Starving Newlyweds

We’d only been married a few months…and were really hungry. When we married, Andy was singing with Vicki & The Royalheirs—music evangelists who sang at churches, revivals, and concerts.  Andy made a whopping $200/month. I contributed about that much working at White’s Auto for the first three months of our marriage, but ultimately decided if I wanted to see my husband, I needed to quit my job and travel with him. So now, we were down to $200/month and our rent was $160/month. We had very little for groceries, so we ate a lot of popcorn and Rice-a-Roni. We were always glad to get back on the road because churches would feed us. 

This had gone on for a few months and I remember coming to God and pouring out my heart, “God, I’m really tired of popcorn! (I imagine God was remembering another time and another people—complaining about manna). Would you please give us some meat? Please??”

Royce Grant, the leader of Vicki & The Royalheirs, called us and said our friends in Oklahoma had called and wanted us to come eat with them. They had cattle and had butchered a cow and wanted to feed us steaks. I could have cried! I was thanking God all the way to Oklahoma. After a wonderful meal with MEAT, they told us they were sending us home with a side of beef to share. 

For months, I praised God every time I opened our freezer and pulled out a package of hamburger! God heard and God cared about a newlywed who was tired of popcorn. 

The Small Stuff

Do you think God cares about the small stuff? I do. Let me tell you a story…

We were living in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma where Andy was a youth minister at First Baptist Church. He was gone on a youth trip—and I was home with four small kids. A friend (with small children) was sick and I’d told her I would bring a meal to them at 5:30. No stress! I was used to doing everything with kids hanging on my legs. 

It was 5:10 and the meal was ready and I was about to 

load kids and food in the car—and began looking for my keys. They were nowhere to be found! I just knew I’d laid them on the coffee table by my purse, but they weren’t there. I asked Matt & Amy (7 & 6-years-old) if they’d seen them and we were all looking. David was three and Zach was one and crawling—fast! Time was ticking…and no keys.  I was about to panic. Anyone I could call for help lived too far away to help me get to my friend’s house on time.  

I sat down and prayed. I said, “God, I know you know where those keys are.  I need help! You know I really want to help this family tonight and I can’t go anywhere without those keys. Please show me where they are.” The thought came into my mind to get on my hands and knees to look. The thief of the keys was small—and crawling.  

I got on my knees and crawled all over the living room and kitchen. Then I noticed the entry coat door was open. I crawled over there. I looked through everything on the floor of that closet. And then I noticed my brown Electrolux canister vacuum was standing up and the hose was detached—and there was a hole gaping just waiting for keys. I hit the button and opened the space for the vacuum bag and heard keys jangling. I tore the bag open and retrieved my keys. 

I can promise I would NEVER have found those keys on my own!! God answered my prayer and showed me how to find them.  

We delivered food right on time. 

How Much Does a Baby Cost?

We were pregnant with our first baby in 1978. Andy was traveling and singing, so on this day of my doctor’s appointment, he wasn’t with me. The appointment went well—mostly weighing and taking my blood pressure.  This was way before sonograms and knowing if you were having a boy or girl beforehand! I remember the cashier telling me I needed to go to the small hospital in town to register. So I did. Alone. As I filled out the papers, the man asked me how much I was going to put down as a deposit. He explained that because we had no insurance, we’d have to have the bill completely paid before the birth. I looked up and fear washed over me. I’d barely been able to pay for my doctor’s appointment that day. (We hardly made enough money to pay rent and utilities.). But faith rose up in me and I looked the man square in the eyes and told him God would provide it before the baby was born. He laughed. 

Andy came home from his trip and I told him what I’d done and how the man had laughed. I’d fluctuated between fear and faith the whole time Andy was gone. If I remember correctly, I was crying and asked him, “What are we going to DO?” And he replied, “We’re going to ask God to provide!”

Days and weeks went by and we were praying our hearts out—asking God to provide this exorbitant hospital bill. One afternoon, someone knocked on our door. When I opened it, there stood my high school friend and her mother. After they came in, the mom explained that they had paid themselves a bonus (they owned a trucking company) and they felt like God had told them to give it to us. We were overwhelmed—and oh, so grateful!

I’ll never forget the look on that man’s face when I took everything I owed and paid my hospital bill in full. I looked him in the eye and said, “God provided!”

Ruth…and me!

Ruth’s story is my story. Boaz was her deceased husband’s near relative and he became everything for her. He was her protector, provider, and became the father of her child. 

But why was Boaz so eager to help Ruth? He saw how she left her homeland and her gods to follow her mother-in-law, Naomi, to her country and to worship her God. Not only did she follow Naomi, she went to work in Boaz’s field to provide for her.  She worked hard. Eventually, Ruth submitted to Naomi’s counsel and to Boaz’s covering. These things caused Boaz to protect her, provide for her, and eventually give her a son. 

