Jehovah Jireh

God has provided. Our faith is strengthened yet again.

The hunters were faithful in going out to hunt, but managed only to bring home two does -- we had estimated that we would need about five deer based on our consumption last year.

Well, the end of hunting season 2009 came and went and our hunters still only had the two does that God had allowed Carsyn to harvest. As a family, we discussed the concern that was on all our minds. We decided that since God knows our needs, we can trust that He has provided. We have venison enough for now, we have our own yummy, healthy chicken and beef as well ... with more beef in our pasture. We have MUCH to be thankful for -- THANK YOU, LORD!

It was nearly three hours after the hunt time had ended -- which means three hours after dark when suddenly we had a visitor at our door. Ken's brother stopped by. He had hunted solo all day, shooting his target buck finally just three minutes before the end of the hunt day. Thankfully, it was a good shot and the buck dropped just a few feet from where it was hit, no tracking needed. HOWEVER, it was a BIG buck, thus Darryl needed to field dress the animal (in the dark) then get it back through the bush to where he had parked his truck. AND in addition, when he had left the truck there before dawn Darryl had locked his keys into the vehicle! So after dark when he finally got back to the truck with his buck, he still had to figure out a way to get into his truck.

God got all the glory when Darryl told us that God had given him Divine wisdom in how to use what he had available to him to gain entry into his vehicle (CAA would have never been able to find him in the vast 120 square miles of the Spruce Woods park!). His method of entry was ingenious to say the least. Who would have thought of that without Divine inspiration?

Have you guessed by now that this story all ties together by the fact that Darryl stopped by to gift us with the meat from that big buck? Being a single guy and having already shot a doe with his bow in archery season, he had no need for the meat so he gave us the meat with its possession tag to make it legal for us to have it in possession in our freezers.

The men folk enjoyed the time spent together in our big shop, skinning and hanging the deer, talking and discussing their hunting expeditions all the while. Darryl didn't need to journey the rest of the way home with that huge task still waiting for him to do alone once he got there because it was already done. He measured the chest of that huge buck - it was 43 inches, bigger than any he has ever seen ... and he is an avid hunter with a lot of hunts to his experience.

So Saturday ended with a delightful Divine surprise for us and for Darryl. We now have approximately 225 lbs of roasts, cuts and ground venison wrapped and in the freezers. God has provided. If that is not enough to get us through until next season, God will have more provision for when we need it! We have no doubt about that.

We were also reminded again about the fact that venison is the healthiest meat available to us through my mother's reading of the book "What the Bible Says about Healthy Living" written by the late Dr. Rex Russell. We have read the book a long while ago, but it was good to hear this venison info once again, especially right now.