Category Archives: Story

A Broken Computer, An Even Broker Mom, And A Wholehearted Decision

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brandon

Trusting God is not a “one time fits all occasions.” Making the choice to worry and or trust God is an every day, and sometimes every minute thing.

Everything that goes wrong in our life is a great opportunity to practice our trusting.

One such opportunity came for me in the guise of my son’s broken computer.  

So to set the stage a little it was about a year after my husband death. My son had retreated into His room where he played games for days on end. This worried me…a lot! But with work, school, no car, and three other grieving kids to think about, I really did not have the time, nor the strength to try and separate him from his beloved computer.

When His computer broke down, I am not going to lie, I thought finally! Now He will get out of his room. I was not about to try and fix anything (or pray for it to be fixed). A small part of me even thought (for a split second) that this must be an answer to prayer.

But then I noticed, really noticed my son.

How sad, how dejected he was. As bad as I thought they were, those games were all he had, those people on them, for the most part, were all he had.

It broke me.

I knew that God would NEVER answer my prayer for my son this way.

Romans 2:4 tells us that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance…it does not say anything about crushing sorrow.

I made the decision to trust God’s word and to pray and trust God to work.

I prayed and then led by God I went to my son and said “You are going to get a new computer.”

“How, you’re broke. I need at least 1,000 dollars…How is that going to happen?” He asked, thinking I was crazy.

“I have no idea but God is going to give you a new computer.”

He shook his head and said “God does not care about me. He does that kind of stuff for you but He doesn’t care about me that much.”

 I told him he was wrong and I said “You will see. By the end of today you will get some information about money for a new computer.”

That is trusting God. I stood on what He told me even though I could have been afraid that if God didn’t come through it might turn my son away from Him for good…it is scary, not always easy…but if we trust God with our salvation, why not trust Him with our children! Or our finances, or our job, car, clothes, friendships, etc.

Long story short …by the end of the day he was told by a friend from across the country that he would pay for the computer…he gave him $1,000 FREE and my son had another friend build him a computer worth $2,000 with it.

God is so good that he did not take my son away from the only thing that gave him comfort. He has come a long way…does not need the computer as much as he did then…but he sure does appreciate it and knows that God cares for him just as much as he does for me.

Photo my © stokkete – Fotolia.com

 

A great reminder that we are not called to “figure God out!”

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Tony Campolo was once confronted by an atheist who was one of his students.

The young man told Campolo, “For me to believe in God, I have to have a God that I can understand.”

And Campolo replied, “God refuses to be that small!”

(From a sermon at Sermon Central by Jeff Strite, Trusting in Ravens, 8/8/2011)

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A Pea Coat, A Girl, And a Lesson in Trusting God

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All of my adult life I have wanted a pea coat. So I was very excited when I finally was able to buy one. I loved it. It was brown, fit me perfectly, and was snuggly warm.

Not long after I bought it, I wore it to church. They were having a class that my oldest daughter (around 18 at the time) and I were taking. We were dropped off and were going to walk the mile or so home after it was over.

When we came out of the church I immediately noticed two things. 1) There was a full on blizzard happening. It was lightly snowing when we went in and was pouring snow (at an angle due to wind) on the way out.

My daughter and I were up for the challenge. We loved long walks, were bundled up, were looking forward to talking uninterrupted on the way home (something that is hard to come by in a home full of young children).

So we started our walk, but only got as far as the parking lot when we came upon, 2) A girl, who had been kicked out of her home at 18. She was barely making it and that day was just getting out her car, to meet with someone at the church. I immediately noticed how she was shivering from the cold.

“Where is your jacket” I asked (after the usual hellos).

“I don’t have one.” she replied.

“You don’t have one?” Are you sure?” I was just too shocked. How could anyone not have a jacket.

“Ya. I did have one but it got lost in the move.”

“I am so sorry” I said, and was just about to say goodbye and wish her luck, and potentially pray for her to get a jacket. When God stopped me and simply said “Give her your coat.”

