that first prayer had been answered, I needed to believe for something else and act on it.

Hebrews 9:27, “And just as it is appointed for [all] men once to die, and after that the [certain] judgment.”

Psalms 139:16 tells us the day of his death was written before he was conceived. He died defending freedom. Because of his sacrifice, I live in peace, not in a war-torn country. I am grateful for all the soldiers who are willing to lay down their lives.

And even more, for Christ Jesus who paid the price for my sins on Calvary.

He said, “Sure, you know like Popeye, the sailor man!”

When you want to build your strength, you eat meat!

Hebrews 5:14, “But solid food is for full grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law.”

“The solid meat, or food, is not absolutely necessary for preserving life, but is so for acquiring greater strength…Even strong men partake of milk, but do not make milk their chief, much less their sole, diet.” Critical and Explanatory Commentary, Vol. II

Acts 13:18, “And for about forty years like a fatherly nurse He cared for them in the wilderness and endured their behavior (Deuteronomy 1:31).”

“Cherished them (as a nurse the infant in her bosom).” Critical and Explanatory Commentary, Vol. II

My granddaughter is two years old now and I know her behavior does not always please her father! But he still cares for her and endures her behavior.

Just like God does for us!