Our Miracle-Working God

Although I had heard the story previously, it wasn’t until a member of a Christian editors group posted again recently about her experience that I remembered it.

In brief, Rachel Bradley’s husband’s death from cancer left her a single mother of a two-year-old. The proceeds from his life insurance allowed her to stop working for a while. But after a year, she sensed God telling her to stop using the insurance money and live on what she made.

The first month after she made a budget, a potential client showed up with a manuscript that needed editing. It would pay what she needed to live on that month. As she read over it, God told her to do the editing at no cost.

Despite wondering how the Lord expected her to live if she worked for free, she made the offer. The client protested, insisting he could pay. She asked him to allow her to do that so she could receive the Lord’s payment instead. She expected it to have greater significance than the money he could give her. He graciously complied.

A week later, another client brought her a much smaller job that she could work on simultaneously. When Rachel quoted her price, the client insisted on paying her four times that amount.

“Since that time, my business has never been hurting,” Rachel wrote.

Testimonial Triumphs

Revelation 12:11 says, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death” (MEV).

I’ve always loved hearing testimonies. For years, I ghosted hundreds for two magazines. So when stories like this editor’s come to light, I find them thrilling.

One reason Rachel’s story struck a nerve was its similarity to one in a book I recently completed editing.

Because it has yet to be published, I’m not giving the author’s name or title. But I hope it is because of its many accounts of miracles occurring in the lives of lives of everyday people.

One stirring story involved a man whose wife deserted him and their two young children to live with her lover.

Devastated by the betrayal and unable to keep up with mortgage payments, he moved in to his parents’ basement. A gut punch, but the setback inspired Mark (not his real name) to get serious about his faith.

It became very real when he found a job and the salary barely covered basic expenses. Still, Mark committed to tithing 10 percent of his income to his church.

Several days after his offering, a handwritten letter arrived, from an uncle he hadn’t heard from in a long time. When Mark opened it, a check fluttered out. The amount matched the tithe he had given, down to the dollar.

That happened several more times. One check came from the IRS, a rebate for an overpayment he had made on his taxes.

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Food from Heaven

I have lived through similar circumstances. Like the night many years ago when an expected check failed to show up on time. We were out of money, out of savings, and out of food.

Since it was a Wednesday, we decided we’d do what we always did on that night: go to church.

Afterwards, the pastor walked up and said, “Would you like to come down to the house for some sandwiches?”

Did we ever!

That’s the kind of God we serve. The God of the impossible. The one who comes through when we can’t see how that can happen. But He does.