|
Living by faith.
I often would talk to people about having faith. One day the Lord put a thought in my mind; “You tell people to have faith, but your faith is in your bank account, for you to teach others about faith is easy for you to do, clear your account and you live by faith yourself.”
You have to understand that I had been saving since I started to work at age fourteen. I did not need to pick up my pay-check on my day off, for I always had enough money saved. I knew that the Lord was right, but this was a big thing to for me to do. Spent all of my money? I did, I had no choice. What I did with it I can’t remember today.
I was lying outside catching the sun for a tan, when I sat up with a shock it was ten days before the rent was due. I had a total of one hundred dollars in the bank. My rent alone was now one hundred and forty dollars and I had to eat etc.
I started to pray right away; about twenty minutes later the phone rang. It was the union hall did I want to work the next three days? You bet I did! I thanked the Lord for answering so promptly.
The phone rang again, the union telling me that they were sorry the company had found someone, before they could confirm the job for me.
I was beside myself. I told the Lord that I did not understand how He could give me a job, and then take it away from me.
The phone again! It was the union once more. They told me that they had felt so bad for me that they tried very hard to find me something else.
They found a job, but it was for one day only.
I told the Lord that I still didn’t understand why He first gave me three days of work, took it back, and now gave me only one day.
At coffee break the next day, the manager asked me if I could work for him the next six weeks. He first wanted to see what kind of worker I was. The first store was a small company and the job was for only three days. This company had several stores and after the six weeks in the one store, I was put to work in some of their other stores.
Of course, the Lord knew this, so He closed one door, to open another. And testing me!
* I read about a Bible school it was totally run on faith. Upon graduation, the students had to put into practice what they had learned.
Two teams of eight men were to travel through England and preach in the churches. They were never to ask anyone, for anything. If someone were to ask they had to keep silent.
This went well. Knowing in which church they would be preaching next, checks would follow them. The people would say that even though they had not asked for money, the Lord had put it upon their hearts to send some anyway.
Then one day, the men were having a meeting with young people. One of the men told them that they were all invited for tea the next day.
The others were shocked; “How could you do that? You know we don't have the money for a tea.” (Tea in England is not just a cup of tea, but sandwiches and cake). Not to worry, the young people were perceptive. The offers for sugar, tea, milk, cookies and sandwiches came in. When asked what else was needed, they all together wanted to blurt out, a cake! But they had to keep silent.
The men went to check the mail, but no money was found, so they could buy a cake.
It was four o'clock the next day, when there was a knock on the door. It was the mailman and he had a parcel for one of the men. The mailmen said; “I have already finished my rounds and was going to deliver this tomorrow morning, but I think that there is something edible in here.”
The one, whom the parcel was for, took his sweet time to open it for he just knew what was in the parcel. And so it was. His landlady had sent him a chocolate cake. Praise the Lord!
The men of this team had also made tithing their number one priority. As soon as money came in the Lord received ten percent right away. This team came back from the tour with money to spare. The other team that had gone out at the same time also gave tithing, but not ten percent, they held back a little, for emergencies. That team came back deeply in debt.
I used to compare myself always to others in the church.
If I could only pray like this sister, if I could only worship like that one. Then it came to me. There were six children in our family and many times my dad was watching us like he was studying us and I would hear him sometimes say;
"I know that you are all mine, but you are all so different!” He just could not understand how that could be so, as we were all raised the same.
We are all different, and we are expected to be our selves. Not what we think we ought to be, or even what others think we ought to be. The Lord does not expect from me what He expects from others.
You are unique, one of a kind.
After living in the U.S now for eleven years, I had often talked about going back to Canada. I would always find an excuse not to go. I was afraid really. I did not know a living soul in the city where I wanted to go too, so I would back off again and again.
After having sung the same song as to why I should or could not go back, I lost my job. Then the owner of the house I was renting came to tell me that the house had been sold. I called my sister and I told her what had happened. She asked me why I didn’t go back to Canada, as she knew I would like to do. “Oh yes but."
"Jenny it is now or never, you don’t have a job, you have no place to live in for soon as the house you live in, is going to be sold. So do it!”
That Sunday I told the people in church that I planned to go back to Canada. I was asked where I was planning to go.
“To Vancouver,” I said.
Immediately one of the women said that she had a sister in Oregon and one in Vancouver, and that she would phone them that night for me. And so it happened that I had two places to go to.
Soon I was on my way. I drove to Oregon and stayed with a family one night, and in Vancouver I went to stay with Mary and Frank for ten days, then they helped me to find a place of my own.
This was not so easy in ‘79 as there was a shortage of rentals that year.
It was so bad that many people resorted to pay the landlord, sometimes as much as a thousand dollars, under the table, just to secure a place.
When you have the Lord on your side, when you are a child of the King, you will find a place. Again it was a cottage, a cute cottage. Mona who owned the place lived in the big house. There was a two-acre forest behind me so after L A. this was the life!
