This testimony takes place starting in May 2007 and extending to March 2011. In many ways, this is a macro version of the Test of Faith the Lord put us through in 2006. The reminder of that portion of our testimony was often the encouragement we needed to continue during this season. God is faithful.

There are far more details in this story than I’m able to share here, but I hope I’ve shared enough to give you the picture of the faithfulness of God and the fact that He does not mind stretching us far beyond what we think we’re capable of.

I shall not want (Psalm 23:1)

It all begins with a word from God’s Word. Late in May 2009 as I was spending my lunch hour at my desk in the Fortune 500 company where I’d worked for the better part of a decade. The Lord sent me to the 23rd Psalm and though I could recite it by heart with ease, I flipped to it as the Holy Spirit directed.

I read verse 1 and couldn’t move forward. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” I sensed the Lord telling me to read it again. And when I had, He said read it again. And so I did… and then nothing. No great new revelation. As I sat in my cubicle with my steady, generous salary checks rolling in it was easy to know I was provided for. I thanked Him for being my Shepherd and for providing for me and went on with my day.

Layoffs & New Job

Several months later the company I was working for announced they were doing a reduction in force. Immediately, when I heard the announcement the Holy Spirit brought to my recollection the word He’d given me in May… I shall not want. Standing on that word, I had no fear about upcoming job cuts knowing regardless of the outcome, I was covered.

In December, the Lord began opening a door for me to change jobs completely. Shorter commute, a promotion, more money – everything to recommend it. In prayer I felt released to choose either path, knowing His hand would provide either way, but this opportunity provided a way to exit before the layoffs and so I opted to take the new role and was excited about all the blessings that appeared to come with it.

After I’d accepted the new position, but a week before I left my old job I had a sobering moment. The Holy Spirit told me that what I was walking into would not be what I expected. I sensed a great trial ahead and yet sensed the Lord wanting me to choose it even though I was now walking in with my eyes wide open rather than in la-la-land with all sorts of high hopes and expectations.

Sabbath Rest & “You’re not going to miss it”

It didn’t take long at the new job to see it wasn’t a happy fit on either side. A little over 2 months into the new position, my husband and I visited IHOP-KC (International House of Prayer) with two of our closest friends. While we were there we had the opportunity to receive prophetic ministry and one of the ladies ministering to me had a word about the Lord bringing me into a season of Sabbath rest.

I was excited about the word. At the time I hadn’t had more than 10 days off in a row in over a decade and a half. I was tired and in desperate need of some serious downtime – the stress and strain of corporate America having taken a toll, especially when coupled with outside endeavors – everything from ministry to teaching to a thriving freelance business. I’d been asking the Lord for a break – a REAL break – for a couple of years at that point and was excited to know He had it on His radar too.

Two weeks after our trip to IHOP, I sat in my office at work asking God what needed to come off my plate so I could have this Sabbath rest. I had already stripped out virtually everything – my focus was my husband, my job, one young lady I was mentoring, and Dyed4you – which at that time was still very low volume. Truly from my perspective, nothing could be removed and as I vented my frustrations about this to God all He would say is “you’re not going to miss it.”

I’m ashamed to admit I continued to argue back with Him that obviously *I* was going to have to move something off my plate and He was going to need to tell me what it was so I could do it! He gently and firmly said again, “you’re not going to miss it.” I knew I was to wait and watch. So I did.

Getting Tossed off the Deep End

Two weeks later – on May 6th 2008 – I was let go from my job. I knew immediately when it happened that this is what God had meant. And that He was right (of course), I didn’t miss it. God did for me what I never would have had the chutzpah to do – quit my job and take a break.

My whole employed life I’d lived check to check. But God had arranged it in such a way we had enough money to support ourselves for several months. I quietly asked God if maybe I could have until November – six full months. I just knew I needed rest.

What made this moment even more interesting is that my husband had already taken a leave of absence from his job, and when I was let go we both sensed the Lord saying He called us to this place of rest together intentionally.

Prayer Room

My church had just started an IHOP-style harp and bowl prayer room a few months prior. And after a month of simply working on unwinding, the Lord replayed my own words to me – words I’d said many times during the last few months I’d been working, “Lord, if I didn’t have to be at work, I would be at the Prayer Room every day.” It was clear what He wanted. So my husband and I made our “jobs” being at the prayer room every day it was open. This was a rich season where the Lord was preparing us in ways we didn’t even understand.

