My plan was to write a blog post on raising teens, because OH MY WORD I'm learning a lot. We're in the throws, Folks, and we do a lot wrong but by God's grace we've done a few things right. It helps me remember and process to write life stories out, and that was my plan.
But, in the middle of my plan to write a post on parenting teens, I'm reading a book. A book called, The Insanity of God. And I am moved. I am moved by the stories of Christians in other lands. I am overwhelmed by their faith stories. And God says to me, "What about you? Do you remember what I have done for you? Write your faith stories; write the faith stories of your family. Don't ever forget them."
So, instead of a post on parenting teens, here are our faith stories (at least some of them) -
When I was a young child my parents were quite poor. My dad had a taken a job at a small church as their full time pastor. We knew what it meant to live by faith. Our family was growing and out growing the small car that we had. My parents gathered us together one day and said, "Kids, we're outgrowing our car and we need a van. We don't have the money for a van, so we're going to ask our Heavenly Father to provide one for us." And we prayed together. Every day. I still remember praying for this van. After several weeks of praying, we had some first time visitors in our church. They were from Texas. We had never met them before; they had never even been to Bull Shoals before. They had come for vacation. At the service they told my dad that they wanted to meet with him after church. They sat down with him after the service that day and told him that God had laid it on their heart that they were supposed to give their van to him, and asked him if there was a need for one. I think my dad cried. Later that day my parents gathered us all together to told us they had something to tell us. They told us God had answered our prayer and we now had a van. Oh, what excitement! The family from Texas also told him when the tires wore out, he was to call them and they would replace the tires. We drove that van for many years. It not only hauled our family, but it was used as the church van also. We ended up becoming good friends with the visitors from Texas and kept up with them over the years. God moved in their hearts to become missionaries in Mexico. After they had been in Mexico for awhile a need arose. They needed a van to carry the locals to church. My family was able to give the van back to these precious people and it was used not only to bring people to church, but also as a Sunday school class room. These dear people who heard God's voice so many years ago are in their 90s now, and we are still friends.
The year was 1996. I was in Moscow, Russia serving as a missionary for four months. We had a lot of different avenues of ministry that we did while we were there, and a lot of them involved taking public transportation. Trying to always be on mission, we would take Bibles and tracts with us and pass them out on the metros. I loved looking down a metro car after we had passed out tracts to see the people sitting and reading about the love of God that seemed so far away in a place like Moscow. Sometimes the metro cars could be so full of people that you could barely move. We were riding along one day and I looked over at a woman sitting on the bench a little bit down from me. Sometimes when God speaks to you, you think, "Is that me thinking that or God talking?" This time I knew it was God's voice. He said to me, "Give that woman a tract." I don't know why I argued that day, but it seemed very inconvenient to me to walk down and give her a tract. The metro car was somewhat full and there were so many people standing all around this woman that I would have had to push through even to make it to her. So, that's what I told God. "There's too many people around her, God," I said. He replied, "Give that woman a tract." After a couple different lame arguments from me about how hard it would be because of the crowd to give her a tract, I finally said, "God, if you will move the people surrounding her, I will give her a tract." Now, I want to be clear here, God doesn't HAVE to do anything so you will obey Him. Obedience isn't about God, it's about you. But that day, God wanted to teach me something, and I'm so glad He's merciful! The instant I told God that I would give the woman a tract if He would move the people, EVERY SINGLE PERSON around that woman moved. All of them. Instantly. (And there's not that many places to move on a metro in Moscow!) I will never forget it. It was as if God was saying, "There is now NO obstacle for you to give this woman who I want to hear about salvation a tract!" I walked over and gave the woman a tract. I don't know the final outcome, but I have a suspicion that I will see that woman again someday, and we will worship Jesus together.
When we were growing up my dad did almost all of our car repair work on his own. I remember seeing him many times lying under a vehicle trying to figure out how to fix this or that. One day he was under one of our cars changing a part. He was trying to unscrew the part, and he was down to the last screw. Now my dad is a master at being creative when he doesn't have the right tools, but this time it wasn't working. He didn't have the right wrench and the last screw was stubborn. He kept trying different methods, but nothing was working. He just could not get it loose. In discouragement, he prayed, "God, I really need to get this part off and I don't have the right tool, could you help me?" God could have given him super strength at that moment, but He didn't. Right after my dad prayed this prayer, he heard a car drive by on the road in front of our house. As the car went by something fell out and bounced on the road with a clang. My dad drug himself out from the under car to see what it was - it was the EXACT wrench he needed to get the part off the car! True story, Folks. I know it sounds crazy, but it happened. He climbed back under the car and removed the part with ease. My dad carried that wrench around with him in his brief case for years as a reminder of God's faithfulness to us.
When I was 17 I was preparing to go on a mission trip to Russia. I needed a few thousand dollars to be able to go. We didn't have the money, but felt like God was leading me to go. We remembered the quote from Hudson Taylor - “Depend on it. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply. He is too wise a God to frustrate His purposes for lack of funds, and He can just as easily supply them ahead of time as afterwards, and He much prefers doing so.” We begin to pray for God to provide for my trip. And, oh He did! In ways I never thought possible. I remember sitting in a local bank at a piano playing for their Christmas open house when a woman from the community came to talk to me. She leaned over me while I played and said, "I heard you were going on a mission trip to Russia - I want to help." She set down a check on my bench and walked out. I finished my song and picked up the check - it was for $500. I couldn't believe it! I could barely go back to playing Christmas songs. That was just the first of many. Money continued to come in from my church family, from the community, from relatives - people who were listening to God's voice. Money for the trip was a problem for me, but money is NEVER a problem for God. He provided over the whole amount that I needed for that 4 month mission trip. That trip was one of the most incredible in my life, and I'm so grateful to have been able to share the Gospel so many times in a place that had been so closed off to Jesus for so many years.
When we were growing up even the expense of clothes was a bit of a hardship for my family. My mom did a wonderful job making most of the clothes that we kids wore. My dad on the other hand couldn't really get by with homemade dress pants. He was in need of pants for work at one point, and my mom began to pray. I love how God hears our prayers no matter if we are a man, woman, or child. God was listening to her sweet request - one day a lady walked up to our front door. She told my mom that she lived there in Bull Shoals and her husband had recently died. He had a lot of clothes, and she thought he was about dad's size. (Those of you who know my dad know that he is not a normal man size as he is only 5'4" and at the time weighed about 130lb. He is often identified as the "short pastor.") She was wondering if we could use any clothes. Mom told her that we would come down and see. I still remember the day mom took us, and we went to this lady's house. Turns out she was a compulsive shopper. We went into a room and oh, there were so many clothes! And there they were -the pants my mom had been praying for. Not one pair, not five pairs, but twenty-seven pairs of brand new dress pants with tags still on them in all my dad's exact size. Did my dad need twenty-seven pairs of pants - No. does God want to blow us away sometimes with His amazingness - Yes. And He did that day. I was little, so I don't really remember, but I'm pretty sure my dad didn't even have room in his closet for all those pants!
These are some of my stories. I hope you've been encouraged in your faith as we were as each incident happened. I am reminded where God says in the Bible to the Israelites that they were to tell their children the great things God did for them - they were to never forget and never stop telling. It's so important to pass on to our children our faith stories and thus our heritage of faith in a God Who is real and awesome.
In the meantime, grow your own stories. Teach your children to pray. If you don't have a lot needs, be in such a relationship with God that you hear His voice and He can prompt you to meet the needs of others. Include your family - I think that's one of the best things my parents did. Whether we were crying out to God together or we were meeting a need together, they included us in the process and helped us build our faith.
We serve a great God.
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