And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus
Phil 4 v 19
Listening to your talk on Sunday about when you were called to become a full-time pastor and that God looked after your needs reminded me of an occasion that happened six years ago, a few months after my wife passed away.
I was at an AGM of the Messengers Charity and you were giving details of an upcoming short-term mission to South East Asia to assist Christians in Thailand and Laos.
I could barely control my emotions during the meeting and this continued when I returned home.
A book I was reading, mentioned missionaries in Asia, an atlas left on the table opened at the page showing Indochina. There were several other signs and every time I almost burst out crying and had an overwhelming feeling that I needed to go on the mission. The lord was calling me to go.
I kept resisting these feelings and praying to the Lord that I could not possibly go, he had the wrong person and beside that I could not afford it. My problem was that I was heavily in debt at the time and you had said that the cost (missionaries paid for their own expenses) would cost £1,400. There was no way that I could afford to go on the mission and I emphasised this in my prayers.
Within 10 days the following happened:
My car finance company refunded several payments that they said I had overpaid.
An Insurance company paid out a claim that they had previously rejected.
The government sent me an unexpected grant to do with my late wife’s pension.
In all, this totalled £1,472 which would cover the £1,400 cost of the mission.
At first I struggled to believe it but then realised that the Lord had answered my prayers and I therefore went on my first mission to S.E.Asia.
I did wonder what the odd £72 was for but then realised that I would need to get my dog looked after while I was away. Guess what? That cost £72. The Lord thinks of everything.
