How God answered my prayer
I’ve been reading Hudson Taylor’s autobiography for the past two weeks and it’s been an awesome read. One of the great things about this book has been reading about what kind of faith this man had. I want to copy over an excerpt so you can have a better understanding. It comes from Chapter 5.
Please note that the book is now considered to be in public domain. I’ve also truncated some of the text, but you can still read it in its entirety.
The husband of my former landlady in Hull was chief officer of a ship that sailed from London, and by receiving his half-pay monthly and remitting it to her I was able to save her the cost of a commission. This I had been doing for several months, when she wrote requesting that I would obtain the next payment as early as possible, as her rent was almost due, and she depended upon that sum to meet it. The request came at an inconvenient time. I was working hard for an examination in the hope of obtaining a scholarship which would be of service to me, and felt that I could ill afford the time to go during the busiest part of the day to the city and procure the money. I had, however, sufficient of my own in hand to enable me to send the required sum. I made the remittance therefore, purposing, as soon as the examination was over, to go and draw the regular allowance with which to refund myself.
Before the time of examination, I had an opportunity of going at once to the office and applying for the due amount. To my surprise and dismay the cleric told me that he could not pay it, as the officer in question had run away from his ship and gone to the gold diggings. “Well,” I remarked, “that is very inconvenient for me, as I have already advanced the money, and I know his wife will have no means of repaying it.” The clerk said he was sorry, but could of course only act according to orders. A little more time and thought, however, brought the comforting conclusion to my mind, that as I was depending on the Lord for everything, and His means were not limited, it was a small matter to be brought a little sooner or later into the position of needing fresh supplies from Him; and so the joy and the peace were not long interfered with. (emphasis mine)
Last week, after looking over my finances, I realized I was in a very similar situation. However my situation was due to my own mistakes and my own impatience. I did not realize that I have overspent my budget for the last 3-4 months. It only became clear to me when I realized that I simply did not have enough money to pay all my bills without going into debt. I had come out of credit card debt almost a year ago and it is something that I am trying desperately to avoid. The biggest culprit was my eating out. I spent about $400 a month on eating out compared to about $50 in grocery shopping. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that there is a serious mistake here.
As I read this chapter, I began to realize the simplicity of Hudson’s faith. Despite having to pay for his medical school bills and having this captain leave his job to go gold digging, Hudson was filled with joy, simply because he could not wait to see how God was going to fulfill his promise. He stood in anticipation because he was going to witness God at work. Needless to say, this was not my reaction. In fact, it was far from this. My reaction was, “I wonder if God will come through. It was my fault that I got in this mess. How am I going to pay all my bills and still live? Will I have to go into foreclosure since I couldn’t pay my mortgage?”
I paid my bills knowing full well that the bank would have to pull from my over-draft account. I’ve done this before because my paycheck arrived a day after my bills were paid. I didn’t see this as a big deal because I would pay the over-draft back, paying about 30-cents for the interest. But this time, the interest would be much greater, and the wait would be much longer. In order to break even, I’d need to wait for another paycheck. To be honest, I didn’t pray about this issue. My relationship with God has been thinned due to a lot of things going on in my family. As I flirted with the prospect of asking my friends for help, I waited for my account to go into the red.
I looked at my account yesterday and saw that my account was still in the black. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that my mortgage company did not cash my check. I’ve been watching my checking account like a hawk the past two weeks, wondering when the shoe was going to drop. When it still hadn’t been cashed, I decided to give them a call.
I tried calling them several times. I went to their website to see if they got the check and simply didn’t cash it. I saw a very ominous message on their front page. It was very vague so I tried calling them again. I figured they were having some sort of difficulty with the checks, which is why the phone was constantly busy. I went to bed, not thinking much more about.
I opened the paper today and found that my mortgage company went bankrupt and is filing for Chapter 11. I got their letter last night, read it briefly but went to bed soon after since I was so tired. Now understanding what was happening, I re-read the letter. “If your payment did not draft in the month of August it will be drafted by your new serving company by the end of the month.” This meant that my check would be cashed at the end of the month, verses in the middle. At the end of the month, I will have enough money to cover my mortgage!
The joy that overcame me brought me to tears and I realized that God was watching out for me. Despite my disobedience, despite our lingering relationship, despite me NOT praying for him to provide, he did it anyway.
What a testament to God’s love! What a testament to God’s sovereignty! What a testament to a man who was had doubting God’s faithfulness, only to see that he was there all along.