I have a daughter-in-law who is teaching her small children that “we’re not afraid to work hard!” And she teaches by example. She’ll dig a ditch to repair plumbing, she’ll caulk all of the trim on the outside of the house, she’ll even lay flooring. Her kids are learning through her example. And we are all drawn to help her because she fearlessly tackles any job.  

Don’t you think Boaz saw how hard Ruth worked—just like we see how hard my daughter-in-law works? He saw how she compassionately took care of her mother-in-law when she didn’t have to. Because she chose to leave her old life and follow God, Boaz became her kinsman-redeemer. He married her, provided for her, and gave her a child.  

Boaz is a picture of Jesus. And when we choose to follow God, we are Ruth. Jesus then covers us, protects us, and provides for us. Jack Hayford, in his book, The Mary Miracle, says all believers are pregnant with a miracle like Mary experienced. God wants to birth something through each of us. 

Have you left everything to follow God?  What does Jesus see in you? What is he birthing through you right now?

The Modern Marketplace

I read the account of the money changers in the temple in John 2 this morning. Jesus declared to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise! (Marketplace, mall, a sales shop). 

I knew God took me to this passage to touch a malignant place in me. My phone is that marketplace. In fact this photo is pages 3-4 of the apps on my phone. Do you see the marketplace right in my hand? God wants me to spend the first part of my day with Him. Too many times, I open the marketplace and buy overpriced doves before going to my Father in prayer. My heart was created for communion with my Heavenly Father…not to see what’s “for sale” on Facebook.   

I used to think an iPhone was like money—neither good nor evil—it’s all in how you use it.  Then I heard a man who helped develop it and he said it was created for evil. In fact, your phone was programmed so you would pick it up every ten minutes. It’s dialed in visually to entice your eyes and then your mind. He wouldn’t let his children have one. 

“My house shall be called a house of prayer.” Am I praying and talking to my Father? Or am I buying and selling at the marketplace? 

Drive out the money changers once again, Jesus! Cleanse this temple!!

*Interestingly, the background on my phone is to remind me to pray morning, noon, and night. 

Change

I was reading Psalm 55 this morning, and the last part of verse 19 stood out to me—in neon lights!  “Because they do not change, therefore they do not fear God.”

Whoa!

In this whole chapter, David is talking about how his enemy has oppressed him. But his enemy is actually his friend. And then he says, “Because they don’t change, they don’t fear God.”

Fearing God (revering him, worshiping him, having a great respect for him) brings about change. You were going one way in sin and you turn and go the other way to follow God and his teachings. You change. Your heart changes. You now have the Spirit of God living in you and he begins touching places in your heart and insisting on change. And if you don’t? He disciplines you as one of his children. (Hebrews 12:8)

This is a pretty good indicator of belonging to God. If you’re his, you’ll change. If you don’t fear God, you won’t change.  

Our Inheritance

Do you find yourself resisting where you are or what you have? Maybe it will help to step back, see the big picture, and realize God has CHOSEN this for you!

Where did I first start resisting aspects of my journey? Years ago. Why? Because I didn’t see God’s goodness; His choice for me. How do I change? Recognizing God sees this as GOOD, profitable, holy, enriching, and…my inheritance!

An inheritance is good, isn’t it? And wouldn’t you expect an inheritance from God to be the BEST? It is. 

Excuse me while I go allow God to change my mind and see this the way He does.  

He’s HERE!

The last verse in Psalm 46 says, “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”

I began meditating on the first part of that verse.  He’s WITH us! Right here. I went to Blue Letter Bible to look the words up in Hebrew. “Jehovah with his army is with/beside/accompanying us. He is our high place/secure height/cliff/ defense—to keep us out of the fray.”  

Jesus isn’t just in heaven waiting to come get us. He’s right here with us, defending us.  And he’s not alone. His mighty, warring angels are in the battle with him. We get to watch the battle from a secure place. 

He’s fighting for us!  HE’S RIGHT HERE!

Where do you stand?

I was thinking on Psalm 1 tonight. Just the very first verse is profound. Walk. Stand. Sit. It’s getting progressively more comfortable with sin. Once you walk in the counsel of the ungodly, it’s easier to stand with them and then to sit and join their scoffing.  You will adjust to their way of thinking.  We also know a habit is formed within 3-4 weeks. So you can quickly become like the wicked when you’re immersed in their world—their thinking, their communications, their coarse joking. 

Who are you walking, standing, and sitting with on social media? What are you putting into your minds multiple times a day? What are you allowing just by choosing not to eliminate that kind of communication? You will become whatever you allow in your mind.  “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7. 

Don’t stay at the table of the Enemy. It’s enticing food…but it’s deadly.