Running Out of Money

When we hit November, we were out of money. Yet neither one of us felt like our season in the prayer room was complete, quite the contrary! And the Lord sent word after word from people who didn’t know us or know anything about us to confirm what He had us doing. Literally Dyed4you customers who didn’t know anything about me would contact me and tell me the Lord woke them with words for me and it would be identical to what the Lord had been speaking to us.

Disclaimer – Before I continue, I feel it necessary to say that I am NOT advocating randomly quitting your job and waiting for the Lord to provide. This season my husband and I were in the LORD walked us into – we did not choose it, He asked us to walk into it and we obeyed.

Many quoted 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “…If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” to us, but understand that work does not equal employment. Work is whatever labor the Lord puts before you. During this season our ministry to the Lord in the prayer room was part of our “work.” Additionally, we both volunteered extensively at church as well as discipling other believers. We “worked,” but we were not “employed.”

I also need to add that during this season the Lord did not have us ASK anyone for support (with one exception you’ll hear about below). With that disclaimer of “don’t try this unless GOD tells you to,” I will continue!

Free-falling in a Trust Test

The next 11 months was filled with an equal share of trying circumstances and divine provision. There were days we had food because someone thought to give us some or the lunchroom at church had leftovers they were unable to serve again that they would offer to us. To make the situation even more interesting, we had a missionary friend who stayed with us when she would come home on furlough, and this time was staying with us for an extended furlough (9 months); so we were providing food, lodging and transportation for her as well.

There were days the fridge was empty and the car was on “E” and we’d head to the prayer room trusting Abba to give us our daily bread, and unprompted – with no knowledge of our circumstances – someone would come and give us enough to get gas and buy some food. That happened more times than I can count.

One month our bank account sat at zero for 3 full weeks. We had an insurance payment coming up and no idea how we would pay it (by law we had to carry car insurance and our mortgage company requires homeowners – so both were included in the payment). Two days before the payment was scheduled to come out of the account, a check arrived in the mail from someone I knew through Dyed4you, but had never met. It was for $444.44! When we deposited it, the bank held the check for 2 days (since we’d been at zero for so long) and the funds became available just in time to pay the insurance – God’s timing is always perfect!

During this 11 month period, 3 times we were threatened with foreclosure on our home. We’d long since put our house on the altar and left it in God’s hands knowing He could and would have us where HE wanted us, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. In each of these 3 times, the money came in with just enough time to spare for the bank to hold the funds until they cleared. Each time we had only 1-3 days to spare, but God was always faithful and always on time.

New Level of Trust

In October of 2009, God took us to a new level. We were being threatened with foreclosure again, with the timely provision during the last 3 threats, I gave it little mind as the date approached trusting that God had it covered. But when the date came and went and no provision had come, I had to stop and ask the Lord, “What’s going on?!”

He simply replied, “It’s a new level of trust.”

The foreclosure process went into full swing. Capturing thoughts of worry and stress began to require significantly more time than before. Additionally, those who felt we should be working were becoming increasingly verbal about telling us so, sometimes in ways that were not just hurtful, but slanderous and unjust. People had been reluctantly tolerant of six months, but a year and a half they felt was excessive.

I was (and still am) surprised at how many people were offended that we weren’t employed – though we never asked for anything. People seemed to feel we had an obligation to be employed simply because we are capable of being employed.

The Cost of Obeying God

One of the things we learned quickly was the cost of obeying God. On January 11th – as our foreclosure date drew near – the Lord took my husband to Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest, which perfectly articulated what we were experiencing:

If we obey God it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the sting comes in. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything, it is a delight, but it costs those who do not love Him a good deal. If we obey God it will mean that other people’s plans are upset, and they will gibe us with it – “You call this Christianity?” We can prevent the suffering; but if we are going to obey God, we must not prevent it, we must let the cost be paid…

Stagnation in spiritual life comes when we say we will bear the whole thing ourselves. We cannot. We are so involved in the universal purposes of God that immediately we obey God, others are affected. Are we going to remain loyal in our obedience to God and go through the humiliation of refusing to be independent, or are we going to take the other line and say – I will not cost other people suffering? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but we shall be a grief to our Lord. Whereas if we obey God, He will look after those who have been pressed into the consequences of our obedience. We have simply to obey and to leave all consequences with Him.

Running Towards a Brick Wall

With the auction date for our home set, we asked the Lord if we should pack – “No.” So we continued our prayers for direction and the Lord continued to give the same response, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD…” (Exodus 14:13). So we waited feeling like we were running full speed towards a brick wall.

In prayer I asked the Lord what we would need to get out of this – I knew the amount of past due payments, but there were legal fees and whatnot that were involved now. I felt the Lord give me a number – so wrote it down. When we got the final tally, it was the dollar amount I’d heard plus some change! I thought if I could hear that right surely we must be hearing right on the rest – so I waited, excited to see the Lord move on our behalf.

