As she was walking her students out to the bus parking lot after school one day, she was thinking about how tight her finances were because of the new house she and her husband were in the process of buying.  Every penny they had was wrapped up in the sale. Both she and her husband enjoyed the jobs they had with the local school system, but their paychecks didn’t seem to stretch very far. With two young children, she frequently went without  extras for herself in order to provide for her family.  Extras like new clothes, hair salons, and fast food. She even packed her lunch each day to save the few dollars the school cafeteria food cost.

On this particular day, a long and difficult day, she was tired and thirsty. She had forgotten to bring a drink with her that morning for after school. Should she splurge and buy a soda from the vending machine in the teacher’s workroom? No, she couldn’t justify that to herself. Not when every penny counted so much. She sighed. It was going to be another hour before she could leave, plus a thirty minute drive home. True, she could take a sip of tepid water from the students’ fountain… but she wasn’t THAT thirsty.

“I sure would love a cold Pepsi,” she found herself thinking as her students followed her across the parking lot.

She happened to look down and couldn’t believe it – a quarter! Then a few inches away, another quarter with a dime! Sixty cents – the exact amount it cost for a soda!

She gratefully thanked God for the treat. Then got to thinking about her young daughter who would be in her classroom waiting for her. She would be thirsty too.  Did she dare ask? She looked up and silently prayed, “Lord, it would be great if I could get Rachel a drink too.”  And before she returned to her classroom, she had found sixty more cents! On a gravel parking lot where hundreds of students and their teachers were walking! She  was overflowing with joy and thankfulness as she excitedly went to buy her and her daughter cold drinks!

How amazing is our God who cares for us even in the little things!  Has He shown you His care in something small? Something that filled you with joy but you felt foolish telling others because it seemed to be such a small thing? Please share your story in the comments below. I would love to hear it!

She had two choices:  become a nun or become a housewife and mother. There weren’t any other choices for girls growing up in her time and place. Oh, she could become an old maid. But that really wasn’t a choice. That’s what happened to girls who chose not to become a nun and failed to attract a husband. Men were everything. And a woman was nothing without a man. So she spent her teen years doing what she needed without success. By the time she was in her twenties, she was convinced no man wanted her and she was doomed to become the dreaded old maid, to be alone for the rest of her life.  But then she met Jesus! He began showing her that her value was in Him – not in whether she attracted a husband or not.  That was usually enough for her as she prayed and practiced being in His presence. But from time to time her thoughts would drift back to what she had learned as a child, what had been programmed into her heart as she grew up.

On this particular day, God was about to do something awesome! It started with a movie invitation from her brother – to see a brand new movie that had just come out.

“It’s supposed to be a great movie,” he said to her. “Let’s go see it!”

“What’s it called?” she asked.

“Superman.”

She shrugged. She loved science fiction.  “Sure. Sounds good to me.”

After getting comfortable in her seat, she immersed herself in the movie. It was great. Good actors, good action. She especially enjoyed the relationship between Superman and Lois Lane, and was pulled into the scene where he invited her to fly with him.

As she watched them fly hand in hand on the big screen, she thought wistfully, “I would love to fly, or even walk, hand in hand with a guy who loved me and I loved him.”

“But you already have someone. Me.”   His response came quickly and clearly. He could have been sitting right next to her and whispering in her ear!  She was filled anew with His presence and love – and left the movie that day knowing she was not alone and would never be alone. Whether she got married or not, Jesus was with her. And she got to walk hand in hand with God – this awesome and powerful God of all creation – every day and forever! And sometimes, if she was willing, she would even get to fly with Him!

How amazing is a God who whispers during movies!  What has He whispered to you?

I’ve finally decided what I’m going to do with this blog. And I’m moving forward. Starting  later today, I will be creating stories of the amazing things God has done in my life – and I would love it if you would comment with stories of your own, especially stories that relate to what I write.

My vision for this blog remains the same – to be a source of inspiration that deepens our love and appreciation for God and all His amazing ways. I would only add the word interactive to that vision. The more interaction we have, the more powerful this blog will become. So hit that like button! Follow me! Comment with your thoughts and stories! Share my posts! And come back frequently! Without you, this blog is just a bunch of purposeless words, and a bit one sided. God is so much bigger and is doing so much more than what He’s doing with me! Inspire me with the amazing things God is doing with you!

