July 15, 2003
CM/FM FSM 384
March 2002
Cover Caption:
Miracle of Andrew (right) at the Gypsy camp in Kosovo, with the children and one of the teachers
This, the second in our series on God’s miraculous supply, is about pioneering, and the Lord supplying housing, cars, as well as all the little things He gives us to show His love for us. In Be a Missionary (ML #3135:171-172, Vol. 24), the Lord said:
My missionaries are at the top of the list and receive continual instruction and guidance from Heaven. They are assigned spirit helpers and protectors to keep them in each of their locations around the world.
Much goes into the care and protection of My missionary children around the world. They are My hands and feet to reach the lost, so I tend to them very lovingly. They cannot see it all and don’t even know it’s happening, but they are continually watched over. Their ministry is taken very seriously by My helpers. They can expect the best of My care. They can call unto Me for all their needs and I will provide. As they preach the Gospel and bring My love to the lost, they can anticipate an abundance of My blessings in their lives. All they have to do is expect and receive and I will supply.
It’s a wonderful encouragement to see from these testimonies over the last year or so how the Lord has fulfilled His promise to supply for us—and He will continue to do so as we follow Him closely.
By Miracle (of Andrew), Oasis Home, Kosovo
I want to testify that the verse, They that preach the Gospel shall live of the Gospel, as we read it in the Conviction vs. Compromise series still rings true today. In our seven years of living in the former Yugoslavia, we have not had to take any fundraising trips to the West. And it’s not that we have all that much home support. The Lord has simply done miracles to supply for us through our witnessing and outreach on the field.
We really respect the Family on poor East European fields who are able to keep their fruitful Homes going by sending fundraising teams to W. Europe, but we just have not had the time, personnel or desire for that. So the Lord has had to take care of our every need, and even wants as well, by new and different ways.
We don’t always have much, but we are happy and are able to help others as well. When we walk down the streets here and see all the poor, hungry people, we are very grateful for the Lord’s supply. We have been able to distribute tons of humanitarian aid and help those who have so little. Occasionally we get aid from the peacekeeping force which comes from the West, and they pass it on to us to distribute, as they don’t know who needs it most.
We have adopted one poor family that we first met in a refugee camp in Bosnia two years ago. At that time, the mother was nine months pregnant, but you could hardly tell. We helped with milk products, clothing, etc., and visited as often as we could until they were finally able to return to Kosovo with their five children. We’ve since visited them there several times, and they continue to be very grateful for our help and friendship.
Knowing them has convicted us to not fail the Lord in being His hands to help and love this dear family, and others like them. (See the complete testimony in FAR 186, You Are Our Mother Theresa!)
There are countless other stories like this, as you cannot just walk past these poor people without reaching out a hand to help them. Just yesterday we were able to give money to a poor family for firewood, as the electrical transformer on their street had blown, and they were without heating during a bitterly cold period. Their daughter is one of our Bible students, and when casually asking if her house was warm enough, she told us that there was no electricity and that they were out of wood. They are a family of seven living in a two-room house. The little income they get often goes to the bottle, as the father has that weakness.
We carried some of our wood over to their house to help get them through this crisis, and one of our foreign friends who heard us talking about this family immediately gave us US$50 to buy wood for them. The Lord has His ways of supplying! Every day we see people in our village walking along in our forsake-all or provisioned clothes, as we always try to give out anything extra we may have.
We ourselves have a beautiful big house with (almost) everything we need. Some prayer power and calling on the keys would be appreciated for the electricity, telephone, and e-mail to work more regularly. Not too long ago it was our local power transformer that had blown, and we were the ones without electricity for two weeks. But the Lord was so faithful to take care of us, and He provided a good-sized generator for us just a few days before we needed it! It was even powerful enough to supply electricity to our neighbors in the small house behind ours.
We have a large Activated congregation, who are always helping us with homemade items like paprika purée, meat, white cheese, pickled veggies, and other local products. We feel very happy, and know that if there were any kind of trouble or problems with staying here, our neighbors would stand up for us.
One way the Lord recently supplied for us here on our field was through Christmas CD cards. We got out over 500 cards in a very short period of time to the large international population here. Last year, while getting out the CD cards at one of the military bases, the chief chef asked us if we needed any food products. He asked us to give him a weekly list and then helped us for eight months with everything we asked for, God bless him. We are still enjoying some of those things that we were able to store in our survival.
We have many international friends who are always there when the need is greatest. They have helped us upgrade our equipment. When people see the work we are doing and that we mean business, they are more than willing to help in any way.
We have also learned to praise the Lord for so many things we normally take for granted, like electricity, telephone lines, water, warmth—as these all require desperate prayer here. This winter we had cold fronts of minus 25 degrees Celsius, and it was not much warmer inside. There was no electricity for days, and even the generator would not always work because of bad quality benzene. It taught us to really pray for all those who are living in similar situations in EE and other countries.
We don’t have fancy cars or equipment here, as that can be a target for theft, but we certainly have all our needs and plenty more. We also have the many military bases here where we can go for meals, movies, sports, and witnessing.
We can agree with David Livingstone, We have never made a sacrifice, as the Lord is so good to us and we see all the sheep, Activated members, and changed lives around us. What better way to spend your life!
What Better Way to Spend Your Life! Photo captions:
Vicky, Amy, Sharon, Larissa, Miracle, and Eman plus kids are giving aid, as well as talking, understanding, listening, and answering the call of help from the local people. This village was 90% destroyed in the war.
Miracle giving aid and encouraging a struggling young mother
Miracle (standing) and Tabitha (crouching) giving T-shirts, toothbrushes, and of course literature to at-risk village children
Many Kosovar families are now living in tents alongside their destroyed houses. Here Miracle (top row, fourth from left) is posing with a family to whom we had given some humanitarian aid.