And move He did. The Lord provided with 2 days to spare before the cut-off for the auction. We were beyond grateful!

Continued Testing

The next few months were a continuation of testing and provision, but everything after the last one seemed much easier. We knew He had us covered – even when it didn’t look like we would have preferred and even when it wasn’t in a timetable that we’d have chosen – He was consistently faithful.

Increasing Dyed4you & a New Test

During 2010, the Lord continued to increase the flow of orders through the ministry. By July, the Lord told me I could no longer refer to myself as “unemployed” and I fully understood why – the volume of interaction related to the ministry had become a full-time effort, even though the finances were not there yet.

One difficult test came when my computer crashed and needed to be replaced. Since an increasing flow of income was coming through this internet-based ministry, not having a computer was debilitating.

As I prayed about what to do, the Lord put someone on my heart to call and ask for them to buy a new computer. I hated the idea. After all thus far we hadn’t asked for anything! The Lord showed me it was my pride that was rebelling. When people would find out about our situation, I liked being able to say I hadn’t “asked” for anything. That was my defense against the comments that would often follow.

Finally, I made the call and asked the individual to prayerfully consider purchasing me a replacement computer. Without hesitation she said yes and explained the Lord had already put it on her heart to get it, she just hadn’t known what to get and so hadn’t acted on it. With tears of gratitude and relief, I thanked the Lord yet again for His faithfulness.

Full-Time Ministry

By the Fall, I believed the Lord was calling me into full-time ministry, but there were pieces that needed to fall into place first. One piece happened in October of 2010, when He structured our finances in such a way that secured our house. We would now be able to pay the mortgage payment on time and we wouldn’t constantly either be in the threat of foreclosure or going into it.

By the last quarter of 2010, we were consistently bringing in about 70% of the bare minimum we need to live on. As the new year began, I waited eagerly to see if it would hold steady or do a post-holiday retail dip. The first half of the quarter held pretty close to steady dropping only about 5%. I sensed this season of heavy financial testing was drawing to a close and awaited the final shift.

A Suddenly

One evening in a conversation with the Lord I was pointing out to Him some of the financial obligations that were awaiting funds and the Lord said, “I can tell anyone I want about Dyed4you any time I want to.” In my head I pictured one individual telling one of their friends, I nodded in agreement with His statement, and reiterated my point which I didn’t feel He’d addressed. He responded by reiterating His previous response, and so I let the conversation drop.

Two days later, on February 15th, while I was pausing for a break after dyeing, I heard my iPod ping. I reached over and saw I had a new order from a name I’d never seen. I thanked the Lord and set it down. No sooner had I set it down than it pinged again, I looked and it was another order from someone I didn’t know.

Within minutes I discovered that a well-known prophet to the nations (who one of my intercessors had sent a Dyed4you scarf to) had read his scarf letter on the air. People who had seen his “mantle” on the show were heading to my site to get one. Suddenly God’s words from 2 days prior had a whole different meaning! I wept at the beauty of how He works.

In the week following, I did as much business I had done in my busiest month to date. Not just that, but the increase volume held and I closed the quarter out with just shy of double the Dyed4you sales the previous quarter (which had been the highest to date).

In Closing

Some who have asked for details during this season have later said to me they couldn’t do what we’ve done. I always encourage them by saying “you don’t have to!” This is something the Lord called us to. This was a season of testing He felt we needed to go through for whatever He knows lies ahead. I don’t know what that is exactly (though based on prophetic words I could speculate), but what I know is that He is trustworthy and working toward our good and the good of His people.

So are we rolling in the dough now? Not hardly. But we know this season of testing is done and the Lord has been and is faithful to provide. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”

Related posts

• A Test of Faith (1)
• Tithing and holding out on God (Gross vs. Net) (1)
• Giving is a Heart Issue (0)
• Meeting a Need When in Need (2)
• Christmas Miracle (3)

At this moment, both my husband and I are not working.  It was God’s orchestrating that put us in this position, so we’re waiting with full expectation that He will show up and do what He’s said He’ll do because He has tested our faith before, and frankly confirmations like this one help encourage us that we’re hearing His voice!

Anyway… so here’s the story!

We have some friends from church who are precious, Godly people.  They worked for the same organization not long ago and during that time became engaged and a week before their wedding found out that neither one of them were going to be paid for the last month that they’d worked.  Ouch!  What a way to enter into their marriage!

