Our First Gift Was For Our Liberation – Part 2
That evening we parted with our very first gift that made a significant difference in our lives. Significant in the sense that it left us without the only means of transport in the family but it also left us so excited that we finally obeyed God. We believed in our hearts that one day we were going to look back and make reference to that day with regards to material breakthroughs. When I told this young man that we have decided to give him our car he was so surprised and did not believe it but we assured him that we were sure that it was the most perfect move we made up to that point in our lives.
The next morning his father, a Pastor of a local Church called me wanting to verify whether what his son told him was true. The Monday after we gave the car became the beginning of an adjustment we were never prepared for. For me going to work using public transport became my very first inconvenience, as I had to leave home at 4:30 in the morning, then leave work at 4:00 in the afternoon and walk 12 kilometres from my workplace to the Bible College where I was a student, but the peace that accompanied all these challenges was just so priceless I can still look back at those years and see it’s glory. By the grace of God we began to make adjustments and within a few months we were now used to our new life. Our faith was literally pumped up and we had even forgotten that we ever owned a car. Then something that would change our lives forever happened after a few more weeks. The young chap we gave the car to, came back to us asking if we could provide the car papers as he somehow felt that he could no longer keep it.
And this is how God worked the whole thing. A preacher from outside Johannesburg came to join our local congregation in Soweto and had a missionary task of planting Churches and the car he had, an exact make and model with the one we gave away was giving him trouble and he needed a car! Can you see how God just does things? Within a few weeks the man of God was driving the car and going from place to place using it to establish branches of the largest Church in Soweto. It was only at that time that we were able to see how the lord had planned this all this while. The bible declares in the book of Isaiah 55:8 ‘for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways declares the Lord, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’. One of the greatest blessings that I will forever cherish is the blessing of being in God’s perfect will. We then realized that God in His infinite wisdom had chosen us to become ‘shareholders’ in the mission that He gave to his servant, He called him to plant the churches, we gave him wheels and God’s work was accomplished. It was at that time that my eyes were opened to divine moves and interventions. The glory of God is able to accomplish whatever He wishes, through whoever He chooses and with whatever He gives them.
During this phrase in our lives the power of God was revealed in the most supernatural way. It was during the same time that my son died and God raised him again. [See my previous posts: Still alive 24 years down the line] And we were able to see His grace in almost every thing we did.
We went on for the next three years before we could get another car. During the past years the Lord taught us contentment and reliance in His power. Exactly seven years after we gave the car when we were by that time Pastors of our first Church. I was driving our fourth Car after the one we gave when someone hit me from behind and my car caught fire and the whole front burnt to ashes. The insurance paid it off but we were once more without a car in the family seven years later. By this time our Church was co-incidentally also 7 kilometres away from home. We had no choice but to walk to Church and by this time our family had grown to four since my daughter was now around. God in His infinite wisdom chose not to make us afford another car, maybe to test us and thanks to the Holy Spirit of contentment and peace that we did not complain, because looking back I realize that this was our ‘graduation’ in the realm of giving.
A family was added to our Church and they stayed exactly half way between our home and Church. So we would leave home early enough and stop for a while at their place then continue to Church. We did the same when we came back from Church and it made such a huge difference and sometimes the man of the house would take us home in his car. We were thankful to God for this obvious move from His throne. This went on for a few months and just when we were getting used to this, something happened. The gentleman and his wife invited us for a meal one Tuesday evening. We accepted the invite and walked to their home which was about 3 kilometres away. We had a wonderful time together with the family and spoke about a number of things. When we were about to leave it was around 9 in the evening and the gentleman offered to take us home.
As we walked out of their house the man changed his mind and decided that we should use his car instead. He gave us the car keys, and as I was reversing out of their yard he asked me to pen the window and what he said really shocked us. The gentleman told me that the real reason they asked us to visit them that evening was because they wanted give us their car, the only car they had in their family, a 2 year old beautiful car and the next morning he too caught a taxi to work just like I did 7 years ago! I sat there in the car, my hands on the steering wheel with tears rolling down my face. The scene was exactly the same with ours with the young man years ago. God was totally in control. The gentleman was working as a van driver for many years and in the same month he was promoted to a managerial position and given a company. God replaced the one he gave us. We knew that giving was God’s perfect way of tapping into His unlimited resources. Think about it, after all it’s not too late to start giving. MVK
That evening we parted with our very first gift that made a significant difference in our lives. Significant in the sense that it left us without the only means of transport in the family but it also left us so excited that we finally obeyed God. We believed in our hearts that one day we were going to look back and make reference to that day with regards to material breakthroughs. When I told this young man that we have decided to give him our car he was so surprised and did not believe it but we assured him that we were sure that it was the most perfect move we made up to that point in our lives.
