God’s Smuggler
Carmen has a fever today and is coughing some. We completely stopped giving her Robinul to control secretions and switched over to the Scop patch. She is peeing more but oftentimes will not pee for hours and hours and then a deluge happens! She continues to have daily diarrhea. We have no idea why.
Good news! A new nurse will come in for orientation Monday night. She was a NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit) nurse in Pennsylvania and just moved here. We are praying that she is good and a wonderful fit for our family.
This summer I read quite a few books thanks to my friend Lori. I have always loved to read and find it a wonderful distraction from my hectic life. I have been thinking of doing “book reviews” on here occasionally. I decided to start with my top 5 books. I’ll start with #1, just in case I don’t get to all 5 in a reasonable amount of time (like 10 years!).
God’ Smuggler by Brother Andrew (May 11, 1928- )
. God’s Smuggler is the story of Brother Andrew’s incredible efforts to transport Bibles across closed borders and the miraculous ways in which God provided for him every step of the way. This book is filled with hair-raising examples of God’s provision. Brother Andrew did not start off with the amazing faith he came to possess. God showed Himself faithful in the “small” things and Brother Andrew believed.
As a young man, Brother Andrew felt God’s call to mission work. So, he enrolled in Worldwide Evangelization Crusade Missionary Training College in Glasgow. This was no ordinary training. The focus was on learning to trust God for EVERYTHING. In one exercise in trust, 5 students including Brother Andrew were to go on a missionary tour of Scotland. The students were each given a one pound banknote (which they were expected to pay back at the end of the tour) and had to pay all of their expenses themselves, but were to never, never ask for money. My favorite story happened when the group was holding meetings in Edinburgh. They decided to hold tea for a group of young people. But, they had no tea, no cake, no bread and butter and only 5 cups. The young people volunteered to bring everything but the cake. So, the young missionaries in training had no cake for their tea. The following is an excerpt of what happened:
“So that night in our evening prayer time, we put the matter before the Lord. ‘Lord, we’ve got ourselves into a spot. From somewhere we’ve got to get a cake. Will You help us?’
That night as we rolled up in our blankets on the floor of the hall, we played guessing games: How was God going to give us that cake? Among the five of us, we guesed everything imaginable- or so we thought.
Morning arrived. We half expected a heavenly messenger to come to our door bearing a cake. But no one came. The morning mail arrived. We ripped open two letters, hoping for money. There was none. A woman from a nearby church came by to see if she could help. ‘Cake,’ was on the tip of all of our tongues, but we swallowed the word and shook our heads.
‘Everything,’ we assured her, ‘is in God’s hands.’
The tea had been announced for four o’clock in the afternoon. At three the tables were set, but still we had no cake. Three-thirty came. We put on water to boil. Three-forty-five.
And then the doorbell rang.
All of us ran together to the big front entrance, and there was the postman. In his hands was a large box.
‘Hello, lads,’ said the postman. ‘Got something for you that feels like a food package.’ He handed the box to one of the boys. ‘The delivery day is over, actually,’ he said, ‘but I hate to leave a perishable package overnight.’
We thanked him profusely, and the minute he closed the door the boy solemnly handed me the box. ‘It’s for you, Andrew. From Mrs. William Hopkins in London.’
I took the package and carefully unwrapped it. Off came the twine. Off came the brown outside paper. Inside, there was no note- only a large white box. Deep in my soul I knew that I could afford the drama of lifting the lid slowly. As I did, there, in perfect condition, to be admired by five sets of wondering eyes, was an enormous, glistening, moist, chocolate cake.”
And thus began a life of trust. Brother Andrew learned to trust God for every provision he ever needed, big or “small”. He trusted God when he took Bibles across hostile borders. He did not live in the lap of luxury by any means. But, his many, many stories of God’s miraculous provisions are worth far more than gold!
When I read this about 20 years ago, I was struck by two things. 1) When we are following God’s leading, He can be trusted to provide everything we need in His perfect timing. 2) God knows exactly what we need and He is perfectly capable of leading other people to provide our needs.
I know it is very tempting to share our needs as prayer requests or struggles. I am very guilty of this very thing. But, when we allow God to supply our needs, without anyone else knowing ahead of time, our faith grows leaps and bounds as we see God work! (There are times when God leads us to share our needs…I am just saying that in general, watching God work without our “help” is so much more rewarding!)
