THE FIFTEEN YEAR MIRACLE

By:  Anna Pritchard

I was five years old that day. I saw the sign in our yard, not knowing what it meant or comprehending the significance. A car slowed beside our country driveway. It was a strange car. Not anyone I knew.

"He Is My Strength When I am Weak; He is my All in All"

As I was finishing up the last bit of housecleaning, I stopped to  bask in the contentment that comes from restoring order and cleanliness to my home.  Such a sense of peace and well-being.  And then it hit me.  It was noon and I had just cleaned my whole house!  Joel had taken the children to various appointments earlier that morning and wouldn't return until evening. After seeing them off, I had turned on a message and started my weekly cleaning.

By nature, I love to be busy and enjoy the various duties that come with being a helpmeet and mother. I love a challenge and am not afraid of hard-work.  But, once I turned 40, something happened and I started to slow down.  I began drinking coffee, though I had never liked it before, just to have the energy to get through the day.

It got to the place that I had to start my work on Wednesday, just to have it finished by Sunday.  We have always worked together as a family, but with one child being married and two having jobs and their own schedules, I needed to make some major adjustments.  And to be honest, it was difficult. Joel and Becca both did more than their fair share, but I was really struggling.

Joel decided he had to do something to lighten the load.  He determined that he WOULD find a building or we would build a building to hold services in.  We have looked at every available building in the surrounding area for the last fifteen years.  One building (that would have been a LOT of work) had just sold.  Another building wanted $1,000.00 per month for rent and really would not meet our needs even in the short term.  The list went on.  So he began to search for land and found several promising sites.  One piece of land was 1.5 acres and they wanted $150,000 for it, another was 3 acres for $200,000.  By the time we were finished we would have well over $300,000 in a modest building.   Not exactly in our price range!

God had given Joel a dream and confirmed the dream, by letting our house in Ohio sell miraculously, when He first called us to Wisconsin.  We came knowing we were following God's leading.  In the dream, God showed Joel the building He had for us.  But due to circumstances beyond our control, that building has not been an option.  We have looked time and again, but each time we thought we found a building, something has caused it not to work out.  God reminded Joel that He gave him the promise 16 years ago, and He would bring it to pass...in HIS time.

But, I was tired, really tired.  Often times, we are capable of doing more that we think we can do. The issue is really one of not wanting to do what we must, more than that of not being able to do it.  I know from personal experience!  This was different though.  I really couldn't do it.  I wanted God's will, but I really wanted His will to be a building right away.  I struggled.  Would I accept God's answer by faith and continue to walk in His will or would I allow reasoning, questions, and my rights to prevail.  If I accepted God's way, there had to be a death to my wants and desires.  But I physically couldn't keep doing this!  Would God ask me to do something I couldn't do?

He reminded me of the time He gave me strength when I was expecting Becca and had placenta previa.  He reminded me that His grace was sufficient.  If I would give it to Him, He would carry my burden, He would shoulder the load.  But it seemed like such a big load.

I decided to trust Him with it.  I gave it to Him.  Nothing miraculous happened.  I didn't feel any different.  Life just went on.  But then I realized that I had just cleaned my whole house and it was only noon!  I know God will do what He promised to do, in providing the building, when the time is right; but more importantly He proved once again, that He is my strength when I am weak. He is my all in all!

"Line of Duty"

 

Since last September, I have been struggling with symptoms of planters fasciitis. I had claimed my healing and was believing that no matter what happened God was my healer. For the last two weeks, I have been re-organizing/cleaning the basement (So thankful that job is finished!) As Friday is my "normal" house cleaning day, I planned to clean, but my feet were hurting so badly that I couldn't. When I went to tuck Becca into bed last night, I literally could not walk.

This morning I was up at 3:00 a.m. with my feet feeling as if they were on fire and my legs aching. Joel and I had been discussing how that Paul of Tarsus, had asked God three times to heal his eyes, but God replied, "My grace is sufficient for thee."  Joel stated that we need to find out what God’s will is in each situation and if it is His will to heal us, we can have faith knowing that God cannot lie, but if God says, “No”, we need to be content knowing He knows what is best for us.

I just believed God would heal me.  I had never asked Him what His will was in the matter.  What if He had a bigger plan?  What if He was trying to teach me a lesson?  Could I be content if His answer was “No”?  There is only one way to find out what God’s will is and that’s to ask Him.  I began to sincerely ask God what His will was in this situation.

 

When I had finished praying, I read these words:

“They were on their road marching then, come out, there was a Pillar of Fire before them, and they marched on to the Red Sea. And when they got there, right in the line of duty laid an obstacle. And first thing you know, fear struck them, and they didn't know what to do. 
That's the way people does today. When fear strikes them when they're right in the path of duty… Listen, brother, let me say this: If you're walking in the light, having fellowship with God, with His people, and the Holy Spirit is upon you, and you meet an obstacle right in the path of duty, don't stop, just keep pressing on. God will make a way through it. That's one of the greatest experiences of my life, is to see God. When I can't get over it, get under it, get around it, or anyway, God opens up a way and I go through it. Somehow or another His grace is sufficient to carry us through it.”

 

As a helpmeet to my husband, my “line of duty” includes preparing the house for services every Sunday and Wednesday.  As a mother, my “line of duty” includes tucking my children into bed every night. 

I began listening to this message and God let me know, beyond a shadow of doubt that His will was for me to be healed.

 

 About half way through the message I felt impressed to begin cleaning out my refrigerator.  Once that was clean, I cleaned the kitchen, then the dining room, the bathroom and finally, our bedroom.  The pain in my feet left completely.  To God be the glory!

 

When Your Hands Are Too Far Away

The phone rang and with eagerness I began to chat with my married daughter who lives a thousand miles away.  She was expecting her first baby and they had just purchased their first home.  It needed a lot of work.  I could hear the exhaustion in her voice.  She was busy scrubbing greasy, kitchen cabinets so that she could paint them. 

Preparing Our Daughters to be Ladies and Wives

The other day, I was asked how I trained my daughters to be ladies and how I went about preparing them with the skills needed to be a wife.

 ^"For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:"  ~Isaiah 28:10

Leaving and Cleaving

Shortly after Joel asked me to marry him, we discussed where we would live.  Since he lived in Wisconsin and I lived in Ohio, one of us was going to have to move away from family, friends and "home".

The Joy of Serving Others

Author:  Lisa Jacobson

In the beginning, I did everything myself.

Mama was faster. Better. And more efficient.