A great story about the “VeggieTale” Guy and God’s Faithfulness

I am currently reading the booMe, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About God, Dreams, and Talking Vegetables It is a bio of the talented author and creator of VeggieTales, Phil Vischer.

In the book he shares a great example of God’s faithfulness. 

He had on his heart to make a computer animated program for children, and after much struggle did create VeggieTales but could not get the backing to allow him to create the program and still provide for his wife and baby girl.

He hit wall after wall and finally was down to his last dollar.  He began to doubt that it was really his call after all and in desperation called out “God tell me this isn’t just me-tell me you’re in this too.”

Right after he started to go through a stack of mail…all bills except an anonymous hand addressed envelope. Inside was  a $400.oo cashiers check with a note that said “God laid it on my heart that you might need this.”

In the book Phil says,

“That wasn’t the end of our ‘hard times’…but since that day I have never once doubted that God has called me to use my gifts for him, and that he will supply whatever resources I need in his perfect timing.

And I will never give up.” (page 75).

Wow how faithful is the awesome God we serve! He knows when we are weak, when we are weary. 

If we just pursue what we are called to do, he is faithful to supply all our needs.

Keep pushing…You will get there!!

How trusting God caused my world to come crashing in

crash

This the update to my “A Christmas Miracle” blog post. For those that did not read it…basically God led me to have nothing prepared for Christmas for my family.

And to spend my money on other (needed) things and to trust Him to make it right.

Because I have four children (who are not so little anymore but still live at home), and because those children are used to getting spoiled at Christmas (even when I cannot afford it), this caused me great anxiety.

Every time I thought of how (potentially) my last Christmas with my children all under one roof would be an empty one, I began to feel like my world was crashing in around me.

But Faith

Yet I kept coming back to faith…simple, uncomplicated faith!

How could I trust Jesus to “save” me when I refused to trust Him to feed me. How could I trust him for all eternity when I could not trust him for one Christmas?

On my own I was shaky so I had to get back to solid ground.

I got out my Bible and read about how

The Scripture says, No man who believes in Him

[who adheres to, relies on, and trusts in Him]

will [ever] be put to shame or be disappointed.

(Romans 10:11 Amplified version).

I thought of all the people watching how all this “trusting God” business is going to play out… I realized that trusting God for Christmas is just a trial run for England and the rest of my future.

So I just allowed Him  the space He needed to show His goodness.

Any boy did He ever!

The Result

In the interest of brevity (something I am told is important in a blog post, and is something I am not very good at) I will just say that not only did God provide for every need we had (food, drink, etc) but He also took the focus off of the things and put it on our time together (not to mention Him).

As a result I spent two solid days hanging out with my family and talking and laughing…

We also went bowling…yes bowling. We are not big bowlers but we went on Christmas eve…at God’s leading…so much fun! And so many beautiful moments…like when I watched one child help another…so cool.

The Topper

And to top it off, God made sure there was a present for each of us under the tree…they were beyond awesome…mine made me cry because it is something I have wanted for a very long time.

There was a defining moment when we watched something on tv and one of the main characters said something like “people don’t often realize when they are living them, that one day these will be the moments that they wish they could re-live .”

Then it hit me

What gift God gave to me.

The Gift

The gift of foresight. How being able to drink in every second and really live in the moment with my beloved family.

In the hustle and bustle of Christmas, and daily living,  so many great moments often go unnoticed.  This gift of clarity has been a wake up call to me. I pray that I steward this gift well.

One Last Thing

He showed me that just as a bowling pins scatter, they are always made straight and set upright in the end…just like those who trust in Him.

Is your world crashing in around you? Trust in Gods good plan for your life and you will not be put to shame.

 

Photo = © cherezoff – Fotolia.com

A pile of bills, A choice, and A path made straight.

path

It doesn’t matter what is going on in the world, those who trust in God do not have to be led by their circumstances.