I quickly replied in my mind, “But God I don’t think you understand, this is the coat I have always wanted. This is the coat I have dreamed of. This is the coat that I got on sale for 75% off and that I know there is no more of, this is the coat!”

“Give her the coat.”

“But God do you even understand that I still have to walk home a mile in this blizzard. I will surely freeze to death.”

“Lisa look at her, she is freezing. She needs to coat more than you do. Give her the coat. I will make sure you are warm.”

So I gave her my lovely brown Pea Coat (it fit her perfectly by the way), and after giving her a hug, started my walk with Megan home.

About five minutes into it I noticed how warm I was. It was like I had an internal heater and someone had set the dial up to toasty warm. I do not remember much about that walk home except that I kept saying over and over, “How cool is this. I am actually warm.”

It was a miracle! God kept me warm and taught me a lesson at the same time. That if I step out and do what He is calling me to do, He will take care of me.

I never did get another Pea Coat. But that is ok, because my friend bought me a winter jacket that is the warmest  jacket I have ever owned. And every time I wear it I am reminded that God is trustworthy.

Photo – © Doug Baines – Fotolia.com

This old thing!

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So the first story that I felt I needed to share was not about how God came through for me, but how God used me to come through for someone else. I was wondering why He wanted me to start my story telling in such a way when He responded to me that “Learning to listen to my still small voice is what it is all about.”

Listening to God’s voice takes practice. The more that we think we hear Him and respond by doing what He is calling us to do, the easier it gets to distinguish His voice from the noise of the worlds, or even our own thoughts.

So I share this story not because of what I did, but because of what I learned…

Once about 7 years or so ago, when I was working at J.C.Penny (oops can I say that) …when I was working at a major retail outlet (btw they are awesome to work for), I was approached by a little old lady. Now when I say “little old lady” I mean a very, very small woman (made smaller by the fact that she was hunched over holding a cane) who was not long for this world.

Anyways, she came up to me wanting to know the final price of a shirt for sale. I was about to send her over to the cash register when God told me “you do it.” So I grabbed the shirt (actually it was more of a long-sleeved comfort shirt) and found out that it was not marked off anymore then the tag price.

When I returned and told her she said, “Oh darn, I can’t afford it then.” She looked so sad that my heart broke for her.

I returned the shirt to the rack and told a co-worker about it saying, “How sad. I wish I could do something.”

God responded instantly in that still small voice “You can.”

“How I am working?” I asked…not keep in mind this convo was going on with no spoken words. Which is a good thing or I would have looked a lot more kooky than I already am.

“You are going to be off in a half an hour for lunch. Tell her to meet you here and you will buy it for her.”

“But she is gone by now. I will never find her in this packed mall.”

“You remember how slow she walked right? You know she hasn’t made it out of the store yet.”

“But I have no money. How can I pay for it?”

Note that often when God speaks to us we have a list of excuses why we can’t do what He is calling us to do.

“You just got a J.C. Penny credit card remember. Use that and I will make sure you have the money to pay the bill when it comes.”

Right then and there I had a decision to make. I could think of a million more excuses, until it really was too late to do anything.  Or I could TRUST GOD and do what He called me to do.

I am so very glad that I listened to him. Because the result brought me to tears.

It did not take me long to find the woman and I told her my plan. She was a little late meeting me (I almost gave up and went to eat my lunch…I am glad I didn’t).

I bought her the shirt and she gave me a hug that seemed to last a lifetime. Then she, with tears streaming down her face, did something I will never forget.

She looked down, grabbed her worn shirt that she was wearing and said with joy, “Now I can finally change out of this old thing.”

I will leave you to decide what that meant, but it left me breathless.

Trusting God means to be his hands and feet in a world that sorely needs them.

P.S. that credit card did indeed get paid. Yet the amount spent cannot compare to the lesson I learned.

What an honor it is that God allowed me the privilege of such an experience.