My Very Own Loaves & Fishes Miracle!

I've debated for over a month about whether or not to tell you this story. I finally decided I can't keep it to myself any longer. I just love it when God works so beautifully and obviously...I couldn't not share!

Before I start...why did I hesitate to share? Because I don't know that I can do God justice. I don't know that I have the words to express how awesome He is. I don't want this story to seem like it's about me in any way, except that I am honored and privileged to be His kid. Please know that this is a story about Him, not about me.

It all started when I went to a home improvement store at the beginning of last month. Garden plants, flowers, soil, gardening gloves...that's the kind of stuff that was on my list. I love to plan my garden, flower pots, and beds. On my way into the store's parking lot, though, I noticed an elderly homeless man sitting on his chair holding his "Will work for food" sign.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the homeless. Although I can't always give them money or buy them a lunch, I do at least try to look them in the eye, smile, and wave. I want them to know that they've been seen...that they are at least worthy of a kind greeting.

Admittedly, I've become a bit more jaded over the years. My first reaction isn't always love and compassion like it once was. I often think, "I"m not giving them money, they'll just go spend it on something foolish." And sometimes my reaction is just plain fear. I fear getting too close...will they try to harm me or my children? Are the car doors locked?

But that beautiful spring day, I felt an odd pull to that old man sitting on the corner with his "Will work" sign. There was just something so frail and quiet about him. "Work?" I thought. "Doing what? He looks like he could topple over at any second!"

So do you know what I did? I did my shopping, loaded my car with all my goodies...and drove home.

I scolded myself all the way home...I should have at least stopped to buy the poor old guy lunch.

I got home and unloaded all my garden stuff...tomatoes, onions, peppers, soil, fertilizer, flowers, seeds...but no garden gloves. Where were my gloves? I'd left them at the store. Dang.

So I headed back to the store. On the way there I promised that I'd stop by to offer him lunch if he was still sitting there. He was. Again...dang.

It took me a few minutes to get the gloves I'd paid for but forgot to bring home. I got back to my car, dropped off my gloves, said a quick prayer, and headed over to talk with the old man.

"Hi there, can I sit with you for a minute?"

"Well, sure!", was his surprised answer.

"My name is Daiquiri, what's yours?"

"Gary"

"Hi Gary. How are you today?"

"Oh, alright."

I sat on his little cooler that he'd offered me as a chair. For a second, there was uncomfortable silence as we both sort of inspected each other from the corners of our eyes. It was then that I saw the little picture taped to the back of his "Will work" sign. It was a picture of Jesus.

"I see that you have a picture of Jesus on your sign. Do you know the Lord?"

"Oh, yes. I know him and he knows me. I'm not sure why he's got me in this situation, but as long as my social security check falls short of my rent by $200, I'll be sitting here asking for help."

"Well, at least you have him to keep you company, eh?"

"Yes ma'am!", he said with a big, toothless smile and a twinkle in his eye.

From there, the conversation was easy. He explained how his money had run out, and how his social security check didn't quite cover his expenses. He told me that he's a diabetic. And he was quick to tell me that he's "Not one of those fellas who's into the booze or weed. Just smokes. I know it's a bad habit, but I just can't seem to quit it." At one point, he even had me stand up so that he could show me what was in his little cooler. All that it contained was some prescription medicine (his diabetes meds), a half eaten box of chicken nuggets, and a pack of cigarettes.

But by that point in our conversation, I didn't need any reassuring. The clarity in his speech, the spunk in his attitude, and the twinkle in his eye was enough to tell me that he was just an old man down on his luck.

I offered to buy him lunch, but he turned me down. He said that someone had just brought some chicken nuggets and that was enough for him to get by until dinner time. He didn't want me to waste money on food that would go un-eaten. "Besides, you stopping to talk to me was better than food anyway."

Our conversation eventually dried up, and I said goodbye and headed back to my car. As I walked across the busy Saturday parking lot, I was thinking about how much money I might be able to spare from our budget. Since it was the beginning of the month, I had a wallet crammed with cash...a result of our new "all cash" spending plan. But I also knew that when the money was gone, that was it. No going to the bank for more if I didn't plan carefully.

I got in my car, locked the doors, and pulled out my wallet. "Okay, Lord. I know I'm supposed to give him some money, but how much?" I sorted through the cash in my "groceries" section of my wallet. I had lots of different denominations there. $5? $10? $20? Five dollars seemed far too little. Twenty seemed like too much. I settled on ten, and was trying to convince myself that ten would do it. Ten bucks doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a week's worth of milk for this 4 gallon per week family. It's taking my kids to get burgers one day for lunch. It's a few pounds of meat.