Both being strong people of faith they put it in God’s hands and they’ve consistently had what they needed when they needed it.  Different needs were met different way.  And I had been praying for them in the area of finances since I’d become aware of their needs. They had both found some part-time work to tide things over.  Then to make things more exciting they discovered they were pregnant!

One afternoon the husband (an amazing worshipper and worship leader) was called upon to lead worship at a church service that evening.  He stepped up without hesitation.  That evening, one of the leaders felt led to share their situation and open it up for the small gathering to give a love offering to them.

I looked over at Allen because I felt we were supposed to give, but he said he wasn’t getting that.  I was disappointed to say the least and asked him if he was sure a couple more times and then submitted to his decision as my husband.

I continued to pray that God would either release me of the burden to give to them or speak to my husband’s heart and tell him how much.

The next morning, Allen and I went to the prayer room at church and saw our friends there.  During one portion of prayer, they asked for anyone currently needing financial breakthrough to raise their hands and receive prayer.  Allen and I got up to get prayer as did our friends and several others.

As we were receiving prayer the Lord spoke a specific amount of money to Allen that we were to give to our friends.  When he told me afterwards I began to cry because I knew it was the voice of the Lord, and because it is such an honor to give to someone in need when you yourself are in need – it sets you up for the blessing of the Lord.

We quickly wrote them a check and handed it to them.  After prayer they came and shared their portion of the testimony.

When they got married they didn’t have anything but a twin mattress (which doesn’t work so well for marrieds!), and they’d felt led to buy a mattress set with the 90-days-same-as-cash option, believing God would provide the funds to pay it off before the 20+% interest kicked in.  They were 2 days away from the end of the 90-day period.

A week earlier, God had asked them to sow… to give to someone in need in the midst of their own need, and they had done so in obedience with expectation of God’s faithfulness.

On the way to the prayer room that morning they had thanked God for the offering the previous evening, but had felt led to pray more specifically.  So they asked God if He would provide the funds to pay off the mattress set.  And you probably guessed it, the amount God had told us to give them just an hour or so later was exactly what they needed to do that almost to the penny!

Praise God!  He is so good   We got to meet the need of some dear friends AND got confirmation we’re hearing His voice.

And in addition, because I had submitted to my husband and his ability to hear from God, the timing and amount were an answer to specific prayer, which is beautiful!

What a blessing!

W 16 July 2008 – Update

It’s exactly a week since I posted this testimony.  Today, I got a call about a settlement that I’ve been waiting on for over 9 months.  The person handling this situation for me was absolutely astonished because the settlement was 2.5 times what they would have expected.  They had no explanation for this and were completely baffled.

The difference between what was expected and what I got?  About 10 times the amount we gave last week!

Our God is an AWESOME God!

Related posts

• I shall not want (3)
• A Test of Faith (1)
• Tithing and holding out on God (Gross vs. Net) (1)
• Giving is a Heart Issue (0)
• Christmas Miracle (3)

First Fruits vs Tithe

Honestly, I never really understood the difference between first fruits and tithes. I had always thought they were the same thing. In January 2006, my pastor taught on first fruits though and really made the difference clear.

In short (for those who may not already know), it’s easiest to think of first fruits as in harvest. So, if you planted a crop of tomatoes and lets say that you have 10 tomatoes that get ripe first – that is your first fruit. So you offer all 10 to God – holding nothing back – in expectation that He will provide abundantly. The next group that gets ripe might also be 10 – this time though, you would give a tithe (1).

So how does that translate into modern life? Well, when you get a raise – the difference between your normal check and the new check with the raise would be an example of a first fruits offering.

I’ve heard of people who give their first paycheck each year as a first fruits offering. In our case, we had never given a first fruits offering, so we took it to God and asked Him what we were to give.

Our First First-Fruit Offering

As I asked the Lord what our first first-fruit offering should be I sensed God was asking us to do something significant (at least for us!). I was thinking it was to be my bonus check from work – a large amount of money for us. I kept my thought to myself and asked my husband what he was sensing – expecting confirmation if I was correct.

Over the next week or so, I continued to ask my husband what the Lord was saying to him on this topic. But he hadn’t gotten an answer yet.

In the meantime, we had found out we had a sizable tax refund coming… about three times the size of the bonus! We had been praying about where the tithe from that was going to go. We had not had to wait long for our answer on that – a precious young lady from our church (Maria) was planning a short-term mission trip to Honduras. She needed money to buy a ticket We both immediately sensed she was to have the money and we told her so.

