Testimonial Tuesday # 7

Welcome to Testimonial Tuesday where we share stories of answered prayer .... 

Your stories are important; and,

big or small, 

 

  We want to hear them all.

Make that, we NEED to hear them all.

Today, I want to share a testimony of provision.  In Jesus' sermon on the Mount, He tells us not worry about basic needs. God knows what they are and He takes care of sparrows and lilies of the field. We are so much more important to Him!

I'm here to tell you that in our 39 years of marriage we have always had food on the table, the utilities paid and the mortgage paid. We've experienced illness and job loss; yet, God provided each and every time.

When Jim's illness progressed to the point he would no longer be able to hold a job, I don't mind telling you I was scared. My part-time job would not support us and our three girls.

The Lord blessed us by sending enough work that my hours were increased at my job, but it still wasn't enough.

We applied for Jim's disability but felt discouraged because so many we knew had applied and were denied. It seemed to take forever for a claim to be settled but we had hungry mouths to feed and growing girls to clothe NOW. We prayed and asked the Lord to please let our claim be approved the first time it was submitted.

And, it was! To us, it was a long 5 months before the first check came, but I know of so many who had to wait much longer.

Pure grace. 

I am so grateful. Would I rather have my husband healed? Yes, a thousand times yes! I'm still praying for healing, but while I wait, I can be confident that He will provide.

Now it's your turn. What has God done for you lately?

Leave a comment, or link up your own post in the link below. Please put the URL of your TT post, and not your blog URL. Then, after posting, visit the other links and encourage each other!



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Testimonial Tuesday # 6

Welcome to Testimonial Tuesday where we share stories of answered prayer .... 

Your stories are important; and,

big or small, 

 

  We want to hear them all.

Make that, we NEED to hear them all.

I think one of the answers to prayer that God gets the least credit for is when we pray for physical safety.  We feel we are in a dangerous situation and immediately call for help. "Oh, Jesus, please help me. Help me get home safe."  

I don't know how many times I have prayed those exact words. And He does help, and I do get home safely, and then blithely go about my life never thinking about the incident anymore.

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. Psalm 34:15 King James Version (KJV)

Last Wednesday, we had a cornucopia of weather conditions forecast: rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow and ice. It wasn't supposed to start until noon. I, being the risk-taker that I am, decided I could work until about 10:30 a.m., run by Wal-Mart to pick up some meds for my hubby, and still get home before the storm started.

Not.

At 11:15 a.m., I ended up driving home with pellets of ice bombarding my vehicle.  The windshield wipers began to freeze up making it difficult to see the road.  I only had to go about 20 miles in this stuff and you can bet I brought out my "help me get home safe" prayer.

Just wanted to let you know He helped me. Again.

God is good.

Now it's your turn. What has God done for you lately?

Leave a comment, or link up your own post in the link below. Please put the URL of your TT post, and not your blog URL. Then, after posting, visit the other links and encourage each other!




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Testimonial Tuesday # 5

Welcome to Testimonial Tuesday where we share stories of answered prayer .... 

Your stories are important; and,

big or small, 

 

  We want to hear them all.

Make that, we NEED to hear them all.


Praying for one another is one of the greatest gifts we believers can give each other. Taking the time to intercede for another's need is one of the times I think we are most like Christ.

Today, I want to share an answered prayer that I just learned about today.  Our church has a prayer list, and two weeks ago some one called in and asked us to add one of the doctors from our community health program. The doctor was a 45 year old mother of 3 young children who had suffered a stroke. Some were afraid she would not make it, and even if she did, recovering from a stroke is a long process.

The whole community prayed and today I was told to take her name off the list. She had a turn around and is well and there is not expected to be any lasting results from her stroke.

What an awesome answer to prayer! Next time, you have a need, ask the saints at your local church to join you in prayer.

Now it's your turn. What has God done for you lately?

Leave a comment, or link up your own post in the link below. Please put the URL of your TT post, and not your blog URL. Then, after posting, visit the other links and encourage each other!



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Testimonial Tuesday # 4

Welcome to Testimonial Tuesday where we share stories of answered prayer ....

Your stories are important; and,

big or small, 

  We want to hear them all.