I haven’t posted lately because I don’t know what to post. Evidently I can’t do what I wanted to do – writing about the amazing ways God is working in people’s lives by having people send me their stories. No matter how I tweak or rewrite them, the stories still belong to them and I have to have their written permission to share them on this site. That would require signed documents kept in a file. I could still do that, but I really don’t want to have to get into all that legal stuff.

Another reason is the lack of convenience for my readers. I’ve been told they are being required to create an account just to comment. I understand that an account it necessary to follow a blog, but commenting shouldn’t require one. And liking shouldn’t be the hassle it evidently is – both on their end and mine. I’ve been told that posts have been liked but it never showed up on the blog. The only like that ever worked was the one I did to test the button.

I tried to set up a web site that may make it easier for readers to comment and like but it looks just like my blog page. I don’t want two of the same thing.

So I’m stuck. I don’t know what to do next. I could focus all the God stories on the things He’s done and is doing in my life, but there are so many more amazing stories out there.

What do you think?

Ashley was almost ready to leave town. Only one more thing to do, the hardest thing to do, and she’d be free to go. She wanted to, no she needed to say goodbye to her grandfather.

She loved her grandfather. And he loved her, or rather, he used to. But age had robbed him of his memories and, although he recognized her as someone who came to visit, he rarely know her as his granddaughter anymore. They usually spent their time on imaginary trips as his mind took him back to the time of his farming and fishing days.

Ashley got in her car and drove towards the VA nursing home where he lived. She missed the talks they used to have as she grew up and wondered how his mind would be when she go there today. Would he be able to understand that she wouldn’t be visiting him as often anymore? Would he know who she was?

He looked up as she walked into his room.

“How are you today? she asked.

“Fine, thank you. How are you… Ashley, right? You’ve been here before,” he said in his thick southern accent.

“Yes, I’m Ashley. I’m your granddaughter.”

“You are? I don’t remember having a granddaughter.”

She sighed. It was not going to be one of his better days. She spent the rest of the visit answering his questions, the same questions, fifty times or more.

When it was about time to go, she told him, “I won’t be able to come visit you as often anymore. I’m moving away. But I’ll come back whenever I can.”

“You’re moving away?”

“Yes. And I wanted to let you know so you’ll understand when I don’t come visit you for awhile.”

“I like your visits. You’re a nice lady.”

“Granddaddy, try to understand. I love you.”

“I’m your Granddaddy?”

She tried not to show her disappointment. She had hoped to be able to reach him for just a moment so she could say a proper goodbye. It was evident that wasn’t gong to happen. As she turned to go, there was an announcement over the PA system about a small service that was being set up in the common area for the residents. She looked down the hallway and saw a man and a woman setting up a guitar and a karaoke machine. Her grandfather had always love singing.

“Hey, Granddaddy, would you like to go sing a few songs?” she called back into his room.

“Why not? Singing is OK.” He smiled at her.

She pushed his wheelchair down the hall and joined the gathering residents.

Then the music started. From the first chord of “How Great Thou Art” Ashley’s grandfather began singing like he was back in his old Alabama church – loud and off key. Ashley joined in on the songs she knew. When they sang “Old Time Religion” they looked at each other, connecting in way they hadn’t experienced in a long time, and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company.

It seemed like too soon the service was over. As she pushed her grandfather back to his room, she thanked God for giving her grandfather back to her for those few moments. Maybe she didn’t know why God allowed her grandfather to have Alzheimer’s disease, but she did know one thing. God was more powerful than the disease. And she was grateful for the loving way He used a song to bring her and her grandfather together for a proper goodbye.

I noticed under my arm was getting very tender, like my skin was hyper sensitive. I thought maybe it was a pinched nerve in my neck or shoulders but stretching it out didn’t help. In fact, I now also had an intense pain between my shoulder blades. Going to the chiropractor didn’t help either.

I decided to try a lidocaine patch, a local anesthetic, to see if it would help with the pain. Without reading the directions, i put one on my back and left it there for 24 hours. When I pulled it off, I noticed that a few bumps had developed under it so i decided to read the directions to see if the bumps might be a side effect. Oops, I was only supposed to leave the patch on for 12 hours. The bumps must be a reaction to the patch. The painful bumps, though, began to spread. Maybe I had gotten some of the lidocaine on my clothes and caused the bumps to spread across my back. Then the bumps spread down my arm. OK, so maybe the patch had touched my arm too. But when the bumps began to spread all the way around my body to the middle of my chest, I figured I might have an issue.