Giving out aid to our local Roma (Gypsy) kids
Happy Kosovo kids at one of our shows
Our Activated English Club members receiving their graduation certificates
This weapon [keys turned to swords] also brings supply. In one scene I see these huge floodgates being opened. But it’s not water that’s flowing out of them; it’s goods, food, clothing, needs (ML #3375:15, GN972).
The following testimony began a few years ago, but has such interesting lessons that we wanted to share it with you anyway.
There are more fascinating testimonies on the MO site of miracles of supply from many of you over the last few years. Check it out for a shot of faith and inspiration!
By Caren (of Mark), China
We’ve been learning some beautiful lessons about faith, trust, and prayer. Our financial situation has been very, very tight this past month, more so than at any other time since we arrived here. It’s easy to have faith when everything is going right, but the real testing comes when things don’t go the way we think they should.
We’ve seen how we needed to get tested, as the Lord has been so sweet to us in providing all our needs since we’ve arrived, that unfortunately we’ve often taken His many blessings for granted. We’ve often assumed that when things were going well, we must be doing pretty good, and haven’t fully acknowledged that it is the Lord alone keeping us, protecting us, and supplying for us. So we are seeing we really needed this time of testing, as our faith and trust muscles get flabby quickly.
It’s funny, but once you get on a worry channel and start looking at the waves, the Devil even tries to turn your blessings around to try to give you trials about them. As we’d finished up the past year, Mark spent some time going over our financial books for the time we’ve been in China to monitor our long-term finances and also to see how much the Lord had supplied since we’ve been here.
We knew He’d done miracles to get us to the field. He had supplied all the funds needed to make initial scouting trips here, open a new Home, pay for furniture, buy tickets for our whole family, visas, and everything else necessary to get started. After arriving He faithfully supplied food, rent, utilities, clothes, medical needs, travel expenses, and so much more. When we figured out our total income, and even our monthly averages including visa trips, road trips, university tuition for the teens, and all the extras, it was pretty awe-inspiring to see how much money the Lord had given. We don’t have any big supporters, but have relied a lot on the nickel and dime donations.
However, in true author of confusion fashion, the Enemy came in with thoughts like, How can you keep something like that up? You don’t even have any regular support to cover everything! Look how much money it takes to keep things running! Where is it going to come from now? We were seeing how real faith doesn’t waver when the answer doesn’t come right away, but just keeps on trusting—and that sums up what we weren’t doing, LHU.
One night, I woke up at about 3 a.m. and couldn’t sleep for about two hours, thinking about different problems. It was a battle, as our finance situation was critical. An inexpensive hospital where we planned to have the delivery of our baby had tripled their price as we were foreigners. Some of the kids were going through some battles and needed extra attention. The baby was still in a breech position, etc. I was having a big worry attack and I was feeling very discouraged. Finally at about 4:30, I got up rather than lying there tossing and fretting. I fixed some hot milk and honey and got some Word to read in the living room.
At times like that, the Word just comes alive. It’s a lifesaver being tossed to you on a stormy sea. I got out the DBs and looked up different Letters on discouragement, faith, trust, and it was so feeding. The Lord helped me find some beautiful quotes on testing and how good it is for us, to humble us and help us cling more tightly to Him. I started to pray and thank the Lord for the battles and tests, which I’ll admit until then I wasn’t the least bit thankful for!
I looked up from the book after awhile and the thought struck me how cozy the living room was at night. The lights were soft, and everything was so peaceful and quiet. I sat there looking around the room and started thanking the Lord for each piece of furniture that He had supplied through miracles. When we first came here we were sitting on the floor. The Lord has given us good food to eat and a warm apartment. We have sweet kids, I have a precious mate, and we are in a fruitful mission field, with no unemployment (that’s for sure!). We have the Word and the Family and so much.
Everything started looking very different, sitting there alone in the wee hours with the Lord. I started to pray and ask Jesus to forgive me for my doubting, worrying attitude, when He is doing so much for us and is so sweet to us.
The Lord then told me to do something. Often when we try to take a Word and Rest Day we have a continual parade of little hands knocking at our door wanting this and that. Usually our standard reply to the children’s requests on W&Rs is, Go see your sisters if you need anything, as the teen girls run the Home on our day off. The Lord sweetly told me to just tell the Devil, Go see Jesus if you need anything, next time one of his doubts or worries come knocking on my mind’s door, so I could just take the night off. It sounds so simple, but it worked!
I went back to bed and every time one of those little zinger thoughts came to mind, I could just say, Go talk to Jesus! I’m going to sleep! It was sweet to be able to actually have something to say like that.
Later, we received the GNs on Doubts which bring out what a spiritual warfare we are engaged in and how real these attacks are! We are so thankful for the Word and the ammunition it gives us. Though we aren’t out of the woods yet financially, I can see that the attitude I take makes all the difference, and trusting the Lord to lead us through the rough times is the only way to make it.
(One year later:)
We have been here now for two years. When we first made the step of coming to China, we didn’t have much in the way of material goods or monthly support. But this move was such a blessing in so many ways, as it taught us a lot. It gave the kids valuable pioneering experience and taught them how the Lord will supply in any situation. In open fields we had been used to being able to provision, or to get out tools if we were low on funds, so it was a big change to not be able to depend on those things.
We knew we could earn funds at a System job, but many of the jobs we found expected long hours. Whenever we prayed, the Lord discouraged us from getting too involved in them, as we were so busy taking care of the sheep He was leading our way. The key has been hearing from the Lord and following what He showed in our individual situation, as in other situations and at other times a job may be fine, but He wanted us to use our time to really invest in the sheep.
For most of our first year here, although we never lacked the essentials, we had just barely enough. We had to watch the pennies and pray in miracles. But to be honest, it was a lot of fun as it taught us about faith and the wonder of God supplying from nowhere. When we first landed in our apartment, the lovely, highly polished wooden floors were a prominent feature of the decor—because we had no furniture!
