In a Matter of Minutes Part 4

My Heavenly Father had met my needs many times before. Just a few years earlier, I had won a all-expense-paid trip to the United Nations. I would fly to Spokane, Washington, to meet up with 35 other teenagers and four chaperons for a month-long, cross-country bus tour to New York City and back. Summers in Alaska were cool. For this trip, I would need lightweight clothes for hot weather. My missionary family had no discretionary money, but we knew how to pray. And God heard my prayers and supplied the funds for every article of clothing I needed.

When our family first moved to Seward, the airplane tickets and moving expenses had used up all our money so we were unable to stock the pantry with staple foods. The schools were close enough to our house that we usually walked home for lunch. One day, lunchtime was nearing, but my mother had no food to give us. All morning she had been praying.

Just before noon, a lady from the church called and asked my parents to babysit her children after school since she had to make an unexpected trip to Anchorage. "Do you need anything for dinner?" she asked. My mother hesitated. "Oh, I'll just bring some groceries," the lady said.

A few minutes later, she arrived with a large bag of groceries and some cash. In the bag, my mother found all the ingredients but one for bacon-lettuce-tomato sandwiches, a favorite but rare treat at our house. She sent my father to the store for that ingredient. Just in time, God had supplied not only our need but a treat too. When my mother told the ladies of the church of God's provision in that situation, they were shocked. They hadn't realized our situation and soon gave us a food shower.

Would God do it again? For me?

As that jobless summer progressed, I realized that nothing short of a miracle would enable me to go to any college in the fall. I prayed and tried to have faith, but by late July, I was in despair. Then our church held a series of special services. I shared my concern with the visiting evangelists. We agreed together to make it a matter of special prayer, and my faith increased.

The first week of August, the local librarian, asked me to help her catalog new books for the library. She could only pay me babysitting wages (50 cents an hour at that time) for two weeks of work. It wouldn't pay my way to college, but I was happy to have something useful to do.

For the exciting conclusion, see my next post.