"Okay, God, You're Scaring me."

[irishcowboy]

Okay, so a couple weeks ago I was listening to a podcast about family finances from Focus on the Family, and after I heard it I felt convicted about me not giving up my finances to God...so I prayed "Lord, okay, I'm trusting you with our finances. Teach me to use money wisely, not the world's way, but as You would want me to use it."

Yeah, that's one of those "dangerous" prayers, isn't it? I mean, not literally dangerous, because it IS in God's hands and He is faithful, but man, it FEELS dangerous.

So, my friend calls me yesterday, and tells me that she's stranded in the city (she lives in my old college town) because her radiator's shot. I get some engine coolant to her and follow her limping car to the repair centre. They do an estimate, and the rad and all the hoses need to be completely replaced, coming to about $640.00, which they don't have...not even close.

Now, it's been a long time since I've felt God telling me something so clearly, but I'm telling you it was so clear to me it was practically audible. God was telling me "help them out and lend them the money for their repairs."

"Seriously, God?? We can't afford that right now!! We have vehicle repairs of our own needing done and it's almost Christmas and--"

"Pay for their repairs."

"Okay..."

Anyway, I asked my husband what to do, and he must've been feeling the same leading, because he immediately agreed to do it (like I said, we can't really afford it, and he knows that).

So...anyway...my husband's on his way to do that now.

And now I'm FREAKING OUT.

I mean, talk about jumping into the deep end!! I was kinda hoping God would let me start small...you know, hand a guy ten bucks for a meal on the street, or something like that. Haha. Yeah, not so much.

Anyway...has anyone ever had something like that happen??? I really need some faith-building stories here, because this is a HUGE leap for me.

I have always said that the door to this house is always open to some one in need...... I almost changed my mind, but God will not let me do that...... here is one incident that has happened, not the first, not the last :

a number of years ago, a friend (term used at the time) had three teen children, me with one full time, one part time, he called and said his "Fiance" is kicking him and his kids out and they do not have anywhere to go.... they have to be out that day (basic eviction type thing).....

what to do...... I thought about it, and I kept hearing, my door is always open, my door is always open..

so I instructed my son to get the house ready (set up for 4 more people, two teen girls, one teen boy and man )..... my son questioned me, I explained some.....

during the drive I was wondering how this was going to work questioning it the entire drive (an hour and fifteen minutes one way). I kept in prayer as much as I could while driving. and then I was reminded.......As you do unto the least of these........ Ok, I said, this is a must be.......

the rules of the house is everyone does their part in house work.... and if a person is a full time student, they are not required to have a job, but if they are not in school, they are to be working, and if not working, they will be out looking for work.....

every day I would come in and he would say he had some things that look promising, no food cooked, no dishes done, (kids not in school at the time, summer time) He was suppose to be "an Electrician".

when pushed, he even said he had apps in at the convienience stores and other places.

one day he took on a job, borrowed my truck, I even bought tools that he could use until he got going... 4 hours later, i come in and he tells me he needs some help.... (I can understand that, sometimes a person needs an extra set of hands to do a job, not that one can not do it, just an extra set makes it so much easier......) I go out and end up trouble shooting the system, changing out a light switch, and climbing the pole (my gear) and changing the light and rewiring the light socket...... I left, thought he would treat them right.... he ended up charging them 4 hours and then added some for "tech assist" (which I did not see anything, but that is ok was trying to get him up and running) ( I found out later what the charges were, cause it was a regular customer of mine for plumbing)

he hosed up a couple other jobs that he had given to him (not something he got on his own) I lost a customer for a couple years cause of his work......

one weekend, I took my boys up to see their grandparents for the weekend.....

when we come back, this family was gone...... looking around one of my boys found a note from one of the girls explaining they are leaving really fast.... no explanation as to why...... I also noticed that my camera gear was missing, and my rifle was out and so was my pistol (hidden under a blanket like in some one walked in real fast) and the tools that I had loaned him and tech manuals were gone, and my son comes in and says his bowling ball is missing (who knows what else).......

what is nice, is I had spent time a few years prior (three months of spare time) taking a total inventory, with SERIAL NUMBERS and discriptions of all items, even cloths.....

the note that the one girl left a clue as to where they were..... I called this person, and asked if they were there, he said he didnt have any idea what i was talking about, (he was/is a pastor of a church). I told him that is ok, cause there are some items missing and they were the last ones in the house, and I will be making a police report in just a short time if I do not have a chance to talk to them...... all of a sudden he and the kids are there ( I could hear them in the back ground anyways, so I knew) while I was talking to this preacher, asking if certain items were there, every question was answered with "No" dont see anything like that here...... I then said, ok no problem, I will just turn over the serial numbers to the police and sherriffs of each county from here to there so they can check out pawn shops and then also come by for a visit.......

wouldn't you know it, the bowling ball showed up. then the camera gear, but the books and the tools were not there(hahaha, those were relitively new being the NEC and other code and tech books get updated from time to time so new ones are needed so they were not marked, the tools were walmart tools, and had not been engraved yet).....

getting the house back in order, I found the phone bill opened and hidden, over 600 bucks....... ouch!!

this guy had left alot of stuff.... so I loaded it up, and started the trip to this preachers house, when I arrived, I unloaded it all, and no one was there to speak with..... I then went to the preachers girl friends house, and there he was.... I told him I let him know that all of the guys stuff had been delivered, and I would like my things back..... he said that the guy was at home..... if he was, he was not letting it be known..... I showed him the phone bill, he shrugged, said none of his concern....

during this time, I was getting angry about being took advantage of.... well, the anser I got for my questions, was...... you did not do this for him, you did this for the kids, they needed you for that time, not him. now that the kids are being took care of, that is all that is needed, he will not change the kids need the help and guidance.......

a couple weeks later, the man took off and left the kids with the preacher...... then when SRS got in on the deal, and a warrent for abandonment and a bench warrent for failure to appear were set out, he shows up, says he is taking the kids to lunch and then going to turn himself in, and that was the last anyone has seen of him in this area at all..... the kids were under the care/guardianship of the state, being allowed to live with the people they knew (foster).....

I asked about closing the door of the house....... was told I can not do that, the door is still open to a person in need...... there are rules to follow...... some have been added to help a person get back up on their feet.......

anyways..... God will bless you..... I was blinded by the events around me to be able to see the blessing I had received, until a good while later......

what you did was good..... thank the Lord that you were able to do that for them....

mike