I arrived at the end of July and enjoyed my little house a lot. The winter of ’79 was also a very cold winter, as the oil heater would go out because there was no more oil, or it was time to clean it. Once a month you had to take it apart. This was not so funny when you came home tired and came to a very cold house, and then had to clean the oil heater.
In Vancouver it rains a lot, we are right in the rain forest here.
Vancouverites are very sensitive about you mentioning anything negative, about the weather here.
So people come up with jokes like: “it rained only twice last week, once three days and once four days. Or in Vancouver you don ’t tan you rust.”
Mona had a new roof put on the little cottage, so she was dismayed when I told her that the roof was leaking, and you never guess where, just above the toilet!
When it rained and you needed to use the toilet, you needed an umbrella. It is funny now, but not then!
One bad day I came home and the fireplace was out, no oil, and it was leaking rain that day, yes above the toilet.
Just then a scripture came to my mind. "I will give you life, and give it more abundantly.”
I am sorry, but I just lost it. I sat down on the sofa slammed my fist and cried; “Lord, if this is the abundant life you promised? Well, if this is the abundant life, you can have it back!”
The Lord was very impressed by my outburst, I know, because two days later I was sitting at the mall, next to a girl from the bakery, when she said that she was thinking of renting out her basement suite. Really???
I moved in with her and her family shortly after.
I believe that the Lord was not so much impressed by my outburst, but by my being sincere, in what was really a prayer from the heart.
Some of you may say that you would never be able to talk to the lord like that. “Why not, were you never upset with your earthly dad? Trust me the lord never minds your honesty.”
After I had lived in the basement suite for about a year, I was fortunate to find a place of my very own. An apartment on the eleventh floor, it had a fantastic view of Mount Baker. I really felt like I lived on top of the world. One day I had the idea to start a Bible study and decided to put up an ad on the bulletin board in the foyer.
It read; “you don't like religion but you would like to learn more about the Bible? Then join us every Wednesday, from 8-10, o'clock.”
After I had posted this, I got scared, who was I to start this? I was not a teacher.
Well maybe nobody would come. I was wrong!
To my surprise, that first evening five people showed up. Well I had said "A" and now I had to say "B". It went very well I must say. At ten o ’clock I made coffee and by twelve, I had to tell everyone to go home. They told me that they enjoyed the fellowship, but we all had to go to work the next day.
At the next meeting, one of the fellows brought his cousin Chuck.
He said that he would be staying with him for a while and that he came along, as he did not want to be alone. The first thing Chuck told us that he did not want anything to do with Christianity. I told him that this would not be a problem, to go sit on the sofa and grab a book, if that is what he felt like doing.
We were sitting at the dinning room table we had not yet started our study. We were waiting for a few others to come. Chuck joined us at the table when he said to me; “may I ask you something? Last week I smashed my basement up, I mean I really smashed it”
He asked me if I though if it was demonic.
I told him that I didn ’t know him from Adam, and that it could have been that he just had a bad temper. He looked at me, then at his cousin, “this is embarrassing,” he said; “my cousin does not even know about this”
About six months ago he told us, he had said to Satan that if he existed, to show himself.
No one dared to breathe, I felt numb and taken aback I never expected this, nor did I have experience in how to deal with something like this. I silently prayed for help from above. I asked him if he now knew that Satan existed. He said that indeed he now knew.
"Well, the first thing that happened was that my wife was in a car accident, she is now in a wheelchair. My daughter has prayer beads, a Rosary. They are so strong that I could never break them. They are broken now. Doors and cabinets started to open and close by them selves. I am an ex-policeman. I have studied martial arts for six years. I am only telling you this to show you that I am not a wimp. But I am also telling you, that I am scared!"
“Chuck, you have good reason to be scared. When you came in tonight, the first thing you told us was, that you wanted nothing to do with Christianity, I am afraid that there is really nothing that I can do for you now.”
I looked at Chuck and the way he looked at me, made me ask; “Or do you want Christianity, Chuck?"
To everyone's relief, he said that he did.
I felt that even though I was doing the talking, the others were silently praying.
I explained that I would say the prayer, and if Chuck agreed with what I prayed, he would repeat it after me.
We first renounced the works of Satan and bound his power, and then we said the sinner ’s prayer, where Chuck asked Jesus to be his personal Saviour. Apparently, Chuck had a bad temper by nature, but when his immediate family saw the change in him, they also gave their hearts to the lord, and then his brothers and sisters came, the whole family!
Chuck came to see me one day to thank me. I said; “Chuck, you were supposed to be here that night at the Bible study that was no accident.
I was only the medium that the Lord used, for; “He works through people”.
He went on to tell me that his wife was now out of the wheelchair, she had not miraculous jumped out, but was slowly being healed. No more doors or cabinets were mysteriously opening or closing. Satan was indeed bound in his house.
Later I found out from Chuck's cousin, that he and a brother had started their own church.
Go to: Table of Contents or Next Chapter
|