When God says “No”
By Brother Chuck
When God says “NO”, it doesn’t necessarily mean that what you want to happen will not happen. It might just happen in a way you didn’t expect. Perhaps he wants someone else to have the blessing. Let me explain . . .
Last week I got an email from George Truelove, a missionary in Haiti, telling me about a man named Emile and his wife, and how they were struggling to provide for the 30 children they take care of. TEM has been able to help them several times in the last couple of years, the last being July 2007, but we have always made it clear that we are not able to help every month. Because of a drought, which has caused all of their crops to dry up, Emile made a list of supplies that he needs in order to care for the children (2 bags of rice, 1 bag of beans and 1 case of oil). He also asked, if possible, that we buy a goat and some vegetables. The cost of the rice, beans and oil was $175.00, and my flesh had decided to send the money, not knowing where it would come from, to George to take care of this. But before I sent the money, I knelt down next to my desk and prayed about it. While praying it became evident that the Lord was telling me NOT to send the money. I really didn’t understand why God did not want TEM to send the money, but I was obedient.
I sent George an email and asked him to relay to Emile that TEM had not promised that we could help every month and that this time we couldn’t help. I also asked George to tell Emile that he, his wife, and the children should pray that the Lord would provide and for them to not put their faith in Brother Chuck, TEM or Americans, but to put their faith in Jesus.
The next day I got a phone call from Barbara, whom I haven’t heard from in a long while. She told me the her eleven-year-old daughter, Lindsey, had come to her the week before and said that they were supposed to have a yard sale and everything they made was supposed to go to “Mister Chuck” for the children in Haiti. Barbara, like many of us, doesn’t like to do yard sales but what do you do when your daughter tells you something like this? You have a yard sale! The total amount they ended up with was $175.00, the very amount that Emile and the children needed.
The story gets even better. The next day I was cleaning out some gutters for a lady who attends my church and I was telling her the story of Emile, the children, Barbara and Lindsey. When I finished cleaning out the gutters, she gave me a hundred dollars for the work. I told her I couldn’t take the money, but I would put it with the $175.00 so that the children could have goat meat and vegetables; so now whereas the children once had nothing, they now have an abundance. I mentioned to her that in November I would be going to Haiti to get a shipment of food, and I wanted to put Emile and the children on a monthly distribution. She asked me what they were going to do for the month of October and I told her I didn’t know. She went into the house and wrote a check for $300.00 for the month of October.
I emailed George and told him to tell Emile and the children that God had answered their prayers through an eleven-year-old girl and a lady who heard the story about Lindsey. Now they would have food not just for one month, but for two.
God didn’t want Truth Ministries to help these children. He wanted someone else to be blessed. So remember that hearing “No” doesn’t always mean that the need or want will not be taken care of. It might just mean that you are not the one to take care of it. What a wonderful God we have!
Thank you, Lindsey, for being obedient and showing us God speaks to all of us from the young to the old. He wants us all to be blessed.
