God
Provides Abundantly for Faithful Families in Need
This miracle
report is provided by Ruth Hunter, staff member of the Society
for the Cure of Souls
In September
of 1983 my family and I moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. We moved because
we were seeking a better church to attend and some spiritual
enlightenment. Tulsa is a very spiritual city — when you
arrive there you can feel a difference in yourself somehow.
My family and I were moving with little more than each other
and our faith. My husband had just gotten a new job in the area.
We had just enough money to rent a house that we would share
with another couple, and we only had enough cash to have a portion
of the utilities turned on.
Both our
family and the family we would be living with had two children
and I was seven months pregnant. Within two weeks my husband
was working but in the meantime our family finances were very
tight. We had to ration food and were very careful with what
money we had. One Sunday as we got ready to look for a church
I realized we only had one bag of lentils left in the house
to eat. We were out of every thing else. We had no flour, sugar,
eggs, or milk; we had nothing but lentils. We had little gas
for our car but we decided to make the trip to try to find a
church anyway and perhaps ask for help at whatever church we
found. The family we were living with had already been in Tulsa
for a month and had started attending a church.
That morning
they were going to that church. We decided to split up and go
to a different church to increase our chances of success in
finding the right one for our family. When my family got to
a church and an offering plate was passed around the congregation,
I wrote out a note that I intended to put in the offering. As
the service progressed and the collection plate was passed,
I felt God very strongly speak to my heart telling me to not
put the note I had written in the plate. It was very hard knowing
I had two kids depending on me for food to not ask for help,
but I let the plate pass. I held on to the note, wondering what
we would do. All I could think about during the service was
how I was going to feed the kids. I knew the lentils we had
would only last one meal and we had just enough gas in our car
to get us back home.
When the
service ended, my family and I turned to go out to the aisle
and a man in the congregation sitting behind us reached out
to introduce himself and shake my hand. When he did, he palmed
a twenty dollar bill into my hand and said, "Take care
of your kids." I was totally dumbfounded. I had been in
need before and many times had went without. I had never had
anything like this happen before. We left the church and went
to a gas station and put five dollars worth of gas in our car.
(Money went a lot farther back then.) After getting gas we found
a grocery store.
As we went
up and down the aisles I felt that everything I was reaching
for was directed by God's guidance. I felt very strongly that
I was to buy healthy food and not just fillers like noodles.
So I bought hamburger, chicken, vegetables, and fruit. I reached
for some coffee, but held back since it was not really nutritional.
I reached for apples but also held back from buying those for
some reason I didn't quite understand at the time.
When we
arrived home with our two bags of groceries, we found that the
other family we were living with had something very similar
happen to them. They got ready to leave their church and people
just started putting money in their hands. The mother of the
family said that when they went to the grocery store she had
felt the same way I had. She had gotten nothing but healthy
food, plus she had bought apples — the very thing that
I had reached for but did not purchase. She also said she had
started to reach for something that we had bought but pulled
her hand back. She too had reached for coffee but decided against
purchasing it. The miracle didn't end there.
After we
got everything put away someone pulled up in a big station wagon
and started bringing in loads and loads of groceries. And it
wasn't just canned goods. They brought hams, cake mixes, and
breakfast cereal. It was everything we were missing in our cupboards.
Never had any of us had so much food in our pantry before. We
were so blessed.
Today, whenever
I think about a need I have, I remember back to the time that
God said, "Trust me." On that day I did trust God;
I didn't put my note in the offering, but our needs were met
beyond any of my expectations anyway.
Ruth Hunter
