Introduction

Traditionally, my husband is not a fan of Christmas. His objections are largely focused around the forced gift-giving. Year-after-year he would voice his objections around the gift-giving practices, and finally give in and get presents for his children and some immediate family members and friends.

Changing a heart

As Christmas approached in December 2006, we found ourselves in an interesting position. Out of obedience to the Lord’s instructions to us, we had destroyed all our credit cards. In working towards becoming debt-free, we were spending any “extra” funds paying off debt.

So we found ourselves with Christmas upon us with no extra cash to buy presents. We would certainly not buy presents in lieu of paying bills, nor would we apply for new credit and go into debt simply to purchase gifts.

Finally, Christmas Eve was upon us. It fell on a Sunday and on the way to church an interesting thing happened… the Lord changed my husband’s heart. It wasn’t that we wanted to buy gifts for his children out of obligation, but he realized he loved getting them even a little something just to say “I love you!”

Knowing we serve a big God, I said something to the effect of, “Who knows, God may provide a way for us to get them gifts yet!”

Our Miracle

The service was wonderful as always, and afterwards we made our rounds saying our hellos and holiday well-wishes to our dear family in Christ. In the midst of all that, one of the young ladies at our church came up to me and told me that she and her fiance would like a brief moment with us if possible.

I rounded up my husband and we found them again… they told us that the Lord had put it on their hearts to give us $100 for Christmas. We were completely surprised and overwhelmed! We are not known as “needy” people so there were no cues in the natural that could have let them on to our situation!

We told them how the Lord had used them and my husband even told them of my comment on the way to church that God might provide a way even still. We gave them teary, grateful hugs and went on our way.

Quick Provision

As incredible as the money was, we didn’t want to give the children money – we wanted to give them gifts, but we didn’t have time to spend shopping. We said a quick prayer in the car – knowing that if God could provide the funds He could direct us to the right gifts as well.

We headed to a nearby mall and in 18 minutes had found one gift for each child that was a unique fit for them… and we had $12 left (which we knew was the tithe!)

Conclusion

The Lord is mindful of all our needs – no matter how big or small. And when we are obedient and trusting, He is faithful!

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Introduction

I am a dog person. In June of 2006, I had to put my 12.5 year old Rottweiler, Chester – that I’d had for a third of my life – to sleep. It was a devastating moment, but one that God used to teach me so many things. He is so faithful!

However, it didn’t take me long to realize that dog people are happiest when they have a dog :)

Praying Specifically

I knew exactly what I was looking for in a dog. I wanted another Rottweiler – a male with his tail (like Chester). I knew we wanted him fixed and also potty trained, which meant not a puppy (which could have made finding one with a tail a bit more challenging!) – yet young enough that we could have a nice long life with him.

With all that in my heart and prayers, I began poking around online looking for a fit. I made my way to PetFinder.com and then to the ARK (Animal Recycling Kennel) – a no-kill shelter a few hours away.

It was there that I found Sketch – a male Rottweiler with his tail who was about 1.5 years old and had already been fixed. The moment I saw his page I sensed the Lord saying, “that’s your dog.” He was exactly everything I’d asked for.

Submitting and Surrendering my Desires

When I got home I showed the page to my husband who announced he didn’t want another dog. I was floored! We’d always talked about getting another dog when Chester had passed… I felt a little like a woman who’d wanted children her whole life, had just gotten married and her husband announced he didn’t want kids! And I told my hubby that was how I felt.

But that said, I sensed the Lord checking my heart and instructing me to submit to my husband and trust my desires with Him… that if I pushed, I’d miss my blessing. So, I told Allen that I did not want to push him into this, that I would submit to his authority and his final decision – I just asked that he would pray about it.

For the next several days, I asked Allen if he had prayed about the dog – he would say no and declare again that he did not want another dog. One of his main reasons was that at the time the adoption fee was more than we could afford. The Lord was taking us through a huge test of faith in the area of our finances and so it was not logical to spend money on a dog.

A couple of times when I would ask Allen if he’d had a chance to pray about it yet he would say “just go ahead and do it.” Each time I would have to lay down my desire to simply ‘get my own way’ and I would tell him I was submitting to his authority as my husband, but I believed God had said this was to be our dog. If that was the case, we would be in unity.