Just before coming we had saved enough to pay for Mark’s initial scouting trip to find an apartment, rent the place, pay deposits for phone and utilities, and pay for all our fares to get here—but that was all. At that time, we were living in a neighboring country and our visas were almost up. We had to decide to either make an expensive visa trip just to stay there longer, which would wipe out most of our savings, or come by faith to China right away. The Lord told us, Say not ye there are four months and then cometh harvest, but lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are ripe already to harvest.
It was kind of scary and seemed somewhat crazy, but in one way after another the Lord confirmed that He wanted us to move to China right then and not delay.
By the time we arrived, all we had left was enough money for our basic expenses for the first five weeks in China. We had no significant home support at that time—just a list of addresses to whom we started sending our newsletters. We were all just so excited about being there, though, that it didn’t matter! We had enough money for mattresses on the floor for everyone, a stove, a water heater for the bathroom, and four collapsible vinyl cupboards to hang up some of our clothes in.
After much deliberation, we finally decided to scrape our pennies together and buy a dining table and six chairs so we could at least invite a visitor to sit down if someone dropped by. Ha! Up until that point we had gathered around a cardboard box for meals!
When we came, we toted as much provisioned goods as we could with us. The airlines allotted our medium-size family kids one hundred and fifty kilos of extra luggage, so we had some school books and supplies, dishes and kitchenware, a pot and a wok, chopsticks, clothes, bedding, some simple toys and as many basics as we could get away with carrying. Our first meal in our new Home was a bag of granola I’d brought on the trip with us, eaten with bowls and chopsticks since we didn’t have any spoons yet.
It was an exciting time and everyone had such expectancy, believing that the Lord was going to do miracles. We had a contingency plan, that if after three weeks no money came in I could possibly go with one of the teens to a neighboring country to try to bring in some funds through outreach. We kept delaying the date for this trip, as every time we thought we had to go and get some funds from abroad, the Lord would do a miracle or open another door and provide a few more of our needs, or furniture, plus a couple more weeks of expenses. We actually never had to make that trip. It was not that there was anything wrong with going abroad, but we felt that having so much to do here, and being so few, we couldn’t afford to send precious manpower away to a country where we already have many dedicated missionaries reaching the people.
I believe the Lord honors us when He allows us, and especially our children, to be able to go through experiences like pioneering. I’m very thankful that the kids got to experience arriving in a place with nothing but the promises of God to depend on, and seeing God do miracles day after day after day. Living by faith became very real for them and it taught them things they wouldn’t have learned otherwise. I think it helps them see more clearly the true values of life, and that reaching out to souls is more important than having many material goods.
However, the Lord was so sweet and always supplied special treats and things that were special for each of us. Money came from here and there, in all sorts of ways. When we were low on funds one time, two brethren passed through and spent a few days with us. Before leaving, they helped us with a gift that got us through another couple of weeks. Another time a small gift came in the mail. Then we were asked to do a writing assignment for a company and received nearly US$200. (Just to give you an idea of prices here, our rent runs at about US$250 per month and our food at about $350).
It was thrilling to see the Lord do it. It was neat for the kids, too, because it made them thankful for little things. At that time we would all rejoice if we could buy new dish towels or a shoe rack because it was so clear that the Lord was providing these things that now we almost take for granted.
Before long we had enough funds to buy some simple living room furniture, put pictures on the walls, and get beds for everybody. Each piece of furniture had a miraculous story of supply behind it.
Even though we didn’t have much money, there were lots of interesting, fun things we could do together. We spent a lot of time meeting new friends, and the kids were busy with visitors coming over. They learned how to get involved in people’s lives. They learned to sincerely care about our friends, pray for them, and were excited when they would get saved. I think the experience of witnessing alongside their parents is the best thing we could ever give our kids and is worth more than all the toys, books, clothes, and gadgets we could ever give them. Simple, inexpensive things in life can be really fun.
For instance, one major treat we enjoyed was if our whole family got to go out to a movie together. We didn’t have a video machine yet, so if an all rated English movie came along, it was a major event. It’s wonderful watching movies in a theater with the dear Chinese young people. They are very vocal and oooh and ahhhh over every exciting scene, clapping, stomping, and gasping with suspense. They’re almost more fun to watch than the movie!
Miraculously we always have enough, month after month, and sometimes a little extra. Even though we can’t provision, we have enough clothing, household items, and daily needs. We have a house full of furniture, needed computer equipment, and other items that have really made our work here much easier. The Lord even supplies nice toys for the kids, and a local Christian couple just pledged to donate all the kids’ schoolbooks needed for the coming year. We don’t have a car or van, but then neither do most of the other people in this country, as the buses and taxis take us wherever we need to go, and He’s always faithfully provided the bus fare. (We are sure that if we would need it and want it, the Lord would eventually provide a vehicle also.)
We are still praying in our monthly support through the mail ministry and often have to ask the Lord for a miracle when a big need comes along, but it has wonderfully strengthened our faith to see that if God wants us to go somewhere, He will foot the bill.
By Cathrine and her son Paul (20), Spain
We had been in the West for a year, waiting for our visas to come through so we could go back to the field, and we started to see how all the little foxes of the West were taking their toll. So instead of sitting around waiting any longer, I decided to take my five children at least halfway to Africa, where we were heading. We all prayed together and the Lord showed us to take a last-minute charter flight down to the Canary Islands.
Getting out of the rich, industrialized north, we felt like a breath of fresh air swept through us. It was such a thrill to step out on the water and experience that it actually does hold you. To experience that God is real and He will never leave nor forsake you.