I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with shingles. At one time I counted a hundred blisters on my chest alone. I never actually counted them all, but I figured I had probably a total of 300 extremely painful bumps that made me cry at night in between times I could take medication or put cream on them.

One day at work, when the pain of the now big, angry bumps was at its worst, two of my coworkers noticed I was less than my bubbly self and asked what was wrong. After telling them my story, they asked what they could do to help. I told them “just keep me in your prayers, please.”

Now these two work friends are very vivacious and animated people in general and especially when talking about our Lord. When I mentioned prayers, they said, “Girl, come on!” and taking my arm, led me into the lady’s restroom. We stood together, holding hands, and they said the most powerful prayers over me. I’ve never experienced anything like it. It brought tears to my eyes then, and continues to bring tears to my eyes every time I think about it.

That night, I woke up to use the bathroom and noticed I felt better. I raised my arm and looked in the mirror – and all those big, angry, red bumps were now small, dried up, and scabbed over! All of them!

I broke down in tears, thanking Jesus, and feeling so amazed, shocked, grateful, and blessed that I kept pacing the bathroom, hands in the air, and praising God.

I still had some nerve pain, but the blisters were better and I knew I was well on the road of recovery. Nobody will ever be able to convince me that God does not hear our prayers!

Deb

“I think God is telling us to tithe,” I told my husband. “OK,” he replied. And we did. Except we started with 5% instead of the 10%. Finances were extremely tight and we weren’t brave enough to give more.

Three things you should know before I continue.

First, we were living at the time in a cramped two bedroom trailer with two small
children and a dog. Our nine year old daughter had one bedroom, and my five year old son shared the master bedroom with my husband and me. When we bought the trailer, the plan was to live in it for five years then buy a house. Now it was ten years later and we were no closer to buying a house than when we bought the trailer.

Second, I was the one who managed our family finances. I paid the bills and watched our bank account dip into the red each month. Credit cards became our best friend. So I KNEW we couldn’t afford a house. No way!

Third, at that time we were as spiritually challenged as we were financially challenged. We had been strong not many years before this – attending church and prayer meetings, reading the Bible, listening to teaching tapes, and reading books – but one by one these things fell away until we were doing none of it.

A month or so before I approached my husband with the idea of tithing, I had felt God’s call to come back. I began reading the Bible daily again and eventually came across God’s challenge in Malachi. This is how I read chapter 3, verses 8-10:

“Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How are we robbing You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse… because you are robbing me… test Me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

I felt convicted and knew I had to do something about this. That’s when I went to my husband, who simply said OK and continued playing his computer game. Simple for him, I thought. He’s not the one who has to juggle the finances.

The next month I made the first contribution. Not to a church since we were not attending one, but to a couple of ministries that I had heard about on TV. Four months later, January of 1996, my husband, out of the blue, announced it was time to buy a house. Yeah, right. But we went looking anyway. I told him we needed to stick to under 100K. After weeks of not finding anything we liked, the realtor told him about two houses, each around 150K. To humor them, I agreed to look at them.

We named the first house the White House because, although it wasn’t white on the outside, everything inside was white – the walls, the cabinets, even the carpeting. As we drove away from it, I pushed the button to lower the side window of our minivan so I could take a picture of the house as I had done with all the previous houses. Only this time the window wouldn’t go back up. I froze all the way home, worried about how to pay to have the window fixed. But the next day the window worked find. In fact, the only other time it ever got stuck was when we looked at the other 150K house.

Praying about it with some friends, we interpreted the open window as God’s way of saying we had an open door to either of those houses. Our pick. We chose the White House because I had always wanted a two story house. Lots of space!

It took a few more signs from God (dream, prophetic word, and a scripture) to convince me to trust Him but a month later we were signing the papers! The realtor commented that he had never seen a sale go through as smoothly and quickly as this one had. We used all our savings (money we had put aside each month for the summer months as, being educators, we didn’t get paid in the summer) for the down payment. My dad agreed to loan us money to make it through that first summer.

I LOVED the house, but still continued to worry about finances. Each month I thought making the mortgage payment was going to put us under – but it didn’t. Not only did we have enough to pay the bills and to treat the kids to kid meals from time to time, we even had enough to put some in savings for the summer. By June, we had enough in savings that we didn’t have to borrow any money from my dad! To this day I can’t figure it out because we really didn’t change our lifestyle and we weren’t making any extra money. Somehow God had stretched what we had to make it enough!

