It is late July. Where I work, we get three weeks of vacation at the end of July. My sister knew that and she called me one evening saying, “Sonny, I have a surprise for you. I have purchased airline tickets for you to come here to Nevada and spend some time with us. You badly need a vacation.” I was thrilled at the offer and my King had no problem with it. I said, “What time do I leave?” My sister replied, “Your flight leaves Saturday morning.”
Now I was a little disappointed. I said, “That’s a bummer because I always love eating breakfast with Blue Mustang every Saturday morning.” She replied, “Your shuttle doesn’t leave from your apartment until 9:30 am. What time do you guys eat?”
I said, “In the summer time we meet at 6:30 am.” She replied, “I don’t see a problem as to why you can’t go to breakfast. You have almost two hours to eat.”
I realized that was enough time to meet with Blue Mustang and still catch my flight. I was so excited to be able to visit my sister. In the excitement, I forgot about the families we’ve been blessing on Saturdays.
Blue Mustang said, “You know Sonny, I still think God wants us to give money for families. I think that you’re going to do remote families.” Blue Mustang and Terry Bird gave me $280 to take with me. I didn’t think a lot more of what Blue Mustang said to me. They both prayed that I would have a safe flight.
I drove back to my apartment to drop off my pickup. I easily caught the shuttle that drove me to the Denver airport. Both the shuttle ride and my flight went smoothly. When I landed in Nevada, my sister was there to pick me up at the airport. She said, ”Sonny, we need to stop at the store and get some things so that you can really enjoy yourself why you’re here.” So we headed to the store directly from the airport. As we began shopping, my sister left me in the dust. I found myself wandering in the produce section of the store. I noticed two moms getting produce across the fruit display. This family even had teenage daughters shopping with them. They looked discouraged like they wished they could be someplace else. One of the little daughters came up and asked her mom if she could get some cereal this time. Her mom told her that they still could not afford it. I looked over the fruit display and I could see their shopping list sitting on top of their cart. It looked like there wasn’t much on it. I silently said, “These are the families God wants me to bless and He soon confirmed it.
I walked around the display to them and introduced myself. I then asked if I could see their shopping list. They handed me the list to examine. I said, “This is not very much to feed this large of a family.”
They replied, “We have been asking God for a miracle so we can get more food.”
Then I said, “Jesus Christ, Blue Mustang and Terry Bird sent me here to help you buy groceries.” The women started crying when I told them God sent me here. Even more so when I told them I came from Colorado.
The men said, “Thank you so much. We just moved here and it has been difficult. Covid caused the business where we worked to close. Our employer tried to keep it going but they were forced to downsize until they were forced to lay us all off. We can use some help.”
Before I showed any money, I prayed with them. Now the men started crying. I then gave each family $140 and began telling them more about my ministry partners. They were still blown away thinking about me making a trip clear from Colorado to bless them. They then started to cry more after they realized how much God loved them to bring me here just to bless them. They rededicated their hearts to Jesus Christ on the spot. Our King gets all the Glory and the Victory.
They started praying for Blue Mustang and Terry Bird. They finished up by praying for me. They were so grateful to receive $140.00 each. They kept hugging me. They finished up and exclaimed, “You guys truly have blessed us!” I said, “Our King is Faithful!”
Meanwhile a youth group of 14 teenagers happened to be shopping in the produce section also. They were getting ready to go to a camp and were stocking up on supplies. The youth pastor noticed us praying and crying and came over to us. He asked, “Can we pray for you?” The families told the youth pastor everything that just happened. Everyone from that youth group prayed for the family. The prayers from the teenagers were definitely anointed by the Holy Spirit. The youth pastor then pulled out his checkbook and made out a check for $600 to help the families out. Each one of the teenagers had exactly $40 on them and they also felt lead to give that to the families. The teenagers made friends with the families teenage daughters and asked them to come along on their adventure. When the teenagers from the families received permission from their parents to go, the depression was replaced by excitement. Since the families are new to the area and have not found a church home, the youth pastor asked them to come to their church. We all hugged each other, exchanged contact information and we parted ways.
My sister finally came back to see if I was getting bored. I told her what happened. She said, “You mean that this all happened while I was gone. I totally missed it all. I should know by now that you are always changing people’s lives. From now on, I am hanging with you.”
I asked, “What took you so long to get here?” She said, “I met this older couple I haven’t seen in awhile and I was praying for them.”
I said, “You see now that you were supposed to be praying for those people. You were where God wanted you.” She definitely had to agree with me.
I went to the church the youth pastor attended. Both of the families came to the church that Sunday. When church started, the youth pastor had the teenagers come forward. He explained to the congregation what they did by giving $40 to two needy families without revealing that the families were attending. The church honored the teenagers with $50 for giving the families everything they had. Church then went on as usual. At the end of the service, the pastor always asks for prayer requests or testimonies. The families came upfront and gave their testimonies of their hardship and what God did at the store that day. They then excitedly shared what the 14 teenagers in the church had done for them at the store that amazing day. Their testimonies had a great impact on the congregation.
The pastor called for a special offering for the families. One guy jumped up and said, “I want to cover their rent and utilities for August.” The teenagers all came up front again and put their $50 in the offering plate for the families. The powerful message of what the teenagers had done made many in the congregation write checks to 14 teenagers. Those 14 teenagers ended up with $100. This proves that you cannot out give God. Not only are the families going to remember what God did for them but the teenagers also saw what God can do when you bless other people or help meet their need.
They will both remember this week. I always think about what would happen if we did not provide for the financial needs of God’s people. Granted we are small in the scheme of things but these two families think we are huge. Even worse is the other thing that might happen. If we did not come, would these families have suffered longer? They were praying and God would have sent others to bless them. We then would have missed the power of God at work and the enjoyment of blessing these families. It is a gift to bless God’s people.