Miracle in the Making

 The need is out of our hands. We did not create it. We inherited it. Like a looming mountain, the need has been the subject of much prayer. The need is the sum of $4,000. A mountain to be moved. A miracle in the making. 

Brenda and I have faced greater needs. We have watched God do some amazing things. His provision has been timely. His ways have been creative and come from sources we never suspected. Nothing is impossible with Him. We have walked the tightrope of faith for decades now. Trusting God to meet needs is familiar. 

That is not a large sum of money to God. His storehouse is full. That is mere pocket change to Him. Brenda and I have seen God do much more than that. I want to tell four stories to bolster your faith and to remind me of God's great power. 

In 1998 I stepped out in a huge step of faith to leave the pastoral ministry for a full time traveling ministry. I had no preaching dates secured. I had no financial backing. We had no place to live. I did have a call from God. Brenda and I stepped into, what we would learn to be training ground in faith walking. Immediately God showed His hand in response to our faith. 

First, he provided us a place to live for free for one year. We had lived in a parsonage for the previous five years, but had to leave there when we left that church. My home church had a mission church with a mission house they made available to us for free for one year. Praise the Lord. 

God was not through. He divinely orchestrated for me to stay in the home of a wealthy business man while preaching one weekend. That wealthy businessman gave me $6,000 to start that traveling ministry to be distributed $1,000 a month for six months. 

So began the birth of No Compromise Ministries. Slowly doors opened for me to go and preach all over east Texas. Soon I started traveling all over the state. The finances were always tight. Praying for provision dominated our petitions during those days. One day a lawyer God brought into my life walked into my office. After some small talk, he handed me a check for $10,000. It stunned me. Even writing about it reminds me of the excitement and encouragement in my faith. 

Fast forward several years. I felt God leading me back into the pastoral ministry. I sat at my desk in a very prestigious church in a small west Texas town. A farmer walked into my office to visit. We talked for a little while. He reached into his shirt pocket and took out a check. That check was written in the amount of $10,000! Wow! God did it again. 

Years later we left that prestigious church to start a church. In another step of faith, I walked away from the most money I have ever made in ministry taking a 50% cut in pay. We did not even have a place to live. The school classified as homeless as we lived with a church member for the first three months. 

Tanner wanted a vehicle once he got to driving age. God provided a truck for his older brother a couple of years earlier. We did not have the money to buy him something. It is something Brenda and I prayed about. One night Tanner and I sat on the couch and talked about his desire again. I pressed, "Let's pray about it." We were the only ones in the living room. He prayed and then I prayed. I know what I am about to write will be hard for some to believe. It actually happened. 

The next day I got a call from one of my best friends. He reported that he had come into some unexpected money and felt God leading him to bless us with it. He told me he would send me a check for.....you guessed it, $10,000. He had no idea we had prayed for God's provision for Tanner a vehicle. God came through again. 

Several years later things were incredibly tight financially. So much so that Brenda and I continually prayed for God's provision. I asked God to lay our need on the heart of one particular person. It just so happened a few weeks into prayer that a preaching assignment took me to that person's town. We had dinner together and I just knew a miracle was in the making. I prayed and waited in faith. 

At the end of the evening, the person left the home I stayed in without a miracle unfolding. Disappointed I retired to my room and prayed. I remember praying, "God you have some other way you plan to do this and I trust you." 

My schedule called for me to get up early the next morning to return home. God had other plans. My host and I got into a deep theological discussion that lasted longer than I anticipated. The person whom I prayed God would use to meet a need in our lives showed up saying, "Oh good. You are still here. You are about to see a miracle." I interpreted that statement to mean that a testimony would soon be told. Little did I know that I would be the one telling it. 

This person had risen early to pray and felt very convicted by God to take a certain action. To make sure they had heard God clearly, this person had asked God if that is really what they were supposed to do that I would still be in town. Providentially delayed by the hand of God. I was handed an envelope after hearing that God prayer encounter. I did not open the envelope until I left for home. Even writing this is hard to believe what happened. A check for $15,000 enclosed! $15,000. 

God heard my prayers. God orchestrated the divine appointment. God impressed the need. God providentially delayed my return home. It was a miracle in the making. 

The same God who did that is the same God whom I believe will meet this $4,000 need. There is a timeline attached. We need that money before Monday. That does not present any problem for Jehovah Jireh. 

I write this to demonstrate faith. I believe God is already working before any of you read this. In fact, I would ask that none who read this responds to our need. That would be like I manipulated something to happen. God will get much more glory if He laid that need on someone's heart who never saw this and sent His provision in obedience and faith. That is what I believe God to do. That is what Brenda and Turner believe God to do also. 

Somewhere in this world, God has chosen a person with the financial means to help us and impressed our need on their heart without our ever telling them. I write this in advance so that when God comes through, you will be inspired that God hears and responds to prayer. I want your faith to be built and strengthened. When God comes through, I will testify. I believe in the miracle in the making.  [Hebrews 11:1] Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.