“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:19-20 NKJV)

My yard is a mess. I have 1.5 acres of beautiful lawn, with flower beds, spreading trees, even a pond … And it is all overrun with weeds. This bothers me tremendously, but perhaps what bothers me the most is the weeds along the drainage ditch that our driveway crosses. It is impossible to get the lawn tractor down into this area, and the first impression anyone gets of my property is “weeds galore”!

I wasn’t quite sure what to do about this problem. Although I love a manicured yard, I don’t have the time to do the work myself … Okay, to be perfectly honest, I also lack the patience, skill, AND the love of gardening! I want the end product without having to work for it!

The youth department at our church took a group of high school students to a fly-in native reservation in Northern Canada for a missions trip this past summer. Both of my teens went, and prior to the trip, all of the students are busily working to acquire the necessary funds. A few weeks before they were scheduled to leave, I noticed a board at the church, titled “Hire a missionary”. The young missionaries were hiring themselves out to church members to earn money for the missions trip. “Hum,” I thought. “Maybe I should hire a missionary to do my yard work!”

Imagine my surprise as I approached that board to see the name of my own son, advertising himself for hire doing yard work!

You already know what I did. I hired a missionary. Two, actually. And both of them live under my roof! I asked the two of them to clean out a certain flower bed for the money needed to buy team sweatshirts, and I asked the one who had listed his name on the board to make me two new flower beds, one on each side of the driveway where it dips down into the ditch. In return, I would pay what was left of the amount he owed for the missions trip.

The jobs were done. Beautifully. And my sons had the necessary money for their missions trip.

In all, it made me think: How often do we search for ways to have our needs fulfilled, when the best solution is already within our grasp? We seek love. We seek acceptance. We seek fulfillment. We seek peace and hope and comfort. And these desires often push us into drugs, alcohol, and illicit relationships. Or maybe just into making bad decisions, ones that hurt those around us.

But all the while, the solution is already there! Hasn’t God promised to fulfill ALL our needs? “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:19-20 NKJV)

Just like the solution to my yard problem lay at home, the solution to every need we have lies it Christ Jesus. Need love? Turn to Him. Need acceptance? He already did! Need fulfillment? He will fill your life to overflowing. Need peace? Look no farther than the Author of peace. Need hope? We have a Hope that is the anchor for our souls (Heb. 6:19)! Need comfort? There is no better source.

But wait a minute. How can we access this solution to all our needs?

But spending time with Jesus! Getting to know Him! Working on that relationship with Him! Allowing Him to shape and make you and grow your faith! Why not give it a try? Remember, the solution doesn’t lie in outside sources. It lies under our own roof. And believe me, the end result will be even more beautiful than my new flower bed!

Lyn Chaffart , Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, www.scripturalnuggets.org, with Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org.