Post by Cindy on Jun 1, 2015 10:37:51 GMT -5
Back in the late 90's I had a group of folks meeting at my house on Saturdays for a bible study I was leading. The Lord had used me a few months earlier to bring a man to salvation who had been a criminal. Well, after he got saved, although he hadn't done anything wrong since, he got caught for what he'd done years before and sent to prison for a year. I didn't want him to lose what he'd learned and wanted him to stay in the word, but the stupid prison had all kinds of rules about sending stuff, even bibles, to prisoners. Plus, as usual, I was dead broke. This was before I knew Bruce even and was trying to raise my kids on minimum wage. Everyone at the bible study was in the same shape I was, we all worked at the same place after all LOL . So I did the only thing I could do, I asked the Lord to provide either the money to buy the bible I wanted to send him, or the bible itself. That was on a Friday night when I went to bed.
By the time the group had slowly gathered, I had figured out a way to scrape up a few dollars toward the bible, but at least it was a start. I had not told anyone about what I wanted to do yet, nor had I, or would I ever ask anyone for money, for any reason! Therefore I was very dumbfounded when at different times during the morning and afternoon, each person took me aside privately to hand me money. Each and every one of them told me the same thing, not knowing that everyone else in the room had done and said the exact same thing! They all told me that though they didn't understand it, and it hadn't ever happened to them before, they felt very, very strongly from the time they woke up that they had to give me X amount of money! So when the last person had done this, I just couldn't contain myself. I didn't know for sure, but I had a strong hunch that I now had enough money to buy and mail that bible, so I told them all what I had prayed the night before. After hearing that, they were all as excited and in awe of God as I was! We sat down together and counted out all the money. I then called our christian book store. I think every single one of us was holding our breath while waiting for the lady to check on the price of the bible I wanted. When she came back, we had more then enough! But why did we have "extra"??? I knew God didn't give "extra" for no reason....was I doing something wrong? Was that the wrong bible? Then they started laughing and said, "Cindy, you still have to mail it!" Sure enough, we went and got the bible, wrapped it up and took it to the post office and the money it cost was exactly what we had, right down to the very penny!
So he got his bible and was able to use the year in prison feeding on God's Word and growing in his faith! He did well too and would write and ask me all kinds of questions about what he was reading. So I'd write long letters back explaining it all, so I know that the Lord really worked on His heart and he continued to grow. I've lost touch with him since, as he lives in another state, but hear once in awhile, usually Christmas and know he still loves the Lord and is close to Him.
By the time the group had slowly gathered, I had figured out a way to scrape up a few dollars toward the bible, but at least it was a start. I had not told anyone about what I wanted to do yet, nor had I, or would I ever ask anyone for money, for any reason! Therefore I was very dumbfounded when at different times during the morning and afternoon, each person took me aside privately to hand me money. Each and every one of them told me the same thing, not knowing that everyone else in the room had done and said the exact same thing! They all told me that though they didn't understand it, and it hadn't ever happened to them before, they felt very, very strongly from the time they woke up that they had to give me X amount of money! So when the last person had done this, I just couldn't contain myself. I didn't know for sure, but I had a strong hunch that I now had enough money to buy and mail that bible, so I told them all what I had prayed the night before. After hearing that, they were all as excited and in awe of God as I was! We sat down together and counted out all the money. I then called our christian book store. I think every single one of us was holding our breath while waiting for the lady to check on the price of the bible I wanted. When she came back, we had more then enough! But why did we have "extra"??? I knew God didn't give "extra" for no reason....was I doing something wrong? Was that the wrong bible? Then they started laughing and said, "Cindy, you still have to mail it!" Sure enough, we went and got the bible, wrapped it up and took it to the post office and the money it cost was exactly what we had, right down to the very penny!
So he got his bible and was able to use the year in prison feeding on God's Word and growing in his faith! He did well too and would write and ask me all kinds of questions about what he was reading. So I'd write long letters back explaining it all, so I know that the Lord really worked on His heart and he continued to grow. I've lost touch with him since, as he lives in another state, but hear once in awhile, usually Christmas and know he still loves the Lord and is close to Him.
!!