Here we were on a little island in the Atlantic Ocean where very few people spoke English. The Lord knew how to make us desperate. I had thought, Oh sure, I can just start provisioning things left and right. And if not, we always have the tools. But no, God wanted the glory. He didn’t want us to do anything but pray and be desperate, so we could see Him do all the miracles and we wouldn’t be able to take all the glory for ourselves.
First He led us to the perfect place. We had signed a contract on a house perfectly located two meters from the beach. But the first night I couldn’t sleep. The next morning I told the kids that I felt it might be the wrong place. So we went to the agent and he ripped up the contract and gave us back the deposit.
So what now, Lord? We desperately wondered what to do, and had to sleep in the car that night. But the next morning He led us to the airport. I went to a check-in counter to ask a lady who was standing there if she could help me phone about an ad. In the paper that morning there was only one house that we could afford.
The lady was very sweet and arranged a place where we could meet the owner so he could take us to see the house. She then told us if we didn’t like it, there was a place empty in her apartment block.
So we set off to look at the first place. It was situated way, way up in the mountains; the roads which led up to it were hard to find and very difficult to drive on. Maybe not, Lord. This is way out of the way.
Back to the airport. But alas, the lady who said she knew of a place was gone. Someone said that she’d be back in awhile, so we waited, and waited—until about three in the morning! This was when she started her shift.
She was so happy to see us that she took the morning off to show us the place in her apartment block. While we were waiting for the landlady, our new friend gave us breakfast and let us take a shower in her apartment. She had never done anything like this before, she said, but she felt that there was something special about us.
Now this place was actually about the same price, and the area wasn’t as nice as the first place we had spent the night (which was right in town, and by the beach). But we felt that she was special, so mostly because of her we decided to take the place. (She is a single mom with a 10-year-old son.)
We moved in and the Lord started to do miracles for us. We never actually asked, but neighbors started to bring over things we needed to get set up. The place was already furnished, so they brought over a TV, computer, monitor, mobile phone, table, lamps, etc.
We had thought we could just get some tools out and that way we would have enough to get by just fine. But after about a month we still had no tools to give out here. One day while we were out, we saw a Chinese ship. We went to see if we could speak to the captain, who got saved. We gave him some posters that he promised to read with his whole crew. He was so grateful that he donated a 50 kg bag of rice.
When our fridge and cupboards were empty (and I mean empty!), our friend the gym owner, who had gotten saved a week earlier, asked if he could stay for lunch. We agreed by faith, and started cooking a few beans we found in the back of a cupboard. He asked if we needed anything, so we said we might need some onions. He went out and returned with at least 10 shopping bags full of everything we needed.
We stepped out by faith, and by that I mean the kind of faith where you have nothing to hold onto except the Lord’s hand. This is what our life is all about. The Lord gets so real; you can feel His presence leading and guiding you. You know you have nothing to fear, as He pours out His blessings in abundance because of your obedience. He loves for you to put Him to the test.
We are going to Africa, and would like you to pray for us. We are now halfway to our destination and know the Lord will help us the rest of the way, too. We need you and your prayers, our precious Family. If you would like to help us with a donation, you can reach us through the Spanish ABM.
By Eden, the Bride Home, Romania
Did it really happen to us? Was it a beautiful dream or reality? These questions still come to mind, even though it’s now more than a week since we finished our Christmas projects.
We had expected to see miracles since we had prayed desperately, calling on the power of the keys for our sweet Husband to make this Christmas an unforgettable one for as many Romanians as possible. But the result surpassed our wildest imagination. The only thing left to say is, All glory to You, our wonderful Husband!
It was the beginning of November (2001) and at our witnessing meeting our team got some exciting ideas for projects for the Christmas season, backed by wonderful promises. Everybody was looking forward to this time of the year, when our landlady dropped a bomb on us! She decided to sell the house because she found somebody willing to pay a good price for it—a golden opportunity in her life since she was going through financial difficulties.
Wow! That was quite some news! We surprised ourselves as we heard these words coming from our own mouth: We are very happy for you. Since you were always good to God’s people, He is being good to you. Don’t worry. We understand and we will try to make it easy for you. In other words, we would not insist on her keeping the contract between us. (I think she felt very relieved.)
Still, after she had given us this news and left, we were puzzled. Lots of questions came to mind: Now, in the middle of our Christmas push? It could have at least been in summer. What’s going to happen with our plans? We start house hunting now? But His Words were more than comforting and we knew, even if it was hard to understand at that moment, that as usual He had a very good reason why this had happened.
We committed everything to His hands, calling on the power of the keys. After that, we focused on our main priorities—Christmas preparations!
Miracles started happening. First He worked in our landlady’s heart. Deep inside she felt guilty for having to ask us to move at this time of the year, plus breaking the contract that we had. So she offered to help us by contacting some agencies and paying their fees. Wow! She also offered to let us stay in her house without paying the rent for that month. Hal!
Everything was going beautifully, but to find the right house for our team—big enough, good price, good location, etc., in record time—well, we definitely needed a miracle.
Sweet Jesus promised, It will be even nicer than the one you are now in, fitting your needs better. But days were passing and tension started growing. The people that had bought our present house wanted to move in as quickly as possible and they started putting pressure on our landlady—poor thing. It wasn’t easy for her—trying to be kind to us, but desperate to not lose her clients.
So we talked with Jesus and He made it clear to us that we could tell her that by December 1st we would be moved out. She was relieved when we looked into her eyes and told her, No problem. We are packing, preparing, and in three days we are moving. We felt great to be out on the Lord’s limb—ready to watch Him do the miracle!
The agencies were calling us, but what we saw did not exactly suit our needs. It was November 28th and nothing yet. Desperate prayers became our normal prayers, calling with our whole hearts on the power of the keys!
Our closest friends and contacts were fervently praying for us too, and watching closely as events unfolded. One of our live-outs called us, saying that as she was praying for us, she had gotten a strong check that on that day we would see the house. And yes indeed, the house that we saw on the 28th was the one! A brand-new house finished only a few days earlier!
