Provision
Dear Friends,
The missionary Hudson Taylor had complete trust in God’s faithfulness. In his journal he wrote: ''Our Heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning. He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all. Depend on it; God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply''.
WOW! That is quite a thought: ‘God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply''.
Another missionary to Zaire Dr. Helen Roseveare, told the following story. "A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister. One of the girls responded, ‘Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, send a doll for the sister so she won’t feel so lonely.’
That afternoon a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it. Much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle! Immediately the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper, exclaiming, ‘If God sent that, I’m sure He also sent a doll!’ And she was right! Our heavenly Father knew in advance of that child’s sincere requests, and 5 months earlier He had led a women's group to include both of those specific articles."
What is it about missionaries! Not only is God aware that we have needs. He has shown Himself to be more than able to meet our needs, often by prompting His people to meet those needs.
Anyone more than forty-five years old (like me!) can probably remember where they were when they first heard of President Kennedy's assassination in 1963.
David Lodge, in the introduction to one of his books, tells where he was - in a theatre watching the performance of a satirical revue he helped to write. In one sketch, a character demonstrated his nonchalance in an interview by holding a transistor radio to his ear. The actor playing the part always tuned in to a real broadcast. Suddenly came the announcement that President Kennedy had been shot. The actor quickly switched it off, but it was too late. Reality had interrupted stage comedy.
Shalom,
J.John
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