The next morning his father, a Pastor of a local Church called me wanting to verify whether what his son told him was true. The Monday after we gave the car became the beginning of an adjustment we were never prepared for. For me going to work using public transport became my very first inconvenience, as I had to leave home at 4:30 in the morning, then leave work at 4:00 in the afternoon and walk 12 kilometres from my workplace to the Bible College where I was a student, but the peace that accompanied all these challenges was just so priceless I can still look back at those years and see it’s glory. By the grace of God we began to make adjustments and within a few months we were now used to our new life. Our faith was literally pumped up and we had even forgotten that we ever owned a car. Then something that would change our lives forever happened after a few more weeks. The young chap we gave the car to, came back to us asking if we could provide the car papers as he somehow felt that he could no longer keep it.
And this is how God worked the whole thing. A preacher from outside Johannesburg came to join our local congregation in Soweto and had a missionary task of planting Churches and the car he had, an exact make and model with the one we gave away was giving him trouble and he needed a car! Can you see how God just does things? Within a few weeks the man of God was driving the car and going from place to place using it to establish branches of the largest Church in Soweto. It was only at that time that we were able to see how the lord had planned this all this while. The bible declares in the book of Isaiah 55:8 ‘for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways declares the Lord, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’. One of the greatest blessings that I will forever cherish is the blessing of being in God’s perfect will. We then realized that God in His infinite wisdom had chosen us to become ‘shareholders’ in the mission that He gave to his servant, He called him to plant the churches, we gave him wheels and God’s work was accomplished. It was at that time that my eyes were opened to divine moves and interventions. The glory of God is able to accomplish whatever He wishes, through whoever He chooses and with whatever He gives them.
During this phrase in our lives the power of God was revealed in the most supernatural way. It was during the same time that my son died and God raised him again. [See my previous posts: Still alive 24 years down the line] And we were able to see His grace in almost every thing we did.
We went on for the next three years before we could get another car. During the past years the Lord taught us contentment and reliance in His power. Exactly seven years after we gave the car when we were by that time Pastors of our first Church. I was driving our fourth Car after the one we gave when someone hit me from behind and my car caught fire and the whole front burnt to ashes. The insurance paid it off but we were once more without a car in the family seven years later. By this time our Church was co-incidentally also 7 kilometres away from home. We had no choice but to walk to Church and by this time our family had grown to four since my daughter was now around. God in His infinite wisdom chose not to make us afford another car, maybe to test us and thanks to the Holy Spirit of contentment and peace that we did not complain, because looking back I realize that this was our ‘graduation’ in the realm of giving.
A family was added to our Church and they stayed exactly half way between our home and Church. So we would leave home early enough and stop for a while at their place then continue to Church. We did the same when we came back from Church and it made such a huge difference and sometimes the man of the house would take us home in his car. We were thankful to God for this obvious move from His throne. This went on for a few months and just when we were getting used to this, something happened. The gentleman and his wife invited us for a meal one Tuesday evening. We accepted the invite and walked to their home which was about 3 kilometres away. We had a wonderful time together with the family and spoke about a number of things. When we were about to leave it was around 9 in the evening and the gentleman offered to take us home.
As we walked out of their house the man changed his mind and decided that we should use his car instead. He gave us the car keys, and as I was reversing out of their yard he asked me to pen the window and what he said really shocked us. The gentleman told me that the real reason they asked us to visit them that evening was because they wanted give us their car, the only car they had in their family, a 2 year old beautiful car and the next morning he too caught a taxi to work just like I did 7 years ago! I sat there in the car, my hands on the steering wheel with tears rolling down my face. The scene was exactly the same with ours with the young man years ago. God was totally in control. The gentleman was working as a van driver for many years and in the same month he was promoted to a managerial position and given a company. God replaced the one he gave us. We knew that giving was God’s perfect way of tapping into His unlimited resources. Think about it, after all it’s not too late to start giving. MVK
This entry was posted
on Sunday, April 17, 2011
.
You can leave a response
and follow any responses to this entry through the
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
.
5 comments