December 10

"But the Lord told him to go. ... and ... Ananias went off ..." (Acts 9:15-17)

I received a wonderful e-mail one day. The subject line read Maraming Salamat! At first I thought it was spam, but as I opened it I read that Maraming Salamat means Thank You in Filipino, and I realized that the email was personal.

At a conference in South Africa, a few months earlier, I had met a Christian woman from the Philippines. After returning home the Lord woke me one night and told me to send a certain amount of money to this woman. I wanted to be obedient, so I wrote a greeting and added money in the envelope, sent it off and forgot about the whole thing.

Now came her thanks and she asked if I believed in miracles and she emphasized that she did. She and her husband worked full-time service for the Lord, but studied at the same time. They were living under poor conditions and they had long prayed that the Lord would provide them with money, so they could pursue their studies. Several of their friends helped them to pray. The days passed and nothing happened, but my friend said that she still had never lost hope. Then one day she received the letter from me. At first she thought it was an early Christmas message, but then she discovered the miracle.

The letter contained exactly the amount of money she needed to continue their studies. And she said: Your gift was a great miracle for three reasons: 1) it was just the right time, 2) when I exchanged money, and set aside the tithe, the balance was the exact amount needed to pay for my studies, and 3) it is illegal in the Philippines to send money in ordinary envelopes and such money will usually not make it to the recipient. Wasn´t that a miracle, the timing, the amount and also God’s protection of the money?

Prayer

Lord, help me each day to be receptive to Your leading in my life. Help me not to hesitate to obey. Thank You for giving me, and every Christian the opportunity to be involved and reveal Your wonders in this world.