1 Kings 17:7-16 NIV Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread–only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it–and die.” 

A jar and a jug. That’s all the woman had left. Empty vessels that only contained just enough to make one last meal…if that. And of course, that’s what God would ask of her. God is asking her to give her last, her pitiful, her nothing left to give. Is God asking the same from you today? 

When my marriage was falling apart, I had nothing left. I had no husband. I had no kids. I had no job, because I’d just left it to hopefully begin the adoption process, since we’d been unable to conceive for 10 years. Therefore, I had no money. I had a nice house, but just like that jar and jug, it was empty with no family to fill it. I had nothing left to give. That’s when God showed up asking for my everything. I showed Him my empty jar and jug and told Him that was all I had left. 

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’ ” She went away and did as Elijah had told her. 

That day, God looked at my sad jar and jug, but I don’t think He saw what I saw. I saw the impossible. I looked around and saw the same drought I’m sure that widow saw, but God saw something He could work with. After I showed God my jug and jar, just like the widow, God gave me a promise. To the widow, He promised that jug and jar would never run dry. To me, He promised He would restore my marriage to a husband who no longer wanted me. Later, He would promise me children after 10 years of infertility. If I would give Him all that I had, He was promising to fill my home with a family. Through my perspective, I was giving him nothing, but to God, I was giving Him everything. 

So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

Just like the widow, God fulfilled His promises to me. Her jar of flour never ran out, and her jug of oil never ran dry. God did restore my marriage, and God did bless us with 4 biological children.  Imagine that, I never did have to start the adoption process. God had different plans. He saw what I couldn’t. He turned my nothing into my everything. Now, it’s been almost 13 years since God filled my jar and jug, and it still never runs dry! However, I wish I could say that it was smooth sailing after God filled my jug and jar, but, just like the widow, He wasn’t done building faith and performing miracles. 

1Ki 17:17-24 NIV Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.”

In 2018, our 3-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. Just like that widow again, I couldn’t understand why God would take away my child after seeing the impossible He could do. I cried. I questioned. I prayed…just like Elijah in that upper room. And just like with Elijah, God met me in that hospital room. God made me another promise. He told me that no harm would come to our daughter, if I would trust Him to take care of her. It wasn’t easy. It was so hard watching our little girl lose her hair. The difficult journey would include numerous doctors, too many needles, surgeries, and hospital stays, but God held our hands every single step. Now our daughter is a healthy, vibrant 10-year-old girl busy with school, church, and ballet. Looking at her, no one could ever tell what she’s been through. No one would know the miracle she is…TWICE! First, her birth, then her healing. So I write about it. 

I try to tell others that if you just give God an empty jug and jar, He can do amazing things! Just trust Him…He’ll never let you run dry!

John 7:38 NIV Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Haggai 2:3  ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?

Picture this: Exiles come back to Jerusalem 70 years after its destruction to rebuild the Temple just as God promised, except this Temple is nothing as grand as Solomon’s Temple. The people who remember the first Temple are completely distraught by this. But God sends two prophets, Haggai & Zechariah, to encourage these people. He tells them through these prophets to not despise these “small beginnings.”

Zechariah 4:10 Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.”

God promises the latter glory will be greater and He will fill it again with His presence. Then, He tells them their only job is to work on it and be strong, i.e. trust Him! Finally, He motivates them to do just that!

Haggai 2:4-7 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while…I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.

Looking back through my journals of those early days of restoration, this was the same for my marriage. The pain was unbearable. The ups. The downs. The confusion. The recovering from rejection. Some days it was all too much. I couldn’t understand why my returned prodigal wasn’t more changed, more humble, just more. So many days I begged God to release me from my stand, because, yes, I was still standing for my marriage even in restoration – even when I didn’t want to anymore. 

Probably the most poignant memory I have of those early days is after a fight with my husband, I go outside to sit on the porch alone to vent to God about how unfair it all was. I hadn’t been the one to leave. I hadn’t been the one who’d committed adultery. I hadn’t been the one to seek a divorce. Yet, I was the one hurting! Why wasn’t my husband more? Why hadn’t he changed enough? Why Why Why? Then the Holy Spirit whispered, “Do you believe God works on the other side of the mountain?” I said, “yes.” “Then trust that God is still working on the other side of the mountain…all that you see are just circumstances. God’s not done with JW/y’all yet.”

He had to change my perspective. I thought the return home of the prodigal was the end of a painful chapter in our marriage, but He was telling me it wasn’t the end, but the beginning. He was encouraging me to not be frustrated about that, instead be hopeful, strong, and expectant of what He’s going to do in us! “Don’t despise these small beginnings.”

It’s been over 13 years ago since those tumultuous and painful early days of restoration. I look back over those words in my journals (yes, there were many) and realize we’re not those same people. It’s not the same marriage. It’s not the same emotions. He really has filled this latter house with His glory and it is so much greater!

Haggai 2:9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.’”

Let this be an encouragement to you. Don’t despise your small beginnings. Don’t give up in your restoration. What you see now are just circumstances, too. God’s got greater plans! Be strong and do not fear!