When first looking at it, we thought, It could be a very nice house for our team, but what about the price? Here again our darling Husband did an incredible miracle. When the prospective landlady asked us how much we would be willing to pay for it, our voices could barely be heard, since we knew that what we offered was less than half the market price for such a house. But believe it or not, she said YES! Even the agent was shocked by her answer.
On December 1st, we were signing the contract and moving—just as our faithful Husband had told us. We still couldn’t believe that all this was really happening. On that day we found out that the Lord had used an amazing thing to touch their hearts: The landlady told us that her daughter, who had been living in another country, looked so much like a twin sister to Eden, who was on the house-hunting team, that when they first met us she was shocked. Incredible, isn’t it?
So this house is a very special Christmas gift from our Sweetheart, and you know what? It is the most beautiful house our team has ever lived in. His promises were fulfilled! As we look back, we can testify that it is indeed the era of action and greater miracles. We were able to find a house in such a short time, move in the middle of our Christmas season, and still take care of all the projects that the Lord had given us in November.
One more thing: Thank you, dear Sam, Pete, Cristi, and Matthew for being there for us when we desperately needed some manpower. We really appreciate your help!
By Michael, Rose, and Cyleene, Spain
Last year we went to North Africa, but we had to leave after four months due to visa problems. The Lord said then that it was going to be a time of regrouping, getting strengthened, and resting. After almost one year we totally changed personnel in our team, learned many needed lessons, and waited for the Lord to open the door.
Finally the Lord said it was the right time for us to go back to our mission field, and promised He’d open doors, supply our needs, and help us find a house in only a week.
We were a bit worried about how to coordinate trains and buses between cities, where to sleep, etc. He said that our itinerary was already planned by His Heavenly Travel Agency and that we only had to follow. He told us to e-mail a national sheep who had been witnessed to by the Family in England and whose address had been forwarded to us. The Lord went further, in what seemed like a crazy suggestion, by saying that we should go to the city where this person lives and base out of his place.
Amazingly enough the man answered and told us, Don’t worry about accommodations. Just tell me when you are arriving. We arrived in his city and he picked us up, took us to his house, and then we stayed at his in-laws’ apartment, right under his place, for the whole week. He fed us, gave us a tour of the city, introduced us to all his friends, trained us in the local customs, eating habits, manners, etc.
He is a precious intellectual man who is deeply interested in helping his own people, especially his own tribe in the mountains. He created his own NGO and is helping them get water, electricity, schooling, etc. He needed volunteers for his CTP and then we appeared in his life. He acknowledges that it was God who sent us. He took us to the mountains where we spent two days with his tribe and fell in love with them. When he saw that we genuinely loved his people, he offered to rent us his own place and said he’d move with his small family to the in-laws’ apartment. We asked the Lord, counseled with the team back home, and they all said to go ahead.
So the prophecy was totally and amazingly fulfilled. By the never-failing power of prophecy, the Lord helped us to find housing, a king, and a CTP ministry in only a week’s time, in answer to prayer!
By Joan, Simon, Faith, and Carol, Nigeria
When we were praying for a new house, the Lord gave us some very specific prophecies about it, for example, the color of the roof and exactly what date we would find it. As the date was approaching, we were a bit worried that the prophecy about the timing was not going to be fulfilled. Should we worry? Not with Jesus!
Around the date that the Lord told us we were going to find the house, we found a house that fit the description we got in prophecy and everyone really liked it. But there was a snag. The landlord of the house wanted two years advance rent, which we would not be able to provide. He did not agree to our other conditions either. This was a bit discouraging, as it looked like we had lost the house. We started looking somewhere else.
The date that the Lord had promised passed and some of us in the Home started to have doubts about these prophecies, as we even got The heart of the king is in My hand and I can turn it whithersoever I will.
Around the date we were supposed to move out of our present house, a man showed up at our door asking if we were the ones looking for a house. He then proceeded to let us know that the house that we all had wanted had been sold to somebody else and that the new owner would like to see us. We met, explained our work and our terms to her, and left. A few days later she called us and told us that she agreed to everything!
During the negotiation for the house, she became ill and we started to deal with her husband, who was more favorable. He did everything we wanted in the house and more than that—he didn’t want us to pay rent!
So in the end we not only found the house on the date that He promised in prophecy, but He also changed the heart of the landlord in the way He saw fit by changing the landlord completely. These were good lessons in carefully studying what the Lord says.—Thank God for prophecy!
By Matt and Trudy, China
Last year we went to pioneer a new city in China. It was totally by faith. We looked for apartments for two weeks, and the situation looked hopeless and impossible, as it seemed no places were available for us to rent. We were even wondering if the Lord wanted us in this particular city.
In prophecy, the Lord told us to hang on. He repeatedly said that this was the city He wanted us in, and that after a phone call to a real estate agent things would become clearer to us. That is exactly what happened, and we signed the contract to our new apartment a couple of days later!
We had a list of requests that we used as a kind of fleece. Before signing the contract, we asked that the owners agree to put in a fridge, a VCD player, to sign a six-month contract (instead of a one-year one), to have us pay a one-month deposit (instead of two), to fix the leaks in the toilet, etc. When we asked the real estate agent about these things, she was sure that none of them would be possible, but to her and our surprise, the owners agreed to every one of our requests! We were so happy. The owners also included a microwave oven and are doing many small things to help us without us even asking.
The Nothing Is Impossible GN (ML #3316, GN 920) has been a real key for us during this time. We read it so many times, claiming the Lord’s promises for our situation. Actually, the verse that Matt claimed for the New Year was: All things are possible to him that believeth, even though he didn’t know about this GN yet. The Lord has supplied exactly what we asked for regarding the type of place we wanted: fully furnished (everything pretty much new!), good security, all the electric appliances included, good standard for having all types of sheep over (influential or otherwise), good location, good landlord, middle-class neighborhood, etc.