Make that, we NEED to hear them all.

When we pray and ask God for help, it doesn't have to be a long eloquent prayer. In fact, our Lord warns us against using vain repetitive phrases "as the heathen do, for they think they shall be heard for their many words." (See Matthew 6:7) Isn't that just like us? We're always thinking our efforts will move the Father, when what He responds to is the faith in our prayers. 

Sometimes, a one word prayer is enough.

Today, I'm sharing a testimony my husband put in the comments of last week's Testimonial Tuesday.  He posted it late and I was not sure very many readers saw it, so I've asked him if I could repeat his comment here:

"A couple months ago, me,  Jerralea and my 2 daughters, and also the twins, went to St Louis, MO, about 2 hours from home. On the way, the van engine light came on. We stopped and checked the oil and it was about a quart low. We went on to the mall, did some shopping and met some family so they could see the twins for the first time.

Then we headed back home. We were looking for an off ramp to stop and get a quart of oil. One of my daughters was driving. It had been raining and there was some black ice. She came up on the off ramp too fast, and when we started down the ramp, since the road was icy, we missed the ramp and went down across the other side of the interstate. I could just see us being stuck in the mud and be stranded there. Instead, she was able to drive right through the mud and came up on the shoulder of the interstate. We could have very easily turned the van over and been seriously hurt. While all that was going on Jerralea just said the word "Jesus," and we were all safe and unharmed. It don't take a long drawn out prayer, sometimes you only have time to say "Jesus."

~~~

Now it's your turn. What has God done for you lately?

Leave a comment, or link up your own post in the link below. Please put the URL of your TT post, and not your blog URL. Then, after posting, visit the other links and encourage each other!



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Testimonial Tuesday #3

Welcome to Testimonial Tuesday where we share stories of answered prayer ....


Your stories are important; and,

big or small, 

  We want to hear them all.

Make that, we NEED to hear them all.

Most of the time when we testify, we are telling of times God answered our prayers with a "yes." But there are two other answers He gives sometimes, and those are "no," and "wait."

Sometimes a "no," means a better thing is coming. I had just such an experience about 10 years ago.

Things were looking pretty bleak at my first church and it became apparent the church could not afford to keep me as a full-time employee anymore.

I was fed up with some of the things that had happened and felt it was time to go get a secular job once more.  I wanted a job with benefits!  I needed job security, insurance and retirement and I told myself that working for a corporation, hospital or university would be the way to get those things.

I prayed and asked God for success and then I sent out a ton of resumes and applied everywhere that met my criteria for a perfect job. I worked hard at applying of jobs but a month later, I had nothing to show for it but one interview that did not go well.

I was beginning to panic and prayed harder. After all, God knew how much my family needed my income.

Desperate for work, I even looked in the little small weekly newspaper that never seemed to have any job listings other than nursing home aide positions. That particular day, there was an ad for a church secretary. Even though I wanted a secular job, I sent in a resume and ending up getting the job the very next day.

I found out later the day I saw the ad was the last day it was going to be in the paper. If the church had not found someone, they were going to try using an employment agency.

I thought I wanted a secular job but ten years later I can tell you it was sure a blessing that I didn't. My church has been a huge blessing to me, and I can't imagine doing anything other than being a ministry assistant.

God said no to a secular job but yes to something better - full time ministry.

~~~

Now it's your turn. What has God done for you lately?

Leave a comment, or link up your own post in the link below. Please put the URL of your TT post, and not your blog URL. Then, after posting, visit the other links and encourage each other!









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Testimonial Tuesday #2

Welcome to Testimonial Tuesday where we share stories of answered prayer .... Your stories are important; and,

big or small, 

  We want to hear them all.

Make that, we NEED to hear them all.


Tell us about the times God has moved on your behalf. It can be a big miracle or a small everyday kind of thing you prayed about and received an answer. It can be something that happened to you personally or a story of God answering a friend's prayer. It can be something that happened today or years ago but you remember it like it was yesterday ...

In fact, an answered prayer from yesteryear is my testimony today.

