Ever since I was born again, God has been putting me through intense spiritual training that has resulted in a lot of—erm, downsizing you might say. I quit buying clothes. I canceled my gym and tanning memberships. And aside from Bible study, church, and the occasional coffee (decaf, because He nudged me to quit caffeine too), I pretty much don’t go out at all. Overall, God has convicted me to be much more mindful of what I spend and the things I really need (which isn’t much).
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m still working through this, and I still mess up. It’s a process, and I’m beginning to understand why He doesn’t want me to spend money so frivolously: because the more I spend on me, the less I can help others.
I came to this realization amidst all the spiritual training.
At first I thought this training was a series of trials—to see how obedient (or disobedient) I would be. And while there may be some truth to that, what I really think He was doing was building my faith by training me to hear Him through the instruction of the Holy Spirit.
After a lot of faith building—and after I began my own local ministry work of feeding, praying for, and passing out t-shirts and Bibles to homeless people around San Antonio—the Lord presented me with several very specific opportunities that I believe He wants me to share. The reason I believe He wants me to share them is because, quite simply, they are MIRACLES. I mean it! Real, true miracles, though not the kind that may initially come to mind. I didn’t heal someone of leprosy, and I didn’t raise someone from the dead. No, the miracles I’m talking about are much more pragmatic in nature, rooted in every-day-life for an every-day-person like you or me. Still, they are miracles.
This blog post is part of a series I’m calling Every Day Miracles. Today I’m sharing the story behind Miracle #1: The Case of the Mysterious $98.
Much of my spiritual training in preparation for the World Race has been to give. Whether it be food or a prayer or even my last $5, the Lord has been convicting me to give give give. Late one evening, as I was driving home from my mom’s, I got this feeling like I was supposed to be looking for someone. This is the very same feeling I get whenever the Lord is convicting me to do something for Him. I know what you’re thinking. And no, the sky doesn’t open up as the voice God descends, sending earthquakes throughout the land. No, whenever I get a conviction from the Lord, it’s more like an unshakeable feeling that comes over me, and I get a very clear sense of what I’m supposed to be doing (e.g. looking for someone).
As I turned onto my street, I saw a man with a backpack walking toward the gas station on the corner. I could tell he was homeless—not uncommon in San Antonio, but somehow I knew he was the specific person I was supposed to help. So I pulled up beside him and asked if he was hungry. I had already begun keeping a bag of apples and oranges in my car, and just by habit I tend to have plastic grocery sacks; so when the man said that yes, he was hungry, I filled up a sack full of fruit and some cereal bars. As I was doing this, I felt compelled to give him money too. I didn’t have any cash on me, but I felt the unshakeable urge to withdraw funds from the ATM inside the store. The minimum you can withdraw is $20, and that number felt right in my heart.
Right in my heart, not so right in my wallet.
All right, so confession: I felt good about the decision, like it was what the Lord wanted me to do; but I was a liiiiittle bit worried because I was three full days away from payday. My bank account was low. I knew that, but I didn’t want anything to detour me from being obedient; so without even checking my balance, I pulled out the cash and gave it to the man. Tears filled his eyes as he admitted that he had walked to the store to buy a beer. I told him it was okay and hugged him, encouraging him to buy whatever he wanted. I didn’t want to put restrictions on it, for Jesus didn’t say, “Only give money to people you believe to be worthy, who will spend it on exactly what you believe they should spend it on.” No, Lord Jesus said: “Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow (Matthew 5:42) . . . . For (God) gives His Sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike” (Matthew 5:45).
And you know what? He didn’t even end up getting that beer after all. He was so moved that he just bought himself a can of ice cold Arizona tea. He also said that he had been thinking of reading his Bible, so I encouraged him to start with Matthew and work his way through the New Testament. I don’t know if he ever did, but everything about it felt good and right. Things had unfolded the way they were supposed to, I could tell.
Or, so I thought.
The next morning was a Wednesday. I checked my bank account at work and discovered I was overdrawn by $7 with a few pending items coming through. Panicked, I started asking co-workers if I could borrow a few dollars till payday (just so that I would avoid the overdraft fees that were soon-to-be assessed on my account). No one had any cash, so I emailed my boss. She was in meetings that day and didn’t receive my email. I figured that was it, case closed. I wasn’t going to have any money for three full days AND I would be incurring at least one $33 overdraft fee. There was nothing I could do about it. I was just going to have to accept it and move on…but the one thing I DIDN’T want to do was be distraught over giving the man the money. He definitely needed it more than I did, regardless of how many overdraft fees I incurred; and although I had a few scattered thoughts of regret, all-in-all I clung to the fact that the Lord wanted me to give the man that money.
Fast-forward to Friday: I got my paycheck at the end of the day and rushed to the bank. I didn’t ask the teller for my account balance. I didn’t want to know. In fact, I had decided that maybe I could avoid checking my bank account indefinitely. Ignorance is bliss, right? And if the overdraft fee was “out of sight” then it would more or less be “out of mind.”
That, unfortunately, isn’t how I work. By that evening, unable to resist any longer, I finally logged into my online banking.
“Huh?” That was the first word out of my mouth after I saw my account balance, which (somehow) was $98. Not negative $98. POSTIVE $98. There was no mistaking. I hadn’t misread it before. After three full days, that account should have been overdrawn. Or if the charges hadn’t come through it should have still been at the -$7. But it wasn’t. I was definitely in the plus, and by nearly $100! The next words out of my mouth?
“PRAISE JESUS!”
James said, “Every good and perfect gift is from God” (James 1:17). He was right. God. Is. GOOD.
What about you? Are you witness to any of God’s miracles, either in your life or someone else’s? What has God done for you or revealed to you? I’d love to hear people’s testimonies, so please feel free to share them here.
Stay tuned for my next blog post where I’ll delve into Miracle #2: Just in the Knick of Time. God be with you!