I learned two things from this.. God is my provider, and God is faithful. He made a promise and kept it.

Linda

One day several years ago, I planned to leave work early to take my dogs to a dog park near my home. However, circumstances prevented me from leaving early. When I finally made it home, I let my dogs out to go potty. Usually I’ll clean up the kitchen while the dogs were outside, but on this day I decided to ignore the mess and head straight to the dog park.

As usual, I harnessed my male dog in the car and then had my female load up. As I watched her, I thought she looked kind of odd so I pulled her out of the car and put her back in the yard where she threw up water. This normally would have made me forgo the dog park but this time I just told myself that she had drunk too fast and that she was fine.

I went to put her back in the car and for the first time ever my male dog had wiggled out of his harness. By then I was beginning to wonder if maybe I wasn’t supposed to go to the park that day for some reason. I do believe in signs and normally would have hung up the leashes and NOT gone, but for whatever reason, THIS day I went. I put my male back into his harness, loaded up the female, and drove off.

About a mile from my house, I was sitting at a red light. I happened to glance up into my rear view mirror and saw a large F150 truck with a HUGE bar reinforced grill barreling towards me. Traffic had stopped for a few minutes so the truck should have stopped with no problem. Only it didn’t. I was boxed in with a ditch to my right and oncoming traffic to my left. Nowhere to go. I yelled at my two dogs to sit and braced myself for the impact.

At the moment of impact, I honestly thought my neck was breaking and I prayed to God to protect me. I saw a color flash in the back seat and knew my female dog had been flung into the seat in front of her. Then a jacked up jeep hit the truck causing the truck to hit me a second time. I pushed on the brake pedal as hard as I could but I was still moving forward and I hit the car in front of me.

When my car came to a stop, folks rushed to me and kept telling me not to move. The elderly gentleman in the car in front said he saw my head the steering wheel but I knew that it hadn’t. He kept telling me to be still. He said he and his wife were fine, that they had seen the accident in time to take his foot off the brake so I merely pushed them. There was very minimal damage to their car.

I was afraid to look into the back seat for fear my dogs were injured. I asked how my dogs were. The folks checked on them and, I don’t know how, but they were both FINE! Other than my left arm being numb, which I knew had to be from pinched nerves in my neck, I was OK too.

My husband came and got us, we took the dogs home and went to the ER. The Highway Patrol man who met us in the ER said he didn’t know how I kept my car from damaging the elderly couple’s car in front of me. He said I did a good job at protecting them. I got worried when I noticed the elderly couple at the ER also but when the gentleman saw me and came to check on me, he said they were both fine. They were there just as a precaution because his wife was not well.

All that evening I kept beating myself up. With all the signs, I knew I wasn’t supposed to go to the dog park that day. Why did I ignore them? It was really haunting me because I usually try to pay attention. Any one of the signs I had gotten would have made me not go, yet out of character, I ignored all of them.

After much self-blame and worry, I finally fell into a dead sleep… and was awoken to a very calming voice in my head. “You were EXACTLY where you were supposed to be. That elderly couple’s vehicle would NOT have endured the crash.” INSTANT peace! I knew God had put me in the path of the F150 and Jeep to keep them from hitting the couple’s very old, small car. I was in a BMW 5 series which did EXACTLY what it was designed to do… it absorbed the impact and protected us. Besides a residual nerve issue, I was fine and my pups were fine. If I had not been where I was there was no doubt in my mind that accident scene would have been entirely different. I never questioned it again.

I truly believe God puts us where we’re supposed to be. Sometimes we see the reason, sometimes we just gotta have faith.

Deb

So I created my blog…

and sat down to write  my first God story…

and nothing.  I can’t think of even one story.

Why is it so much easier to remember the bad times, the times we were let down, the times we felt our prayers went unanswered?

Or is that just me and my pessimism?

At one time, I could have won the World Champion Pessimist Award (except something would have probably gone wrong and I wouldn’t have gotten it anyway.)

I was convinced that nothing good would ever happen to me. And if by chance something good did accidentally happen, it would soon be discovered and taken away.

I had read Jer. 29:11 for years.  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” It sounded nice, but obviously was written for someone else.

But now I couldn’t even place runner up in any pessimist competition. God has been working in me over the years, slowly replacing the negative thoughts that has plagued me since I was a child with thoughts of hope. A hope that can only be found in Him.

I guess that’s a pretty amazing God story, after all.