It was the summer of 2011. I was sitting in a sterile office, with a lot of women, in a cubicle of sorts, minus the walls. I looked over to my left and there was a lady sitting there. I’d be lying if I said I remembered how her hair was and what she was wearing, but one thing I did remember about her, and it was that something pulled me to her, her spirit.

We made small talk here and there and she was very friendly and VERY saved, lol. It took only one conversation to figure out that she was a Christian. She was so vocal about her love for Jesus, and me being a church kid, I could tell a fake from someone real in a heartbeat, and she was a real one. Our friendship caught me by surprise because she was older than me by about 13 years. And I was certain that our quickly growing, Christ-centered friendship was growing faster than I thought, because near my 21st Birthday (which was months away), I was planning out what would be my plans and my first “legal” (don’t judge me, I was broken) drink would be. Almost as my pen finished stroking the word, “wine,” on the paper, she turned around and said, “Hi Jerrica, I do not mean to be in your business, but God is telling me to tell you that drinking alcohol is not for you.” I think I said, “ok,” and turned around in amazement and conviction that 1. this girl be hearing from God like that and 2. she had the audacity to check me, in the sweetest and kindest yet confident in what she was saying, voice. That was just the beginning of My Elizabeth’s constant pouring of truth in me.

What Identified her as My Elizabeth?

There were a few things about her that identified her as My Elizabeth:

1. She was older than me and had lived through things I had yet to experience
2. We both loved God and had active relationships with Him
3. We were both carriers of God’s Spirit
4. Things in her leapt and I was given hope when we connected
5. Staying with her prepares me for my journey ahead, a journey where she has been
6. She teaches me things I do not know or need reinforced
7. She stirs the song of praise in me, and I sing

Fast forward 8 years and we are still connected. We are still seeing each other grow up in Christ. We are still leaping and having hope. But now, we are pushing and birthing what we were holding.

In honor of My Elizabeth’s birthday today. I was reflecting on a gift to give. She is turning 40, which she would initially be mad that I’m telling, but then it would quickly turn into praise unto God and deep gratitude as she reflects on His goodness to give her 40 years of life, lol. So the gift… I am a person who likes to give good gifts, but I am also a person who is temporarily out of cash. SO, I thought about My Elizabeth and something that has always meant a lot to her, words. The words I want to give her today are not my own, they are simply a reminder of what she already knows:

Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath

⁷ Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. ⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹ “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” ¹⁰ 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?” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

¹² “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.”

¹³ 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. ¹⁴ 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.’”

¹⁵ She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. ¹⁶ 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.

2 Kings 4:1-7 New International Version (NIV)

The Widow’s Olive Oil

4 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

² Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”

³ Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. ⁴ Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

⁵ She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. ⁶ When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”

But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

⁷ She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

2 Corinthians 9:6-15 New International Version (NIV)

Generosity Encouraged

⁶ Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
    their righteousness endures forever.”^[a]

¹⁰ Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

¹² This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³ Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. ¹⁴ And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

My Prayer for you:

In Jesus name, Amen

Pouring is what started our friendship. Pouring is what started this blog. Thank you Jesus. Thank you NaTeesha. Happy 40th Birthday!

Love Jerrica