In her excitement she began sharing about God’s call on her life. She was called to be a full-time missionary, but had a student loan that was holding her back. As we left that evening – I grabbed Allen’s hand and prayed a quick prayer – “Lord, I would love to help Maria with that student loan – if you can make a way for us to do that it would be awesome! I just pray that debt would be removed in Jesus’ name!”

A couple days later, Allen called me at work and said he’d finally heard from God on the first fruits. God had told him that I thought it was my bonus check, but it wasn’t (already I was floored!) – God had told Allen that we were to give the whole tax refund to Maria to pay off her student loan and give her about half what she needed for her Honduras airfare.

Confirmations

I did a big gulp – you see, I’d done the math and the tax refund was enough to take care of all the things we’d needed to do – we could have done without the bonus money, but to do without the tax refund was truly an act of faith!

Even as we prayed for wisdom and confirmation – more confirmation came – God supernaturally brought up a picture of her on my computer screen. I work in information technology – I am aware of what is possible and what God did was not possible!  And more confirmations came after that.

As I reasoned out in my head giving her the money – I knew cutting the check would leave us with about $17 and change in our account until payday. I thought to myself “I guess we’ll just live on credit cards until then.”

When we gave Maria the money she was overwhelmed – you see God had told her that her family in Christ would step in and would help with things like this… it had seemed impossible that anyone would, but with God NOTHING is impossible!

The Next Step – Freeze the Credit Cards

Still on the high of stepping out in faith – God followed it up with instructions to completely stop using credit cards. We literally put them in a block of ice in the freezer!

This was a big step because we were cash poor – but we were trusting God to show up.

That spring we’d taken the Crown Financial Ministries class. We’d always known that we were walking by faith being in our home (see Tithing and holding out on God) – the house was always held open in our hand ready for God to move us, but each month – He provided… we’d just never know exactly how much! During the class we discovered that we were running between $500-$1000 short each month! How incredible that each moth God provided the difference! (Note: let me just say I am not advocating going into heavy debt and then looking to God to fix it – however, in this case we found ourselves there, repented, were obedient with that which we had and God showed up!)

A Test of Faith

The First Fruit offering had taken a chunk out of our cash. As the end of May approached, we realized we did not have enough to pay June’s mortgage. We waited fully expecting God to show up just as He always did – especially after our big leap of faith!

Only the money didn’t come by June 1. It wasn’t there by the time the late fees were applied on June 16th. And by the end of June when we still hadn’t paid it and weren’t ready to pay July’s either… well, let’s just say my faith was being stretched!

Allen and I pressed in in prayer daily. We asked God for correction if we had acted wrongly. We sought Him with all our hearts. The only correction we recieved was a word from a prophetic friend who said “God says stop worrying! You’re dealing with doubt and unbelief.”

We knew it sounded crazy, but we felt like God had put us in this specific position as a test… we didn’t know what kind of test or why, but we felt it was His hand and we were simply to trust.

Right at that time, God came through with a smaller financial miracle – but it again confirmed that this test was from God.

Feeling Stupid

By the end of July, I was feeling really stupid. I knew in the natural what we were doing made no sense, but we both kept sensing that God was saying don’t try to fix it – just wait on me. All the words God would send our way lined up with this. Yet I felt stupid!

One day God sent a word of correction to me – He said, “Who are you to feel stupid about where I have put you?” Wow! It totally opened my eyes and freed me up to simply rest where He had me.

Fire Getting Hot!

The beginning of August arrived with letters of impending foreclosure. We still sensed that we were to wait on Him as crazy as that might seem to some. We were convinced either He would come through with the finances or a foreclosure officer needed to know about Jesus!

A friend who I had shared our situation with emailed me with some rather harsh words about what we were doing. Challenging that there was no way that God would do this. It devastated me! Through the heavy flow of tears I heard the Lord ask me who I was going to believe… Him or someone else?

I asked Him about my credit rating… and He told me where He was taking us it didn’t matter – that I just needed to have faith.

God is Faithful

In mid-August, two days before official foreclosure proceedings against us began we received an unexpected check that paid our full past due amount and all the way up through October! Praise God! He had shown up just like He said He would… and our level of faith had increased in the process… that’s for sure!

Conclusion

Sometimes we are called to take big steps of faith. No matter how big – God’s faithfulness is bigger.

In my mind – this story is only part of the testimony – there will be more coming as God continues in His faithfulness to bring forth the promises as He has given them

Related posts

• I shall not want (3)
• Tithing and holding out on God (Gross vs. Net) (1)
• Meeting a Need When in Need (2)
• Giving is a Heart Issue (0)
• A Newbie Tither (0)