We learned that no matter what the circumstances tell us, when the Lord says yes, it means yes—even though we can’t see it yet and no matter what the Enemy would like to do to stop us.
By Victor and Gabriela, Venezuela
A few months before leaving on a planned trip to Switzerland, we asked the Lord to supply a free car for our three-month stay there. When we got there, we phoned a few car dealers to see if they could help us. After getting quite a few nos, and not having much time, we decided to buy something good that we still could afford. There were quite a few options, so we asked the Lord to show us exactly which car to buy.
He told us to go for a certain car, which happened to be a BMW. So we met the owner, agreed on the price, and arranged to get the car the following week. He was a sweet Christian who had lived for a few years in a Christian community, started to study again, and couldn’t afford to keep the car anymore.
One day before we were supposed to go and buy the car, there was an ad in the paper about a car for a good price with a guarantee for three months, which meant the owner would pay for any repairs during that time. That sounded real good, but we had already promised to buy the BMW, and we had also mentioned to this student that we were doing missionary work in Venezuela. So how could we go back on our promise?
We asked the Lord about it and He told us to go for the car with the three-month guarantee. I didn’t feel very good as I dialed the number of the student to let him know we wouldn’t buy his car after all. Alas, he got quite upset, since he was counting on the money and didn’t keep trying to sell it after we said we’d buy it. I tried to explain to him that for us, the car with the guarantee would be much safer, since we don’t get paid for our work and any money we save goes towards our missionary work. After this, he didn’t say anything for about a minute and I just heard him breathing heavily over the phone. All the while I was praying desperately for the Lord’s help!
After what seemed like a very long time, he said: Okay, listen, I didn’t really wanna do it, but I heard a voice telling me to give you the car for free, and I know it was God speaking! Take the car. It’s yours! How surprised and excited we were, as well as thankful for this dear Christian boy who really made a big sacrifice. But he had faith to obey and the knowledge that the Lord would take care of him. And of course, we were so thankful for the Lord’s guidance, since if He hadn’t told us to go for the other car, we would have had to pay for the BMW. The Lord is good on His guarantees and answers prayer!
By Barz and Sara, South Africa
When we were trying to get a 4x4 vehicle to go into Mozambique, the Lord had led us to one, saying it was the car He had for us. He also gave us the amount we were to pay, but in the end the owner didn’t accept our offer. He drove away with the car, leaving us somewhat confused about the prophecies and what we should do next.
Some days later we saw the same car in another car lot. They were now asking twice as much as we had offered. On the way out, we laid hands on the vehicle and claimed it for the Lord’s service, but to our carnal minds it seemed a lost cause.
We started looking for another car. A couple of weeks later we passed by the lot and the car was still there. The Lord gave us the faith to go in and make a final offer of the amount He had said we’d get it for, and tell the people this offer would only stand for two weeks, until the end of the month. That same day they called from the lot, saying the owner had now accepted our offer. PTL!
By Kristia, Thailand
As usual, we were nearing the end of the month and expecting the Lord to answer our prayers for a miracle to make our budget. On our last outreach day we were scheduled to meet a friend from Singapore. He’s not an easy man to catch for an appointment and since this was his only day in the capital, we had to claim a miracle to see him.
We drove to the hotel and called his room, but he was not there and they couldn’t locate him. My heart sank. I told the Lord that we’d come this far by faith and He needed to work out a meeting, for the work’s sake and for this man’s sake.
I pressed the elevator to go up to check out the coffeehouse. As I walked in, there he was, standing by a table talking to some friends. Immediately he greeted us and had us sit with him and his wife.
There was so much to share with A., who had such a vacuum for the Word and any counsel we had in regards to his walk with the Lord or people management. He loves our materials and really appreciated the Reflections and Heavenly Streams books. His wife is almost finished with the Marvelous Marriage book.
When we told him our need, he immediately said: I understand. Say no more. I’m transferring US$1,000 into your account. You’ll have it by the time you close your books on Saturday. Then, we joked about how he could justify this donation—his payment for his Motivational Consultant, which is what he considers me, due to all the Word we continually feed him.
By Christina, Russia
Support is always an issue, I guess not only for our Home but for every Home. Since there are always needs to be met and only the Lord can do it, we put supply on our daily prayer list. As I’m writing this we are three adults in the Home (our fourth member is on an extended visa trip) and none of us are fundraisers, really, so we all know we need so much help from Jesus to make it. Well, He never fails, TYJ!
After we returned from our summer SWIFT and prayed about our priorities, the Lord clearly showed us that we were supposed to start remodeling our apartment. We had been living in it for five years and it was quite worn. We had some materials for the repairs, but we were two adult girls and one man—not too much manpower, taking into consideration all the schooling we have to do with our kids and other ministries.
Our budget required some help, too. We really didn’t have possibilities to fundraise, unless we put the repairs on hold or didn’t do other things we had committed to do.
When we prayed, the Lord told us to proceed with the repairs and not to worry. He said He’d supply every need that we had. So we did proceed, and He did supply—much more than we expected or even asked for!
Once a month I go to a women’s meeting to interpret, to get a little outside support. I usually can’t share much about our work, unless the Lord leads me to do so in a private conversation.
This month I was interpreting for a lady from England. I took one of my daughters with me and as it turned out this lady was also from a big family and also was child number four (my daughter is our fourth child). When the lady heard about this, she got excited and started asking what we were doing in life, etc. I shared a little bit about our work and she got very interested. She begged me to show her some pictures of our summer trip. (TG I had my personal photo album with me!) She asked so many questions and seemed to be genuinely touched.
At the end, when the chairwoman came to pay for my interpreting, she handed to me the usual folded-up money, but whispered in my ear, Don’t lose what’s inside! It’s a surprise! I opened the bill and there was the equivalent of US$100 inside of it!
