Paying It Forward

I have told the following story many times.  A dear friend suggested I put it in a blog.  There are two things I hope people get out of our story:  #1...Trust in God for everything.  Even in our situation, we continued to tithe.  It wasn't much...sometimes only a few dollars...but we loved and trusted God enough to put Him first...believing that He would provide for us.  #2....Listen to God.  Pay Him back by helping others when He lays them upon your heart.   Here is our testimony:

Bruce and I were married in May 1975. Within a couple months of our marriage we both lost our jobs. We decided that since the girls were small, that I would be a stay-at-home mom for a while. By fall bruce had not found a job and we were running out of money. Fortunately we had enough saved to pay the rent and utilities, but not much else. Moving ahead to September, we had run out of food....literally. no milk, eggs, flour, sugar....nothing but condiments in the fridge and spices in the cabinet. not even one can of veggies. All we had to eat for over a week was what I could make from corn meal. (to this day I am not a real fan of corn bread!)  Winter was coming and the girls badly needed winter attire.  There simply wasn't any money.

 

We belonged to a Church of God in Battle Creek, and of course, were too proud to tell anyone of our plight. We prayed that Bruce would find a job and be able to support the family.

Across town, a wonderful church lady was out in her garden when God spoke to her, told her to change her clothes and go shopping. She immediately got up, told her husband they needed to go shopping. He asked her "for what?" She replied, "God will tell us when we leave." Never even questioning it, they both got in the car. God told her to go to a certain grocery store. They continued to put stuff in two shopping carts until God said ok. Then God told the woman to go to the children's section of the store where she purchased two winters coats, shoes, socks, boots, pants, and shirts, hats, gloves, and scarves......ALL THE EXACT SIZE of our two girls.

After they had loaded up the car, the husband said, "where do we take this?" The woman said "God will direct us." They ended up at our front door! I asked her how she knew. She replied, "The next time you run into trouble, don't be so proud as to ask for help. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ and are here to help." (all the while shaking her finger at us in a lovingly...and scolding...manner). She gave us both a big hug and told us they loved us. I asked her "How in the world can I ever repay you for this?" Her answer to me was "Some day you will be in a position to help someone else who is in need. On that day, you will pay us back."

We have never forgotten those lovely people who have since gone to be with their Lord. And dear Sis. Cornell was right. God has blessed us over the years and given us an opportunity more than once to help those whom God has placed upon our hearts....some annonymously...some not. And whenever someone asks how they can ever pay us back, we tell them this story.

Oh yes, and Bruce found a job within a week after this incident!