SAMANTHA ELLEY reflects on God’s provision during her time as the owner of a coffee shop…
Northern Rivers, New South Wales, Australia
PICTURE: Radek Grzybowski/Unsplash
“First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.” – Proverbs 30:7-9 (NLT)
When our boys were very young, we used to own a coffee shop. We sold gourmet sandwiches, salads, donuts, ice cream and of course, coffee.
It ran at a hectic pace. We were open for seven days a week and worked long hours.
“There were two things I learnt from owning a coffee shop. The first was we were better off not owning a coffee shop and the second, that I would prefer to pay for my coffee than own a coffee shop.”
There were two things I learnt from owning a coffee shop. The first was we were better off not owning a coffee shop and the second, that I would prefer to pay for my coffee than own a coffee shop.
Unfortunately, we had taken it over during a few years of flooding weather, which in a beach side town is not good.
Our most lucrative time was the summer holidays when the size of the town would triple with the amount of incoming holiday-makers.
For two of the three years that we owned the shop, the holiday-makers stayed away as the weather was incredibly bad.
I was working a part-time job while hubby ran the shop, and it was the pay from that job that kept the shop open at times.
Needless to say, money was tight and I did wonder at times how we would pay the bills.
One time we owed $A5,000 with only a few dollars left in the bank. I was beside myself and remember praying and crying one night asking God for help.
The very next day, the amount we needed to pay all our bills, with a few dollars to spare, was credited to our account, from a government child support payment that we had claimed with our tax.
That little event showed me the privilege of depending on our Heavenly Father.
We rely on our readers to fund Sight's work - become a financial supporter today!
For more information, head to our Subscriber's page.
While I’ve often wondered what it would be like to win the lottery; I know we never will, because we don’t play it.
But I do know that the God who made Heaven and Earth will provide all my needs.
Since we sold the shop, we have had times of plenty and times of scarcity, but we’ve always had the bills paid and our needs provided for.
This includes when we lost our house to flood. God provided through our family, friends and community. We had many people wanting to help us in any way they could and we were very grateful.
This way the givers and receivers all got blessed. Better than any old lottery win and better than being without the wonderful people around us.