People don’t usually give us such gifts out of the blue—and that’s quite a bit of money here! It paid for our Home’s food for two weeks.—I was so thankful. The chairwoman told me that the surprise came from the lady I was interpreting for, and that she didn’t want me to know it was from her. She asked the chairwoman to tell me it was a blessing from God. Well, it truly was.
Another miracle of supply happened when our friends called us and told us that they had to move out of their apartment urgently and that they had some extra things to give us. When we went to their house, they gave us tons of school supplies, pencils, crayons, notebooks, paints, a blackboard, play dough, educational games, and much more. Besides this, they gave us a brand-new kitchen sink (we really needed one for our kitchen), chairs, and a jungle gym—something that we hadn’t even dreamed of having.
They also gave us a set of nice furniture that we shared with my husband’s mother, who had moved to a new apartment a few weeks before and hardly had any furniture there. (She had given some of her furniture to us earlier, and it had been a real blessing to our Home.) It was a testimony of God’s care for her, too, as she is quite poor and lives alone, while at the same time being a real help to us in many ways, often to her own hurt.
We got all these things just in one day, totally unexpectedly. No wonder the Lord told us not to worry about our supply this month! He had it all planned as a surprise.
By Stephen (of Ruth), England
This is a slightly old story, but I was reminded of it the other day. My second daughter Amber Heather (now nine) said that she would like to eat store-bought breakfast cereals instead of the cracked wheat and suji (local cereals made from ground wheat), which she had eaten since birth.
At the time we were living in Pakistan where Amber was born. One packet of breakfast cereal cost from US$4-6, and we could down about four in our Home of 20 people each breakfast. I had the faith that maybe for a special breakfast we could have a few packets, but not on a regular basis. How could we afford it and how could the Lord supply? Most people in Pakistan do not eat these products anyway. (Oh ye of little faith!)
Well, we did commit it to the Lord in prayer, but between you and me this was just to appease my daughter and show some paper faith, not because I truly believed the Lord would answer. Amber, though, must have had real gold faith.
I forgot about it until two or three months later, when Abe of Libby made a contact with the best and practically the only supermarket in town to stock imported goods. They gave us a large amount of goods, which included around 400 boxes of brand-name imported breakfast cereals. This lasted us for breakfast and large snacks daily for the next six months.
I learned a good lesson from this—that the Lord can and will do the most amazing things for us, from the most unexpected and miraculous source, if we will only have faith. He is a God of miracles.
By Kristia, Garden Home, Bangkok
When we embarked on some home improvements, we were torn between the simple and fast way of just buying the needs with some funds from our savings, or going the longer takes more faith route of provisioning.
I’ve felt that the Lord uses our needs to get us going in His direction to possibly meet His sheep or special ones that we would normally not link up with, if it weren’t for us having to ask for their help. The Lord resolved this question for us in His special way by opening and closing the doors we were knocking on.
In the first case, we weren’t able to provision a fridge, but we were able to buy a brand-new one at a 40% discount. Then He worked it out to get brand-new curtains at 50% of the actual price, plus the repair of our existing rods. We also bought a new water filtering system—a reverse-osmosis system—at 70% off the sale price. Thank You, Jesus! No more tummy aches!
But the miracles in provisioning were even more exciting than the discounts. We contacted a furniture company and were asked to send our request in. I initially asked for the three computer tables that we needed and sent off the fax. However, on second thought (the Lord’s inspiration!) and in counsel with another Home member, I rewrote the request and this time asked for everything we needed besides the tables—a cupboard, desks, and bookshelves as well.
By a sheer miracle, the first fax I sent didn’t get transmitted and was never received. So they received our letter with the full requests. A company representative called after a few days and said they were delivering everything except the desks, which they did not have in stock, but they were giving an extra bookshelf!
Our kitchen had been in need of a renovation for some time now, but we didn’t know how to go about it. We didn’t know anyone who could make a wooden cabinet, either. But then the Lord showed us to ask our friends in the construction business to make concrete frames for the cabinets. They agreed to do all the concrete work and the tiling but they didn’t have anyone skilled in woodwork. We would need to buy ready-made wooden doors and cabinets.
We checked this out and the total cost for the set of cabinets and doors we needed came to a whopping 25,000 baht ($566) just for the set in rubber wood. It was definitely out of our range. If anything, we thought we could consider possibly investing half of that amount.
After praying, however, the Lord led me to ask for it all, by faith, not even suggesting the possibility of us paying for anything. It wasn’t easy getting ahold of the man responsible for the decision, but when we finally did, he offered to give us some obsolete models for everything we requested—all in teak. If we had had to buy it, we would have gotten the normal rubber wood or cheaper pressed wood, but through the Lord’s supply channel, we got the best they had—a beautiful, matching set of doors and cabinets in the best wood possible. Then the Lord also provided a beautiful marble top for the kitchen counter.
Through all these appointments or deliveries, we were able to get out tracts to the workers and deliverymen. I was also able to pray with two of the workers who were here every day, working on the concrete frame.
With all these miracles of the Lord’s wonderful supply in upgrading our Home, I’m wondering if our sweet Husband hasn’t got something up His sleeve. Reading the What the Future Holds series, where He talks about putting the spotlight on us and our Homes, with the media, visitors, and new disciples, I imagine that’s what He’s investing in now, so we can be ready and up to par in this era of action!
By Cephas CO, India
We’ve been holding our city’s Church of Love at a five-star hotel for a year now. With the slowdown in the economy, the hotel felt that they could not continue to give us this complimentary room every Sunday. We would instead have to pay close to US$250 every time we used it.
