Receiving

Times with our oldest: 22 year old son,
Evan, were precious.

Before I left for Toronto, Eng gave me a gift card with over $300 in it. He said it was given to him but he didn't have a chance to use it all while he was here. There was an expiry date on it which necessitated its immediate use. He also said I should shop and just use it any way I wanted to. Pleased to have money to spend, I determined to shop and use it wisely. For the past three Sundays, Evan and I had gone to the malls after church and used the card for our lunches and for shopping. (Sundays are the days when my siblings visit my father so it is a good time to be out as he has company.)

The first time we went shopping, I tried to buy something for Evan but he wouldn't let me. Even when we did find a great looking $20 shirt on sale, he didn't want it. He said it was too expensive. He said he wanted a shirt from a second hand store. Buying some body scrubs for me, a shop clerk's eyes smiled when we explained our predicament that we were trying to use up all the money in the card. She said she'd have a "great and easy" time using the money we had. My nephew said the same thing. It shouldn't be hard to spend all that money.

So the question was, "Why were we walking back and forth in the mall and having difficulty trying to buy something?" I was in a shoe store and tried on a pair that was on sale for $89.99. I needed a pair, it looked great and it felt good on my feet. Still, I didn't buy it because I couldn't justify spending that kind of money on a pair of footwear! We kept looking and spent just over $100 on our first shopping day.

Times with Tatay, my father, were gifts.

By our third time out, we finally exhausted our funds. I'd spent it on our two lunches, clothing for Eng, Eric, Eli, and Ethan, a book for Evan, and other hygienic items for Evan and I. Proud of ourselves that we got our task accomplished, Evan then took out his gift card. He said it was for $80 from a leather shop that he wouldn't buy anything from. They sold footwear, belts, and wallets. I said I needed a wallet so we went to buy one. On the way there, I talked to Evan about learning how to receive. I told him I wanted to buy him the $20 shirt from our first day out but he wouldn't accept it because of the cost. When we got to the store, I couldn't find a wallet I liked so I started looking at their footwear. Before too long, I found one that had a 50% sale on its tag. It was all leather, it looked good, and it felt great. The price? It was almost $100!

Really? It was the second pair I liked and tried in three weeks and they cost almost the same? Was that a coincidence? Did I need to learn something? (Obviously, the prices of stuff in Toronto went way up while we weren't living here!) Could I receive that as a gift if the giver felt I deserved it? Just like Eng, Evan said I could use the card on anything. So what was my problem? My own words were still fresh on my lips! "You need to learn to receive. How can the Lord give you anything if you won't open your hands to receive it?

Well, I am learning as I am now the owner of a super comfortable, leather pair of sandals. Yesterday, our family friend insisted that she wanted to do my nails: hands and feet! I let her even though it took a long time and she re-did my right hands' fingers at 1:00 a.m.! Last night, Evan and I watched a movie with popcorn and drinks. Our outing cost us $3.00 just for the parking because of a coupon I received.

Our Lord, because of the way He loves, is extravagant, generous, and giving. Even though Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive, there is grace also needed to receive well. May we not miss out on our blessings because of our inability to receive.

Wheels Provision

All glory, honour, power is Yours, amen

All glory, honour, power is Yours, amen.

All glory, honour, power is Yours forever, amen.

From the song “Cannons” by Paul Wickham

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_GNVWAo1pY

Richie, our new 1996 Honda City

Last week, I drove home our newest car, a Honda City. =) It was offered to us, to buy, by a missionary friend that used to work here. She had gone back to her home country so she had to sell and get rid of all her stuff. She’d always been a blessing to us. She’d given us generous monetary gifts before but it’s nowhere as big as what she’d given us for our newest car. She is just one of a kind. She’s also an amazing prayer warrior. She’d interceded and prayed for us many, many times already. I know she’ll probably keep doing so in the future. We are amazed by her and praise and thank God for her.

Our 1990 New Wagon Nissan, Black Beauty

A few months ago, I started to pray for Eng to have another car to drive. We’d had Black Beauty since we arrived here in 2004. She’s a two-door Nissan 1990 model. Like her name, her color absorbs all the heat of the sometimes scorching Thai sun. Because of her 23 years of age, her air conditioning no longer works. That would be all right if the windows are open as you drive her but the passenger’s window no longer open. One door can’t be opened from inside, there is no power steering, and the hatch back won’t stay open. She runs so well but bit by bit, her body parts are declaring their resignation. Sometimes, in the middle of the day, you may have showered before getting into her, but when you get to your destination, you’d feel like you’d showered again, in your own sweat!

Eng's snazzy Honda until September

I’d been feeling badly for Eng driving our old car so I prayed for another car for him. (All this time, he’d been letting me drive our other car, Tiger. I wrote about our cars in “The Old and the New” posted on May 21, 2008) The Lord answered my prayer when our friends left for their Home Assignment. Eng asked them if he could look after their car and they agreed for him to use it. It’s a real beauty! When Eng drives that car, he looks like a manager (which he is!) of some important place! It’s the complete opposite of Black Beauty. Only thing is, our friends will be back in September so I knew the snazzy Honda Civic wasn’t the long-term answer.

Tiger is a 2006 Toyota Hilux

And then our amazing friend mentioned above took her car to the mechanic to get it tuned up. She asked them how much they’d buy her car and they said 140,000 baht (about $4,500 US). She then turned around and offered to sell it to us for 40,000 baht (about $1,280 US). Realizing the blessing that we were offered, Eng borrowed the money (we are slowly paying that loan) to pay her and that is why we have several cars parked outside. For the first time in our lives, we are in possession of 3 cars (Black Beauty, Tiger, and our newest: Richie – named in honour of our benefactor) and looking after one! We immediately loaned Black Beauty to new missionaries who just arrived. We are on the lookout to see who to give her to. Awed by our generous God, we hope we can be as generous with our wheels.

Thank you, Papa God, for the wonderful ways you’d provided. Praise You!!!

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.