God Hears ALL Prayers

Finally, on the fourth day of asking Allen to pray, he grabbed my hand and said a quick prayer that went something like this: “Lord, if you want us to have this dog just provide a financial miarcle in the next couple days and we’ll know we’re supposed to have it. Amen.” He looked at me said “There!” tossed my hand down and walked out of the room.

We both knew what Allen had meant in his prayer… he was thinking ‘God, pay our past due bills, pay a couple of the future ones, and give us some padding and THEN we’ll get a dog.’ But of course… that wasn’t what he’d said

God Knows How to Give Good Gifts

Less than a half-hour later our phone rang. It was a friend from church who told me that she and her husband had been praying about it and they felt like God was telling them to pay our adoption fees for us to get a new dog. In addition, they were giving us a Petsmart gift card for any start-up costs – a total of $450!

I started screaming I was so excited! Immediately, I realized it was God doing a number of things at once:

1. Confirming that the test of faith we were in was of Him
2. Reminding me that He was perfectly able to meet our needs anyhow, anywhere, anyway – in His perfect timing
3. Showing me that He is mindful of the little things we desire and those things matter to Him as well (see also Christmas Miracle)

I ran downstairs to tell Allen what had just happened. He just started laughing that nervous laugh that happens when you know you just got busted. He laughed because he knew God knew what he meant when he’d prayed, but God had answered what he had actually prayed. He also knew that this was of God and was blessed and overwhelmed by the testimony the Lord continues to write in our lives.

Conclusion

Sketch is a wonderful dog. He is a living breathing reminder of God’s faithfulness and His love for us. He is mindful of all our needs – no matter how big or small. And when we are obedient and trusting, He is faithful!

Related posts

• Christmas Miracle (2)
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Introduction

This is the brief version of what God did in our marriage. It was written the month of our 5-year anniversary (November 2006).

Dating Allen the 1st Time

My relationship with my husband got started completely the wrong way. We first met when he was my student. He was married but separated and we were both in backsliding mode and both promiscuous. We ended up in a short-lived affair. After which I ended up in another ungodly relationship heading further and further away from God’s plan for me.

If this is not the man…

Fast-forward nearly two years, and I reached a breaking point. I prayed and I said to God, “Lord, if this is not the man you have for me – I just pray You would take him from me. I cannot imagine my life without him, but I trust that You will get me through it and I just ask that You’d bring the man You have for me into my life.” Less than two months later the man I was living with left me.

Dating Allen the 2nd Time

I started going back to church and one night at church I heard the Lord say, “call Allen.” So I did. When Allen and I started dating, we did not date the “right” way at all. He virtually moved in with me only going home on the weekends his kids came to stay with him. We would sleep together and then pray for God to forgive us – it was crazy. We were both a mess, but it appeared we were moving towards Him – sort of.

Married

We were married five months later and it didn’t take me long to realize we were not both moving towards God at the same pace – Allen continued drinking and it was not pretty. For a while, I held back in my relationship with God because I didn’t want to get too “church-ie” and offend him. The Lord convicted me that I was only responsible for my own walk – and that Allen not being right with God was not an excuse for me to not be right. So I began to pursue God more and He began to heal some things in my heart.

During this period, things with my husband got worse. He struggled with porn and was drinking more and more – he would say and do really hurtful things when he was drunk – it was really difficult. I knew he had a lot of past hurts – and so for the first year and a half I tried to fix him, but it only got worse. I’m embarrassed to say I spent more time trying to psychoanalyze him than praying for him.

Broken

Finally, I got on my face before God. I knew He had put us together, but I was miserable. Broken I cried out to God; I told Him I didn’t know what to do with my marriage – I couldn’t fix it and I threw my marriage at His feet. What God said next caught me off guard – He told me to “shut up and pray.” So, I asked Him to teach me how to be a prayer warrior for my husband, which He did (within a week He had people gift me 2 books, Power of a Praying Wife and Intercessory Prayer).

Almost harder than the “pray” was the “shut up” – I’m sure you all know how hard it is not to put your two cents in – especially when someone is totally messing up. But through prayer, God was helping me to hold my tongue and trust Him.