In the meantime, a seven-star hotel (here in India, the stars go up with the exclusiveness of the hotel, ha!), more exclusive than the one that we’ve been holding these COLs in, was just completed here in our city. The Lord miraculously led us to meet the management at this hotel. They have now invited us to use a complimentary room for our COLs every Sunday morning. (An example of how exclusive it is: It costs US$2.50 for a cup of tea, whereas a cup of tea in a regular place would cost the equivalent of 10 cents.)
So the Lord closed one door at a 5-star hotel and opened an even wider and better door at a more exclusive 7-star hotel, to hold our Church of Love in every Sunday morning.
Our church continues to grow, and we meet some very top people who are amazed to be coming to an exclusive 7-star hotel to hear God’s Words and receive spiritual input for their lives.
There is no substitute for faithfulness in feeding God’s sheep His Word, and we continue to find that by simply being faithful in this with whomever we meet, and by continuing to hold these COLs, the Lord brings the sheep and now is beginning to also bring the finances. We are just amazed at His goodness and wonderful ways.
By Cherry (of Steven), China
The Lord did an amazing miracle for us. Years ago Steven had a vasectomy (operation to make it impossible to have children). His first mate, who is no longer in the Family, had pressured him into it during a time when they were both quite weak and out of the Lord’s will in the States.
Since Steven and I have been together (going on eight years now), we have always wanted to have a child together. Of course we knew that the Lord could give us a child via the Law of Love, but we still wanted to have one together and have that part of the past washed away.
When we were in the States a couple of years ago, we found out about vasectomy reversals. However, since they require microsurgery, they cost from US$6,000 on up. We had saved up that amount but wanted to return to the field. Then the Lord called us to go to Japan for some time and from there led us to China. We put our desire for the operation in the Lord’s hands.
We had been in China for nearly four months when a friend of ours asked me why Steven and I have no children together. I felt led to tell her about his operation and our desire to have it reversed. She got all excited and told me that she thought we could do it here in China. She had a friend she would ask who is a doctor. She did ask and it turned out that it could be done for way less than in the U.S., which was so encouraging for us.
However, at that time we didn’t have that amount of money, and didn’t quite know how to go about doing it all. We just knew it was possible. After reading the GNs on prayer, we decided to put it on our daily prayer list and commit it to the Lord—that if it was His will, He would make it happen in His perfect time, as well as supply the funds.
Within a week things started happening: First our friends organized some private classes which brought in some unexpected income. Then we received a few donations via the TRF from our dear Family. Together with part of a donation that our dear VSs gave us when they visited us (which we had saved till the Lord showed us what to do with it), it all added up to around US$300.
Also that week, we were introduced to a man who invited us to his house along with the friend who I had told a few months before about Steven’ operation. While we were there, after a huge meal we were talking and Steven got real sleepy, so they invited him to take a catnap in another room. While he was sleeping, our friends started talking together about his health. Something (the Lord, obviously) prompted our friend to tell the others, namely our host, about the operation and our desire to have children together.
To make a long story short, this man just happened to be friends with both the head nurse and a top surgeon of the hospital where they could perform the surgery. He made a couple of phone calls, and by the time Steven awoke from his nap, we had an appointment with this surgeon for an assessment interview.
A couple of days later, our friend picked us up in his car and drove us to the appointment. From there, without us having to hardly say a word, they organized an appointment for the surgery. We ended up having not only this surgeon in attendance, but also the two top micro-surgeons of the whole province to perform the surgery. Our friend kept witnessing to everyone about us, telling them they should help us and make everything as cheap as possible.
They did a very good job, doing it so carefully that the surgery took four hours. Then Steven stayed a week in the hospital to recover and rest in a private room. During that time our friend came every day to visit and care for us. We have become so close to him through all this. Steven has also met and ministered to many people at the hospital. Since everyone from the whole family, aunts and uncles, etc., come to the hospital to encourage their relatives who are sick, there are lots of people hanging around who want to talk. It was a very fruitful time and Steven learned a whole lot of Chinese in that time. He became good friends with many of the prominent doctors and nurses, who want to stay in touch with us and even invited us to travel with them during their vacations.
When we finally got the price tag for all this, it was US$250 total. Isn’t that amazing? The head nurse told us that even if one of her own family members came to the hospital for a simple appendectomy, she could not have made it any cheaper. Yet Steven had had complicated microsurgery with the top specialists of our province, plus a week’s hospital stay in a private room. What a miracle!
It is so encouraging what the Lord did for us. We are sure that if the Lord sees fit to give us a child now that it will have many godfather/godmother candidates, ha! We are also so thankful for the precious friends we have made through all this.
By Michelle, India
Our family needed to make a fundraising trip to Europe, to raise a lot of support in a relatively short time. As we are a big family, the thought was quite scary.
To encourage us in our step of faith, the Lord did a couple little miracles to get us on our way. The first one was through our landlord. We had prepared to give up the flat we were staying in and move all of our stuff into storage for the three months we’d be gone. But one day our landlord phoned with a proposition of reducing the rent to half for those three months. This was a miracle, as we hadn’t even thought to ask him. We calculated that that would come out cheaper than renting a truck to move our things. On top of this, the landlord suggested we renew our lease for another eleven months, which freed us from the burden of having to house hunt upon our return.
Another little miracle was that we were planning to buy our airplane tickets with the low season prices, but it seemed that we missed the chance because we hadn’t been able to sell our Jeep, which was going to cover the fare. When we told our travel agent (who is also an Activated subscriber) that we might have to hold off on getting the tickets due to the delay in selling our Jeep, he suggested that we make a partial payment and he would front the rest. It was quite amazing—all this without even asking, only presenting our needs to the Lord!
Most of all, these little miracles increased our faith that the Lord would continue to miraculously supply for our trip. We keep holding on to His promises, rising above the circumstances, and claiming that truly nothing is impossible.
(Note: All Family members in China use pen names for their contributions to the FSM.)
Copyright © 2002 by The Family
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