Wednesday, February 28, 2007 · no responses · comments closed

Allow me to share a testimony of God’s faithfulness and provision:

We’ve had some financial difficulties since last October, and though we are making progress, we still have a ways to go before everything is back to normal. We have tried a number of conventional solutions — refinancing and so forth — and none of them has worked out, though it seemed like they should have. And each time, I was not surprised, because I’ve concluded that God wants to work in our finances in a different way than the conventional. And that’s okay, though it has been a challenge at times when it seems like a simple loan approval would have taken care of everything. I’ve seen enough of God in action to know that often He has bigger plans than the immediate need, and so I’m willing to see how He wants to handle things and be blessed by and in the process. In the meantime, we’ve worked on bringing in more money, being careful with our spending — making the changes we need to enact to be good stewards.

In the process, we have seen God increase His provision through Teddie’s drapery business and sewing classes; she has had a record income since the first of the year, mostly through her classes. But even with this increase, I saw that it would not be quite enough to take care of February’s bills. For one, our car tags are due in February, and then we’ve had sick kids with doctor visits and prescriptions. (And yes, I know that we should have budgeted monthly for the car tags and for medical expenses — we haven’t done that in the past, but we’re getting there! Part of God’s bigger plan in this is teaching us stewardship skills that will eliminate the need for loan-getting skills.)

For the past week, I’ve been praying daily over our finances, bringing specific bills and amounts before God, because it was more than we could naturally expect to come in from Teddie’s work or any other “normal” source — I knew God would have to move supernaturally. And on almost a daily basis, we’ve seen God provide through Teddie’s work; for instance, on Sunday she had seven students show up for a demonstration class, when she had expected only three — in other words, God more than doubled the expected income from that class.

Monday, I got the book Answers to Prayer by George Müller (also spelled Mueller), who ran orphanages in Bristol England back in the mid-1800s. Müller’s testimony is incredible! During his lifetime, $8 million came through his hands, all because he brought specific requests before God. He never told anyone of his needs until after they were met, because he wanted to be a living demonstration that, to use his words, “God is faithful still and hears prayer still.” So, in one example, he needed milk for the orphans, and he brought the need before God as he walked from his home to the orphanage, only thirty minutes before the milkman was to arrive. God provide the money he needed from a businessman Müller spoke to in the street. Note that he didn’t tell the businessman of his need, and in fact, the man left Müller and ran back a few minutes later to give him money. This sort of provision was a regular occurrence for Müller from 1835, when he set out to found the orphanages, until his death in 1898 — more than six decades!

I had read his biography several years ago, and that was part of my motivation to bring the exact bills before God daily. Monday night and Tuesday morning I was reading Answers to Prayer, and I was reminded again that God would take care of our needs, even though I couldn’t see where the provision would come from. Part of the challenge for Teddie and me, and I imagine for many others, is that we get caught up in trying to figure out how God will take care of our needs instead of simply trusting. We don’t have to look very far to see this in Scripture. Abraham and Sarah had God’s promise of a son, yet they still set out to make it happen themselves and got Ishmael. I was mindful of this, and had prayed that God would keep me from doing something impulsive and foolish (like a cash advance on a credit card) that would (supposedly) solve the problem but bring with it a harvest of Ishmael-like problems.

Müller’s journal entry from March 9, 1842 was helpful in reminding me not to try to “figure out how.” He writes, “At a time of greatest need…so much so that we could not have gone any longer without help, I received this day £10 from a brother who lives near Dublin.” Here’s what encouraged me so in this testimony:

The following little circumstance is to be noticed respecting this donation: — as our need was so great, and my soul was, through grace, truly waiting upon the Lord, I looked out for supplies in the course of this morning. The post, however, was out, and no supplies had come. This did not in the least discourage me. I said to myself, the Lord can send means without the post, or even now, though the post is out, by this very delivery of letters He may have sent means, though the money is not yet in my hands.

This was exactly what I needed to read yesterday morning, because it reminded me that God is not bound by natural means and natural channels; a check doesn’t have to come in the mail when God is at work. He is, after all, a God of the supernatural. Müller finishes his story thus: “It was not long after I had thus spoken to myself, when, according to my hope in God, we were helped.” The brother in Dublin had sent the money to another of Müller’s orphanages, and the letter was brought from there to Müller. Having read this and other examples he gave, I was prepared to see God move.

If you’ve read this far, you should not be surprised to learn, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. Last night, our friend Teresa gave Teddie $100 at our small group meeting. Why did Teresa do this? Because God had told her to in prayer. Teresa went by an ATM on the way to the meeting, got the cash, and gave it to Teddie. I was home sick, and Teddie showed me the money when she got home. I was excited, but not surprised. Though I didn’t know the amount or the source, I expected to see God’s miraculous provision.

Having said that, I should add that I’m deeply humbled and touched by God’s generosity and faithfulness. While I had a confident expectation of God’s provision, I certainly didn’t believe that we deserved it or that God owed it to us. Fact is, our money problem is of our own making, and God would be justified in leaving us to our own devices and consequences. But praise God that He is both just and merciful! It’s God’s mercy that allows Him to meet our need even when we don’t deserve it. As I wrote about back in October, God’s mercy is seen in exactly these kinds of situations, and it’s that knowledge that allows me to extend mercy to others.

And so I have a great testimony of God’s faithfulness: Teddie and I are blessed to see God in action on our behalf. Teresa has the privilege of seeing that her obedience is part of God’s plan. Truly we can say that God means it when He says, “I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.”

Update (1:41 p.m. Wednesday):

I just renewed the tag for my Saturn online, and I realized that the $100 God provided last night, plus an unexpected $25 Teddie received Monday night from a student, covered the cost of the tag. Awesome!