Tag: #provisions

It came and went…

I laid down to bed, thankful for another day. As now has become my routine,

I pat my pouch

my Ostomy pouch, that is…(I know I have a stomach pouch and I’m working on that too!)

I try to gauge how long I have until it needs emptied.

Tonight as I patted my pouch, I pondered to myself how long this has been my life.

Or how short.

6 months.

2 days ago, 6 months came and went.

It’s almost normal now.

How has it been?

While life will never be normal.

I have adjusted to my normal.

I have a little inquisitive 3 year old friend whom I adore. Today at church while we waited for a meeting she began asking many normal 3 year old questions.

What’s in your purse?

Why do you have a bag in your purse?

What’s in the bag?

Can I see?

So piece by piece I opened my ostomy “emergency pack” and we discussed each piece. Including the extra underwear.

I explained that it was “kind of like my diaper bag.”

My. New. Normal.

Was it normal for two people to dissect an Ostomy supply bag in the chairs of the church?

For us. Today. It was.

My ostomy has given me my weekends back. I’m no longer living in the bathroom each weekend emptying my colon.

My ostomy has taken away pain that once knew my name.

It has given me some tiredness and new rhythms.

Overall, I am so incredibly grateful.

Today I celebrate.

6 months and 2 days.

God gives good gifts even when they aren’t wrapped like we would expect them to be.

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The Good & The Bad

Thanks for journeying with me. What a journey 2026 has been so far!

If you’ve been journeying with me, you know that in the middle of January I had a pipe burst and have been without water ever since.

In my last post I wrote about how each day I’ve been without water, the Lord showed me that HE had indeed, provided water. I just needed to go outside and scoop it up.

Which leads to this weekend…

The Bad News:

Another leak.

The Good News:

Friends who showed up. Friends who sacrificed several hours of their weekend to help this tiny house girl with a super basic need: water. They were able to repair the initial break and patch the secondary

DRUM ROLL PLEASE….

This amazingly glorious liquid poured forth from my faucet yesterday! Which also means the melting snow IS filling my tank!

I may or may not have sent a video to a select few of me singing the Hallelujah Chorus…!

If you’ve spent any time here or with me, you know I’m passionate about one word “REMEMBER.”

In Exodus, God said to Moses & Aaron

“Get a jar and fill it with two quarts of manna. Then put it in a sacred place before the Lord to preserve it for all future generations.””
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭16‬:‭33‬ ‭NLT‬‬

While we clearly don’t live under the law, there are so many Old Testament principles that serve as beautiful Reminders.

And so…

This morning I found a jar and poured in the remaining melted snow I had reserved and marked the top

Manna 2026

I set the jar in a place reserved for the things I need to Remember

When you come to visit THE121, you can ask,

“What’s with the jar of water?”

And I will say

“It’s the manna God provided.”

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Manna for today

If you’ve listened to K-Love radio lately, you’ve heard Annie F. Downs quote her pastor, “God hasn’t forgotten the recipe for Manna.”

I’ve been pondering that a lot lately as I just finished reading Exodus.

Shortly after reading about God providing manna for the Israelites, I sat on my couch and was complaining to God.

“God please give me water.”

“God, did you bring me to tiny house living to allow me to fail?”

I was in full complaint mode.

And then…

I lifted my head and looked out onto Teaberry Acres…

“I’ve given you 2 acres of manna….”

Sure enough. 2 acres of all the water I could need.

And so each morning, I collect enough for the day.

I thank God for the VERY TANGIBLE reminder that HE has given me what I need for today.

I believe fully that when the “manna” melts, the rain will begin.

Today Manna also showed up in the form of friends coming to replace the pipes…more on that in another post.

Today we focus on the manna.

He had given us what we need, for today.

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When words run short..

I’ve been silent lately because truly words have fallen short.

My last post was on Jan. 26. Two days before that was when my pipe burst…20 days ago. For 20 days, THE121 has sat dry. Here in the mountains of Pennsylvania, the winter has been BRUTAL. Temps well below average including multiple days of negatives…

I sat with some friends last week with tears streaming down my face.

