I received this text from a young missionary friend:
“I have a little story to tell you. The past few weeks I’ve been worrying about money. We had to buy tires for the truck, fog lights, and I had a long mental list of all the necessary and not-cheap things that were being purchased or were going to have to be purchased soon. We’re not broke, don’t get me wrong, but the bank account was getting lower and lower, and I find some sort of comfort in having savings…
I had to keep going to God and wrestling with my fear. So, I had to confront it, give it to God over and over again because He’s good. I had to trust that. Then suddenly we got notice of a generous gift from someone we have never even met. It was a boom from God. So timely. God is teaching me a thing or two, Marcos. He can do whatever He wants and He can use whomever He wants to provide.”
I wrote back to her:
“I kick myself in the butt often as I find myself worrying about finances and then I remember, wait a minute, Marcos, you’ve been at this for 48 something years and God has NEVER MISSED A BEAT, even as you had 15 mouths to feed, besides yours and Veronica’s.”
And then I told her this story from last week:
“Veronica had an appointment for an MRI in San Diego.We had spent the night at Keem’s to make it easier to arrive on time. When we climbed into the car, I looked for the phone to use google maps, and no phone. No phone here no phone there no phone anywhere.
A lady came by walking her dog. I asked if she would ring my number. She dialed and waited patiently while Veronica and I listened in the car, listened in the backyard, listened upstairs, listened downstairs. The phone was gone. I assumed a passerby had stolen it as I was going in and out loading the car.
Off we drove. To where, not sure. The address was in my phone. I only knew it was a half hour away. As we drove, I praised God. I reminded myself that I am learning to dwell in His hiding place, His shelter. I asked Him for three things.
We recover the phone
We do not lose our appointment now that we left late and have no guide
After the appointment, when we head south, we cross the border without them taking away the five pots of flowers (customs guards don’t like potted plants) I bought at Home Depot
A half hour later I realized I went right, when right was wrong, and we are heading in the unright direction. I stopped (which is totally against the nature of any American male!) to ask for directions and we u-turned and headed in the unwrong direction.
Fifteen minutes later the phone rang.
Say what?
Yes, the phone rang.
I knew it would be Keem because she was going to meet us at the medical center and now we are 15 minutes late.
We could hear the phone but had no idea where in the loaded vehicle it was coming from, so we did not take the time to stop and look since we knew, now, we were close to the MRI location. Keem was waiting for us at the curb, she rushed Veronica in while I parked.
And, there was the phone, just inside the trunk."
Two out of three things answered, and it wasn't even noon!