Bridget A. Thomas
Every day is a gift!
Living from God’s Abundance Instead of a Spirit of Lack
Yesterday was Independence Day in the USA. Being a federal holiday, many people, such as myself, get a day off work. Since the holiday fell on Saturday, my company gave us Friday off.
In addition, my husband and I will be celebrating our wedding anniversary on Tuesday. Therefore, most years I try to capitalize on these two dates being close together, and take a couple of extra days off work. This year it resulted in a five-day weekend. Since things at work and outside of work have been busy, it was a much needed break.
Unfortunately, on day one of this long weekend, we had a minor snag. My husband was outside watering trees, and I was inside at the kitchen sink. The water suddenly stopped flowing for both of us.
While my husband went to investigate what was going on, I prayed. But I admit I also complained too. I wanted this five-day weekend to be a time of rest, not worry.
Thankfully, my husband (and God 😁) were able to get our water running again, and all was fine. Later I prayed again. I knew my reaction wasn’t faith-filled, so I talked it out with God, trying to process why I was quick to complain.
God helped me realize that I was approaching Him with a lack mentality. I believed this one weekend was my only opportunity to recuperate from life’s stresses.
This ultimately points back to a lack of trust in two ways. First, if I trusted God more, then the stresses in life wouldn’t wear me down so much. And also, I didn’t trust God to bring more peaceful moments into my life.
(And how interesting that when the water literally ran dry, this symbolized spiritual water running dry. 🤔)
I think we might do this more often than we realize. If we are hesitant to tithe, for example, it could be because we have a spirit of lack. We don’t trust God to provide for us after we relinquish ten percent of our income. (Which is really all His anyway.)
If we don’t apply for that job, or sign up for that course, or take a step in that relationship – could some of these situations be because we are walking in lack? We don’t trust that God’s goodness will be with us. Perhaps we don’t believe that God has an abundance of everything we will ever need.
He is the King of the universe. He has access to anything and everything. And God’s goodness doesn’t run out.
How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you. – Psalm 31:19 NIV
As His children, we don’t ever have to worry about being in short supply. But we do have to learn to trust Him. And we have to remember to live from God’s abundance instead of a spirit of lack.
Something that was said in church several weeks ago and stuck with me – “God can’t bless what we don’t surrender.” It’s not always easy, but when we surrender everything in our lives to Him, He can take it all and bring us the best possible outcome.
One excellent example came from Dawn over at Drawing Closer to Christ. She recently posted Remember to Rest. In this post, Dawn shared about a time when God encouraged her to rest on the Sabbath, and as a result she had more time and energy. This illustrates how her surrender of time resulted in God’s blessing.
What else do we need to surrender to God so He can bless it? When we surrender our tithe, He can go further with the money than we can.
When we surrender our day or our attention to God, He can bring unexpected blessings that we never dreamed of.
I believe when we live with a feeling of dread, this also shines a light on our spirit of lack. If we are dreading an appointment, dreading a meeting, or dreading anything in the future (whether real or imagined) – we are not walking in trust. This could be a sign we are expecting things to go wrong, and not believing God’s goodness will be with us.
However, when we learn to walk in truth, holding onto God’s promises, this guides us to live from God’s abundance instead a spirit of lack.
Our Heavenly Father is incredibly good to us. Unfortunately, life’s disappointments often cloud our perspective. We have to remind ourselves that He is not the God of dried up streams; He is the God of waterfalls. I pray we can retrain ourselves to open our eyes and hearts for God’s goodness and abundance. When we live with praise and gratitude in our hearts, this grows our trust.
Whatever you are worried about today, remember Jesus is always with you. He is your Good Shepherd, and He is continually providing for you. And He said in John 10:10 that He came to give you the abundant life.
Thank you for reading. God bless!
© 2018-2026 Bridget A. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Bridget A. Thomas 
I really struggle with the spirit of lack. Thanks for this inspiration and encouragement to embrace God’s abundance. I’ll keep trying.
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You are not alone, my friend. I’m with you. I pray we both improve in this area! 🙏🏻💕
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Amen 💕
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I love this so much, Bridget! Very applicable. I felt the conviction here when you talked of dread. I may not complain all the time – working on doing less myself (it’s just so easy to do 🫠) – but I can still dread and internalize all that could go wrong. The water running dry 🤯 such a real life example of our state of mind sometimes. I am glad it was fixed though! I love what you said, “He is the God of waterfalls.” So true!! 🙌🏻 Only God.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your much needed time off! Happy Anniversary!
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I know what you mean. I often dread and think about what can go wrong too.
Right?! Isn’t that so like God to use the water running dry to bring about this spiritual message? I really didn’t even put it together until I was writing this out! 😅
May we keep our focus and expectations on the waterfalls! 🙌🏻
Thank you! I hope you had Friday off and enjoyed your 3-day weekend. 🌟
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I also struggle with the spirit of lack. It’s clear that I’m not trusting God’s providence when I say, “I can’t do this job.” Yet, I know it’s something He called me to do. I’m the one who needs more faith. Thanks for the reminder, Bridget. God Bless.
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I know what you mean. We often focus on ourselves, when we should focus on God and His strength. I’m praying for you as you approach a new school year, David. God bless you too!
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I’ll admit, there are times where I grumble first but the grumbling is growing less and less. I’m learning to see God’s graciousness more and more. And when I don’t see it right away, I pray about it – ask Him so show me or tell me what I’m missing.
Happy Anniversary!
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I love your perspective! And what a gift it is that we can turn to God and ask Him to help us when we struggle. Thank you, Pauline! 🤗
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This really convicted me. Approach by things with a spirit of lack, the need to surrender. I recall Dawn’s post and found that to be a good reminder.
Thank you for sharing this Bridget, I definitely will be thinking about this. Blessings to you and Happy Anniversary. Hope you had a wonderful long weekend and were able to rest and recharge as you hoped.
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I know what you mean. This has helped me to pay attention to areas I might be approaching with a spirit of lack. And definitely working on surrendering different areas as well. Thank you, Manu! I did have a restful few days.
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Happy Anniversary!! 🎉I pray the Lord continues to bless your union. Thank you also for sharing my post on rest! Your post today is an encouragement to not complain. I sometimes get caught up in complaining too as an initial response. I don’t want to be like the Israelites lol. God always has the solution for our dilemmas, we just need to pray more and ask. As you mentioned, His goodness is with us!
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Thank you, Dawn! And you’re welcome for sharing your insightful post. I agree with you 💯 %! Sometimes when I catch myself complaining, it makes me think of the Israelites too. Let us hold fast to our faith, even in the midst of a challenge, because God is always there to guide the way. 🙌🏻✝️🙏🏻
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Happy Anniversary. How would we ever learn if every minute was filled with what we want or think we deserve. Our son in law family was having a huge family reunion on the 4th weekend. Right off the bat things begin to go wrong that required his help to fix. At first it was hard for him to give up time with family to fix these thing but God showed up when it was needed the most and what could have taken days to fix only took a couple hours. That issue was cause for everyone in the family to see God work, it turned out to be a blessing. I am humble when God does that kind of thing and so was my son in law. His faith grew and continue to grow.
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your post is spot on,
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Thank you for sharing that story, Betty! It’s so incredible to see how God can use some of these mishaps for His glory. And we get to be part of His story. 🙌🏻✝️🙏🏻
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Happy Anniversary to you although this is a little late! I like what you said that GOD blesses what we surrender to HIM.
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Thank you! And I love that reminder too. It’s one I’ve needed often lately. ♥️
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