Over twenty years ago, our family was going through a rough patch.  It was the beginning stages of Jim's bipolar disorder, and let me tell you, it was TOUGH.  Tough emotionally and also tough financially. A bipolar person is someone who misses a lot of work which wreaks havoc with the budget.

Our car was not working well. Jim was out on the carport working on it. We didn't have the cash to take it to a mechanical shop.  I don't know exactly what happened (I'm not mechanically minded AT ALL) but he came in the house with a sick expression on his face. Very upset, he explained that he had "killed" the engine and the car would not start up.

What to do? We only had the one vehicle at that time, and we had. No. Money.

Remembering that we had read in the book of James to anoint with oil and the prayer of faith would heal the sick, we went outside with a bottle of vegetable oil and poured it on the engine and then bowed our heads and prayed. (I know it sounds crazy, but when faith is all you got, it's enough.)

Our prayer went something like this, "Father, we put our broken car in Your hands. We don't know what to do but to ask in faith believing that You will meet our need. You know we have to have a vehicle to work to provide for our family. You know we pay our tithes. Your word says God will supply our needs according to His riches in glory so we thank you right now for healing our car."

Then Jim got in the driver's seat and turned the key. The car FIRED UP. We ended up driving it for another couple of years.

God can heal an engine just as well as He can heal a body! He WILL meet the needs of His children.

Now it's your turn. What has God done for you lately?

Leave a comment, or link up your own post in the link below. Please put the URL of your TT post, and not your blog URL. Then, after posting, visit the other links and encourage each other!





(Subscribers, please click on the title of the post to be taken to the actual blog where you can see the links.)

Testimonial Tuesday #1

Welcome to the very first Testimonial Tuesday, where I'm encouraging writers to share what God has done for them. Your stories are important; and,

big or small, 

I want to hear them all.

Make that, we NEED to hear them all.

Back in the day, you could count on testimony services being held at church.  In my experience, this usually happened on Sunday nights. Pastor would ask if anyone had a testimony of something God had done for them. This is the the time a lot of dear old saints would share how God worked in their lives.  I loved hearing their stories - how they had a problem and prayed and lo, and behold, an answer came. These kind of stories are faith building, my friends. Because God is no respecter of persons - He loves us all alike. What He does for one, He will do for all.  

Now that doesn't mean He gives the exact same answer to each one because each situation is different with all kinds of different variables.  He has not promised to make our lives perfect, but He HAS promised He will work everything out for the good of the believer, according to His purpose. His purpose always include making you more like Jesus! (See Romans 8:28-29)

But, to get back to my main point, we need to hear those testimonies. Nowadays, it seems churches don't have testimony services that often.  Either our congregations are too big and letting people testify might take up too much time - we're only supposed to be here an hour, you know! (I'm saying this in jest) - OR our small congregations don't have testimony service because the people are so unused to speaking they don't participate.  

God has done so many things for me and over the coming weeks it would be my pleasure to share them with you.

Today, I wanted to share a small thing He did for me.  You see, even though I love talking about big miracles when they come my way, I love even more to share the small stuff. Because, it thrills me no end when the God of the Universe takes the time to see even my picayune little problems!

The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (2 Chronicles 16:9a NLT)

He is willing to help!

A few weeks ago, I had a problem at work.  I had a problem with our accounting software that I didn't know how to solve. I spent a whole afternoon fixing it the way I thought best but it wasn't working. So, I put it off a few days, mulling it over. I knew if I could not figure it out, I could call our accountants office and they would gladly fix it for me and then charge the church for their time. It was only the first few days of the new budget year. I did not want to use up the budget set aside for accountants already!

I had a fast approaching deadline requiring info I wouldn't have if my problem was not resolved. I prayed asking for help as I prepared to work on it one last time before calling the accountants. The "Amen" had barely left my lips before the thought came to me, "You are looking at this the wrong way." In an instant I realized why my efforts were not working and what I should do to fix the problem. I had everything up and running in less than 15 minutes.

Why did it not occur to me to just pray the first time I tried to fix the problem? I would have saved myself a whole afternoon and a bunch of frustration.

My advice to anyone reading this:  Pray first the next time you can't figure something out. He does care about even the small details of your day.

Now, what about you? Do you have a story of answered prayer to share? Feel free to link up below.



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