One night when Allen was drunk in a bar, the Lord sent a prophetess to the bar to give him a word. It was powerful and it shook him, but even more than that it rocked my world because I got that God didn’t need me to say anything, He was perfectly capable of sending anyone anywhere to tell him anything! It invigorated my faith and I began to realize how big God really is.

Prayer Warrior

I started a women’s prayer group, where we gathered weekly to pray for our marriages, husbands and families. I staked myself to other women believers. Then God began drawing me deeper into Him. He gave me promises of what my husband and marriage would be like. I spent a lot of time in worship mixed with prayer – especially songs that declared my trust in Him because the situation didn’t look good. I began fasting weekly for my marriage and my husband.

In the natural things would sometimes appear to get better and then they’d get worse, and worse and worse. I asked God to show me Allen as He saw him – and He began to. I began to be able to separate the amazing man that God had created with a call and a purpose from the behavior caused by past wounds and demonic influence. It enabled me to love the man but hate and fight against the enemy controlling him. I was in full battle mode. I was fighting for my husband – it was between the enemy and me and I had God on my side. And I was not going to back down and I was not going to lose.

Broken

After nearly two years came the hardest part of this trial – my Christian friends lost hope and began to encourage me to divorce Allen. One by one, all the people who I had staked myself to and who had been my support system turned. And the Lord told me to choose – who would I believe? The promises He’d given me? Or the counsel of friends.

I was reminded of Job’s friends – well meaning, but wrong. I chose to dare to believe that God was a big enough God to do what He said he was going to do – even though everything in the natural said I was crazy. It was a lonely period, but gratefully, not too long thereafter he hit bottom.

Rock Bottom

One night the police called me to retrieve my husband. He was the worst I’d ever seen him. I was in full battle mode, laying hands on him and praying over him while he was passed out, declaring the promises of God over him. The next morning I continued to press in and pray for breakthrough and it came. If God had not had me living in a place of continual forgiveness and hope – I would have missed it.

I told him he needed to get deliverance – that regardless of his best intentions, the enemy is stronger than him – than any of us – if he didn’t learn and use the authority God had given him as a believer he would continue over and over in the same patterns. He had to chose and fight for his own freedom. And he did.

Confession

The next day, Allen had his first fast. The whole day he fell under heavier and heavier conviction that there were things he needed to come clean with me on. That night he couldn’t sleep – he’d made choices trying to destroy a marriage he hadn’t cared about and was terrified to come clean because now he didn’t want to lose the marriage – but he knew he had to be honest. At 5 am he told God he was ready to tell me, but pointed out to Him that I was still asleep. God promptly woke me.

Allen told me he needed to talk to me, he said his “soul was being tortured” – the minute he spoke the words – a tidal wave of peace came down over me. I told him I forgave him – I knew he wasn’t the same man he’d been three days earlier and that no matter what it was – I forgave him. He needed to tell me and so I let him. I listened as he spoke and then told him again – “I forgive you and I love you.” He told me later that it was like I represented Jesus to him at that moment – it was unthinkable to him that I could forgive him.

Allen was baptized in the Holy Spirit a few days later and God has done some amazing things in our relationship since then. He has continued to draw and heal it.

At the time of adding this part of my testimony to this site it’s been two and a half years since my husband rededicated his life to the Lord. Most of the people we know can’t even imagine that he was ever like this because the Lord has so restored and renewed him. It moves me to tears to see how much my husband loves the Lord now and how relentless his pursuit of Him is.

Conclusion

• What was amazing to me was that as I trusted my heart with God – He protected it.
• I was able to maintain true joy through things that don’t make you happy! It was the supernatural peace God tells us He will give us when we seek Him. It was amazing.
• And that God is faithful and powerful – He will do what He’s said He’s going to do.
• And He is using it for good – already I’ve been privileged to see two marriages saved as a direct result of the testimony He wrote in our lives.

So to end, I just want to encourage you in 3 things:

1. pray for your spouse – because it works and it’s powerful,
2. trust your heart with God – it’s the only place it’s safe,
3. and finally believe that God is a big God – He can make a way when there appears to be no way, He is faithful.

Related posts

• Dating the Wrong Way (1)
• Cursed Dog? (1)
• Christmas Miracle (2)
• A Good Gift from God (1)