Special Delivery!

For fear of the Lord being disappointed in me (again), I would like to share an answer to prayer in my life this week.

Saturday afternoon I was faced with a bill of $150. Having never sold that much on ebay before (which is one of the only ways I can make money), I began to worry about how I was going to be able to pay this bill. As the day progressed, tension began to build in our family as financial burdens tend to do. I began to ask the Lord where the money would come from.

To help set the stage for this story . . . this year I participated in our Secret Sister program at church. For those of you that don't know what that is . . . it is simply a group of ladies that anonymously exchange names, pray for and encourage one another either with a little note or small gift throughout the year. At the end of the year, we have a "reveal" dinner where we let our Secret Sister know "I've been praying for you". Since we arrived back in town just hours before it started, I was not planning to attend the reveal this year. However, the director of the Secret Sister's group, called and asked me to run down to church just long enough for my Secret Sister to reveal herself.

To my surprise, my secret sister was a repeat from a couple years ago. She mentioned that when she picked my name she asked the director if that was okay because she had already picked my name before. Our director told her that God must have a reason. I had thanked my Secret Sister for the supply of Reese's Cups (among other things) she gave me many times explaining that I rationed them out to last until I received my next package. She laughed and said "Wait until you receive your [reveal] gift." At which point, I had to look in the gift bag. Sure enough, it was filled with Reese's Cups -- 100 of them!! I noticed there were some dollar bills rolled up and stuffed inside some of the candies, but I would have felt rude digging them out to count them all in front of everyone. I thanked her for her prayers and headed back home.

On the ride home, I tried calling my sister, mother and mother-in-law -- none of whom answered their phones. I had wanted to ask them all to pray that the Lord would specifically meet this need of mine. Disappointed, I said, "Lord, it's just you and me" and I began to pray the rest of the way home.

I got the girls in the shower and started to clean up from the dinner I left behind. Passing by the gift bag I had just received, I decided to count the money to see how much of a [small] dent it would put in my debt. I have to insert that I am not good at estimating. Also, the Secret Sister program is centered around prayer and limits the amount of money spend on gifts so everyone can be involved. One by one I began to pull out the dollar bills and set them on the table. There were a few stashes of five or six dollars stuck together too. The pile slowly began to grow. Finally, I asked Rick (the CPA) to come help me unroll the money and count it. To make a long story, a little shorter . . . when he finished counting, there was $100!!! (Insert exuberant joy and tears!!!) I was in awe of what the Lord had done!

I had not expected to go to the dinner that night. All the way home I was praying for the Lord to meet my need while the bag with $100 was sitting right next to me. (My sister pointed out it must have been a blonde moment and God was saying, "Look in the bag! I've already answered most of your prayer!")

The next day at church I had to share with my Secret Sister that the Lord had greatly used her in my life. She said she already had another gift picked out and bought, but the Lord told her four different times to give me that money, that I had a need. God did indeed have a reason for her picking my name again this year! In his omnipotence, a year ago, he knew that on the day of the reveal, I would have a need . . . that this lady would be open and willing to listen to Him and He would use her to meet that need.

GOD BE PRAISED! I hope this encourages you to increase your faith, pray for every individual need in your life and to give God all the honor and glory He deserves for working in your life!