A Tap Away

Now my soul sings
Your love it knows no end
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu258qXd4js

Flowers like these bloom only
twice, both during the
month of February.

 I haven't been able to shake the feeling that provision will soon come our way and that the Lord will do so abundantly. As I thought of that this morning, I remembered the story I narrated to a friend during Thursday’s lunch. I can’t even remember what we were talking about, only that I told her ‘the story’. I refer to it as that because it’s been told and re-told many times. If you are a long-time friend, it may not be new to you, as a reader, for that reason. It’s still a great story so one I’ll write about, today.

One Sunday, I was at a church service while we were then living in the Philippines as missionaries. I just heard and saw what God was doing in that church so I wanted to bless it. Looking in my wallet, I saw that I only had two peso bills: a P500 and a P100. Times were tough then so the two bills represented my total cash wealth. =) I slightly debated in my head about whether I really wanted to get rid of one of them but my better sense made me pull out the P100 and while holding the offering bag, I quickly dropped it in. (Sometimes, when I tell this story, I would joke that I should have pulled out the P500!) At that point, I felt a tap on my right shoulder. Surprised, I turned to see what it was for without letting go of the bag. The lady behind me handed me a folded bill. I gestured my question of whether she wanted me to put it in the bag for her. I was a little puzzled as to why she didn’t wait for the bag to get to her so she could do it herself. She shook her head “no” and pointed with her index finger that it was for me. Completely taken aback, I let go of the offering bag and looked more closely at what I received. It was a folded P1000 bill! I was dumbfounded! How could that happen? I gave away a hundred and before it even landed on the bag, a thousand found its way to me? I felt so awed! Would the enemy (devil) do that? I realized how ridiculous that thought was so I praised God instead and thanked Him. Of course, I also thanked the lady. =) What an amazing truth it is, that if we give to God, He blesses us right back!

Beautiful trees like these can only be seen in Chiang Mai
at this time of year.

Further to that, years later, we visited that same church. During the service, I remembered the story above and in my mind, I thanked God again for that special blessing. Our lives had changed since then and we were no longer financially challenged. Looking in my wallet, I saw that it had more pesos than the P600 that time. Then, I put in a P1000 in the offering and told God that it was my way of thanking Him (How absurd! Like, why would He need a P1000?); I said I wanted Him to have it. When the service was over, I saw the very same lady mentioned in the story above, the one who gave me a P1000 with a tap on my shoulder. After our greetings, she shook my hand and gave me another folded P1000. Surprised again, I told her how awed I was the first time she gave me a thousand and how I shared that story A LOT! I told her it effectively changed my thinking about how God blesses our generosity. I think it was also the first time I told her that I just gave a P100 and how because of what she did, it immediately changed to a P1000. When she later left, the thought occurred to me that I really wanted to give the P1000 back to God (silly me!). I went over to the Missions Box and dropped the P1000 that she just gave. We were then asked to return so we could also share at the second service. We were just visiting that church that Sunday. We were on our way to Davao City where we then lived and worked. Impromptu, when the church's leadership saw us, they allowed us to share a bit about the work we did. When the second service was over, an envelope was given to us to thank us for sharing. In it was a third P1000 in the last 2 hours! =) I thought, "Wow, Lord, you really wanted us to have that!" We kept it! =D

The Lord does amazing and wonderful things as He love and provides. He does so sometimes with such creativity! =) My story is just one of many more. He is so generous and good, and, His ways are truly higher than ours. I don’t know how our current provision will come but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s just a tap away.