You can find this book most anywhere: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Christian bookstores, etc. Read it. You will love it and think about it for the rest of your life!
Thanks. I was looking for a new book to read. Just this morning I was in awe at God’s provisions for me in recent months. I don’t write about it on Amelia’s website, because my dire needs stemmed from my husband of twelve years moving out and getting a girlfriend, leaving me, a stay-at-home mom taking care of a terminally ill child, to fend for myself. I’m not going to bad mouth my husband on Amelia’s website. Anyway, I prayed day and night for about a month after he left. Everyone in my family, the pastor and his wife, people from all over the country were praying for me, and I still didn’t have an answer. Then one day (when my 4 year old was at preschool) I just yelled at the top of my lungs “Lord I need a solution, and I need it now. I can’t do this anymore.” And for the first time in my life I heard the Lord’s voice “In Home Support Services.” IHSS is a state funded program that pays for in-home care for the elderly and disabled. I worked for them years ago taking care of my disabled mother-in-law. I didn’t think I could get paid to take care of Amelia for many reasons – she’s a baby and needs 24 hour care anyway, my husband makes decent money, we own a house, no social worker told me to apply, no other parent I know with a special child told me that they qualified for IHSS. So I had never looked into it before. That day, after yelling at God, I went straight to the phone book, called the number, and left a desperate, crazy message on their phone. A social worker came to my house a week later, which is a miracle in itself. It took 3 or 4 months to get someone to come out and sign up my mother-in-law. She told me that she knew God had given her my case and that she was going to do everything possible to keep me and my girls in our home. She said that Amelia qualified because she’s on Medicaid (she’s on that because of her disability). They pay me just enough to cover my mortgage. I was so scared to stay here alone, then my brother moved in, and now I feel safe. I didn’t know how I was going to keep up my yard. We have a lot of property. My next door neighbor is a retired groundskeeper and he just started mowing my lawns, weed wacking, pulling weeds, pruning trees and watering my yard. He does it for my every week without even saying a word to me about it. It’s all been provided for. I keep trying to remind myself of that as I start the overwhelming, scary process of getting divorced.
Anyway, just felt like sharing my story.
Take care, Sarah
I also have some needs which I need to bring to the Lord, giving him specific requests. I am going to start asking him to meet those specific needs – to help me find a way to meet them. I haven’t felt worthy at times recently to ask for specifics, but I plan to do that now, and to have the faith that He will answer…
Thanks for your encouragement, and also, thanks to Sarah for sharing…
God Bless,
Sandi
http://www.jerryandsandirectenwald.com
I read that book when I was a teenager–I absolutely loved it! Thank you for the wonderful reminder.
Carolyn
Hi Lana, I had to go to the top of the page to remember your name after reading what people wrote. I cannot read more than a sentence or two because I forget what I read due to brain damage from a accident a few years ago. If I write more than a few sentences I don’t know if it makes sense, so I read parts of things and try to pray for people. I rarely ever share this because I am not here for me I am here for you. Most people look at me and are sad but I know God, God knows me, and without ever asking anyone for anything you would be amazed at what Jesus has done for me. I am so blessed. I hope what I say is a good thing and makes sense. Crazy , I know, but I don’t know why I say this. I just read your last sentence and I write. Have a great day. God bless you. In Christ, Joe
Sarah, I read Amelia’s caringbridge site but had no idea what was going on. I am so very sorry. This disease causes enough stress to last a lifetime. I am sorry you have so much more to endure. Thank you for sharing your story. We will be praying for you.
Joe, glad to “meet” you! We’ve been wondering who Joe is, who always leaves us such nice messages! Thank you for sharing your story!
Sarah – everyone responds to stress in different ways. I am sorry your husband has chosen the path he has, BUT – - I think you have already seen (and will see in the days to come) that God IS able to take care of your needs – - often He is waiting for us to ask. I can remember the electric and gas person at my door ready to turn off our service – - God provided then and in many other ways since – He has never let me down. I won’t say it was easy, but what a testimony to your children of God’s ablility and willingness to care for us.
My mother always quoted Psalm 37 – esp. v. 25
I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread. (NIV)
Hold on to that verse, keep trusting and don’t be afraid to let others know your needs – - they may not be able to supply your need but they can certainly pray for you.
Joe – I have enjoyed reading your responses to Dave & Lana’s blogs – - keep responding and never underestimate how much your comments mean to all of us – - they are a great encouragement.