I. Am. Tired.

Literal survival mode had taken its toll.

The next morning a text came through from a good friend.

A warm house, family away. Come.

I took the gift.

Gratitude.

So I’ve been able to rest this week away. To regain my strength.

Please pray with me as friends come on Saturday with the hopes of fixing the broken pipe in warmer temperatures.

During the sitting with friends, our task was to write a name of God and pray around that name for our situation.

The name I wrote down was

El Roi

The God who sees.

He has indeed seen me. My distress. My discomfort. My cries.

He has seen me. I have seen Him.

Such a loving and gracious Father in the midst of one of the hardest times at THE121.

Tucked in tight enjoying the gift of a warm home with water 💧.
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A little drama at THE121

Let’s start at the beginning shall we?

Saturday morning I woke up to start my generator (like always) and NOTHING. No start.

No start =‘s no power (off grid living).

I phoned my amazing neighbor who suggested I bring it inside to let it warm up.

I hauled my 100+ pound generator from the back 40, up my stairs and into THE121.

After a conversation with the Lord, I hauled the generator back down the stairs, back to its outside dwelling and sure enough…she started!

I had been wanting to make a shelter for the generator for some time and figured with the storm coming, Saturday was THE DAY.

I have a friend who says “before you go shopping for supplies, shop at home first.” Brilliant quote.

I remembered that I had some leftover 2 inch foam board under my house and some leftover insulation tape. I pulled it out and got to work.

Beautiful? No.

Worked? Yes!

As I was putting the left over foam board under my house, I noticed some water dripping.

Water dripping UNDER THE HOUSE!

I inhaled deeply.

Exhaled deeply.

Sure enough…I opened my intake box and a water pipe had broken.

I phoned my generator guy who is also my plumbing guy. He arrived very quickly. I HIGHLY recommend him. I told him, I felt like I was hemorrhaging and he was there to save my life.

Long story short. There was no save.

On Saturday afternoon my 500 gallon water supply was emptied on Teaberry acres.

Of course, here in my neck of the woods it’s been single digits and lower. Fixes like this, can’t happen on a tiny house until the weather is above freezing.

And so…where does this leave this tiny house girl?

Grateful.

Grateful that my generator “just happened” to not start Saturday morning. I have ZERO doubt that I would not have been under the house had I not been building a snow shelter for my generator.

I am grateful that the water went outside not INSIDE my house.

I am grateful we got 13 inches of snow because now I have a LOT of water supply right out my front door!

When will I get running water back?

Only God knows that answer.

Until then…

You’ll find me collecting snow and boiling it 🙂

Disclaimer: MANY kind friends have offered shelter and showers. I truly am Ok!

Stay tuned for more stories and adventures which may or may not include several men at a hardware store and one tiny house girl…

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When they don’t play nice

God has done a miraculous work. There. I wrote it. I have been pain free for days. You’ve read all about it.

But what happens when things don’t go as planned? What happens when God doesn’t work in ways you expect?

That happened yesterday.

I received the phone call I wasn’t expecting.

My unnamed job isn’t playing nice.

I’ll refrain from the details for there’s a lot to work out, which may or may not include a fight I wasn’t expecting.

Money I was expecting that won’t show up.

You get the drift.

What happens then?

I cried. I said some words. I made a phone call to a friend who talked me off the ledge. I prayed. A lot.

With new mornings, really do come new mercies. A new perspective.

What if, the disappointment is a gift?

What if God wants to provide in other ways?

What if God wants to stretch my faith?

And so today I recalled all the ways God has shown himself faithful in just the last 4 weeks.

Friends who show up and bring meals.

Friends who climb ladders to a loft to help clean and discard.

Friends who just come and sit.

Just this week, a friend who made me a delicious lunch

And another friend texting today that she was bringing dinner tonight.

Unexpected blessings of provisions.

When others don’t play nice. When things don’t go as I might hope or as expected, I trust that God has other plans. I do today what God is asking me to do today and I will do the same tomorrow.

A wise friend once said, “All I have to do today is follow Jesus.”

In the meantime will you pray with me for God’s provisions?

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