Because those who trust in God are people who learn to look by faith and not by sight.

For example, as I was getting prepared to start back up in school after the summer break, I started running short of money.

I knew that God did not want me to quit school, so I prayed and felt that he told me to stand firm.

When I looked with my natural eyes at my bills that started to pile up, I was tempted to freak out, and get a job (probably minimum wage) that would almost pay the bills, if I was lucky.

I knew that I could not put in the forty-plus hours a week that my university required of me and keep a job too, so I asked God in prayer if He wanted me to drop out and He strongly answered no.

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. ~ Psalm 125:1

About a week later when taking my morning prayer walk, I kept hearing the word grant over and over, so I got a clue, and found out about a grant that my college had.

I applied and was accepted in an hour. It is enough extra money to keep me going for a while.

And that is how God works. He wants us to not act out of our circumstances but out of our trust in Him.

 


Photo by © freshidea – Fotolia.com

This man did what?

Not many people enjoy going to the doctor, but according to Reuters, in 1994, one London accountant took that to an extreme. The sixty-three-year-old man knew he needed bladder surgery but he could not overcome his fear of doctors and hospitals. So he self-reliantly did what had to be done: He tried to perform the surgery on himself. Tragically he got an infection from the self-surgery and later died. The coroner said, “Unfortunately, [his] drastic remedy went wrong. A simple operation would have solved the problem.”

Just as this man didn’t trust doctors or hospitals, many people don’t trust God. In their self-reliance, they destroy themselves.

 

Story taken from

Contemporary Illustrations For Preachers, Teachers, & Writers Editor Craig Brian Larson, Baker Books, p. 272.

When God’s truth sounds more like a Beatles tune than a plan.

live is all

So let me just say upfront that I am a truth person. And the truth is that life is going by very fast, and I do not want to waste my time…my life…not doing what I am called to do. 

As a Christian I trust God to lead me and guide me into “all truth” knowing that I will have the best of all possible outcomes.

But there was this one time when the truth that God had spoken to me sounded more like a Beatles song than reality.

All You Need is Love

It was about three years ago. I was in college and trying to survive the effects the loss of my husband had on my four children.

It was hard, but I held on to God’s promises, even though there were days I just wanted to hide.

One of my children was really struggling. And angry, very angry. At me, at the world, at God.

This child began acting out, and even ran away from home for the longest night of my life.

When my child, teenager finally, came home, and started ranting and raving. I thought “God I cannot take much more of this.”

God said “Just love” …

I was like “What do you mean just love! This child needs some guidance. This child need some discipline.”

God said “Just love

I thought “God what about truth. This child needs truth.”

“I will take care of truth. You take care of Love.”

I remember thinking “Oh this is not going to end well. God is telling me that, to deal with this child “Love is all I need!” It made no sense to me. I thought, “What I need is a cell I can hold my child in until the age of 18).

BUT

I knew God’s heart for me. I know God’s heart for my child. so,

I trusted Him.

I did what He asked me to do. It wasn’t easy but with God nudging and reminding me to, I did not get mad, I did not discipline, I just loved my child, finding ways to be kind and compassionate. Even though my child was angry, really angry, and said some horrible things, I held on to God and just loved.

THE RESULT

It did not take long for me to see God make a way.

 It did not take long for me to see God drawing my child…His Child…to Himself. God asked me to trust Him with my child and wow He knew what He was doing!!!

God opened the doors for my child to go to not just one, but two church camps that summer. After the second one my child came home forever changed. And, letting go of the past, has followed after God ever since.

This child has gone from getting f’s to a 4.0, from being ignored in school, to being voted the student body president for their School.

From walking away from God, to daily walking with him, with heart and arms open wide,

This child is Happy!

This child is forever changed, because God asked me to trust Him and gave me the grace to do it.

What is God asking YOU to trust Him for?

What seems impossible? What makes no sense?

What are you going to do about it?