Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. I'm Kirsten Holmberg, and I titled our

reading, Chocolate Snowflakes. Residents of Olten, Switzerland were surprised by a shower of

chocolate shavings covering the entire town.

The ventilation system at a nearby chocolate factory had malfunctioned, sending cocoa

into the air and dusting the area with confectionary goodness.

The chocolate coating sounds like a dream come true for chocaholics.

While chocolate doesn't adequately provide for one's nutritional needs,

God supplied the Israelites with heavenly showers that did.

As they traveled through the desert, they began to grumble about the variety of food they left behind in Egypt.

In response, God said he would rain down bread from heaven to sustain them.

When the morning dew dried up each day, a thin flake of food remained.

Approximately two million Israelites were instructed to gather as much as they needed that day. For 40 years of their desert wanderings, they were nourished by God's supernatural provision in manna.

We know little about manna except that it was white-like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.

Though manna may not sound as appealing as a steady diet of chocolate, the sweetness of God's provision for his people is clear.

Mana points us to Jesus, who described himself as the bread of life that sustains us daily and assures us of life eternal.

Today's Our Daily Bread Devotional Scripture reading is from Exodus chapter 16, verses 4 through 7 and 13 through 17.

Then the Lord said to Moses, I will rain down bread from heaven for you.

The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.

In this way, I will test them and see whether

they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day, they are to prepare what they bring in,

and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days. So Moses and Aaron said to all the

Israelites, in the evening, you will know that it was the

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