Published by admin on 18 Jan 2001 at 02:17 pm
God said to go WHERE????
If there’s one thing I know, it’s that it is God’s will to heal, not just sometimes, but every time. So, often, God calls upon us to back up that faith we have in Him with some action. We live for these “divine assignments”. And January 26, 2003 was one of them. Jenny and I were getting ready to go to Walk On The Water Faith Church, our Pastor’s church, when the Lord told me to load up the motorhome and go where He would send us. God doesn’t have to tell me twice to “GO”. We love to go for Him. But, Hey, Lord, aren’t we supposed to go to Church today?? No answer….
So I loaded the motorhome up with our clothes, food, checked it from bumper to bumper, and got it ready to go. Even managed to lug my wife’s suitcase inside by myself. You know how these women pack… anyway, I took a shower and got dressed. By about 2:30 pm we were all packed, loaded, and ready to go. Ever been “all dressed up and nowhere to go”? That was us. Just then, the Lord spoke to me plain as day, “Friendship, Tennessee”. WHERE???? Never heard of it. I got a map out, and didn’t find it, so I got on the internet, and sure enough, there was a Friendship, Tennessee after all.
So I loaded the satellite GPS and programmed it for Tennessee, and off we went, ready to go conquering for the Lord. By this time it was about 3:30 pm. We drove a long way, and stopped for supper, and late night found us deep in southeast Missouri. About 12:30am, for no good reason, the radiator cap blew off the motorhome, and we lost our coolant. Oh yes, we’re on the right track, the devil has come to oppose us again.
Now, this radiator cap I’m talking about is a locking lever type. They never just “come off”. And I had checked it before we left and know it was on correctly. We had already gone about 300 miles with no problem. Why here in the middle of the night? Stranded for a couple hours letting it cool, while I worked on it, trying to stay warm (it was 16 degrees and I was wet), finally a state trooper stopped and asked if we needed help.
By this time, I had put some plain water back in the cooling system, and found a spare radiator cap in the front compartment. I needed antifreeze. We followed the trooper to a Wal-Mart and got a couple gallons of antifreeze. I drained the system in the parking lot (water) and let it cool again. I loaded it up with new coolant, bled the cooling system, and by this time it’s 4:30 am or later. I’m tired, wet, and disgusted. Did I mention cold, too? We went about a mile down the road and saw a campground and pulled in and got some zzzzz’s. Got up and went for breakfast, then continued on our search for Friendship Tennessee. Found it about lunch time, a tiny little town with one main street and a dozen shops.
But that wasn’t where the Holy Spirit wanted us. We got out and walked around praying. Still nothing. Was this a figment of my imagination that God sent us here?? We talked to a few people, nothing. We got back in the motorhome and drove around a few blocks, and found a side road with a church on it. I pulled into the driveway, and there was a house behind the church, with a lady peering out the door. I got out and asked if they were the Pastors of the church, she said yes. I told her God had sent us there from Holt’s Summit Missouri, and she said, Never heard of it. I said, well, I never heard of Friendship, Tennessee, so we’re even.
She invited us in and we talked to her and her husband a few minutes, when a family arrived with some kids. They had a little infant, who I assumed was sleeping. A few minutes later, we got talking about the baby, and the mother said they had taken her to the local hospital about 30 miles from there, and they said she had a viral lung infection that had already killed some locals there, (later we found out it was “SARS”) and they wouldn’t let her stay at the hospital because she might infect others, and they gave her antibiotics and sent her away. She is 2 months old.
I asked how she was doing, and they said she had been unconscious for four days and wasn’t breathing well. I said, Shouldn’t we be praying for her? and the Mom said “ok.” So I prayed for her, and we thanked God for her healing, and continued with our conversation, and they went home. I asked the pastor if we could park our motorhome in the church driveway and spend the night, he said that was fine, and we could hook up to their electric if we wanted to. So we did. The next morning real early, the little girl’s Grandfather, Kent, came all excited and told us that God had healed the baby and she was just fine now! Praise God!
Now here is the thing about GOD’S TIMING. If we had arrived when WE planned to in the first place, we would never have met that family, and I am sure the little girl would have died.
But God has His way of putting divine appointments together at just the right time, never early, never late. We stayed there 3 more days, just praying and studying in the motorhome, and then ministered in their church Thursday evening, praying for the sick, including praying for the pastor’s wife, who had been in a car wreck the night before and had suffered whiplash to her neck. God healed her on the spot. Isn’t He wonderful??? We wanted to share that little adventure with you. We’re awaiting our next “orders”, to go where God will send us. Maybe at some point, it will be to see YOU!