But I just had a sick feeling in my stomach. Despite my best efforts to make myself feel good about giving my new friend $10, I just didn't.

So I prayed, "Lord, help me out! How much should I give him?"

And that quiet voice said to me, "How about $100?"

I laughed aloud! A hundred dollars?! There was no WAY I could make it to the end of the month with a full hundred dollars missing from my budget. No WAY.

So I went back to sorting. Again, I contemplated $5. Again, I contemplated $20. Again, I settled on giving him $10. I held it in my hand...and again felt positively lousy. I prayed again, "How much, Lord?"

The response? "You heard me."

Oh, sweet Jesus. I was just about to give a complete stranger...a homeless man on the street corner that I'd just met 10 minutes ago...I was about to give him $100?!?! But I had my instructions, so I grabbed the $100 bill, folded it so he couldn't see what it was right away, and headed back to talk to the old man.

"You again?" he said with that sweet, toothless grin.

"Yep. I hope I'm not bothering you."

"Not at all."

"Okay, good. I just wanted to tell you something. I want to tell you that I went back to my car over there, and prayed for you. I prayed for wisdom. I prayed for instruction as to how much money I might be able to spare to give to you."

"Well, that's awful nice of you."

"Now, money is tight and I have 4 little ones at home. $10 is a lot of money for me to give. But when I prayed, I got pretty clear instruction that I am not supposed to give you $10. I'm supposed to give you a bit more."

"Really?" (he was looking at my hand, undoubtedly curious about what it contained)

"The only reason I tell you that $10 is a lot of money for me is because I want something to be really clear: if it were up to me, I would have given you $10. But the Lord told me to give more. I want it to be really clear that the Lord is looking out for you, and that this money is from HIM. You are precious to Him, and He wants to help you today. Like I said, I was ready to give $10...nothing more. So this money, is straight from Him to you."

"Can I give you a hug?" he said with teary eyes.

So we shared a brief hug, I kissed him on the cheek, and I passed the money into his hand. I walked away before he could look at what it was.

As I walked away I prayed, "Okay, Lord. I'm gonna need your help with the budget this month!" But I was on cloud nine. I couldn't have been happier to have been used to care for that precious man.

And then the month went on. Groceries. A trip to Wisconsin, and all the associated travel money. Toothpaste. Toilet paper. Utility bills. A birthday gift. The expenses didn't exactly taper off despite my growing anxiety that we weren't going to make it to the end of the month.

On top of all that, I hadn't told my husband what I'd done. Partly, I didn't want to tell anyone because I felt that it was between me and God. I didn't want a pat on the back for it. And honestly? Partly, I was beginning to wonder if I'd imagined the whole "conversation" and just made a foolish and expensive mistake. And of course, I didn't want my husband to start worrying about trusting our families finances with me...handing out $100 bills to random homeless men on street corners!

I was sweatin' it!

And finally, a week before the end of the month...the money ran out. Zero. Gone. Zilch. Nada. Completely gone.

I was driving home from the grocery store with what I'd just purchased with our last dime for the month, and I was wondering how I was going to stretch the groceries to last through the month. On the way home, I stopped at the mailbox to grab the mail.

You will never guess what was in that mailbox.

Evidently, we'd been carrying a slight balance (in our favor) on our Costco AMEX card, and they decided to cut us a check for it. We got the check that day. And guess how much it was for? It was a check for an even $90...exactly the amount that the Lord told me to give above the $10 I was planning on giving.

I was instantly covered in goosebumps and crying. God is so good. And such a punk for making me wait 'till the last second like that! I told him so...and then I thanked him. Can you imagine? The God who put every last star in it's place...knows me and my life enough to plan the arrival of a $90 check for precisely the perfect moment.

That's my sweet story. I hope it blessed you. I hope that it helped you see that God is still in the business of miracles. And I hope it reminded you that He's looking out for his little ones...even the ones who feel a bit abandoned and have to beg for money to make ends meet.


"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." John 10:27


"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Matthew 10:29-31

GeonHui's Bakery  – (6/09/2008 10:34:00 PM)  

That story makes me want to cheer! God is so good isn't He! Thanks for your honesty in sharing.
Linds

Anonymous –   – (6/09/2008 11:11:00 PM)  

Wow.... Just - WOW.

I know you didn't want praise, but you deserve it. God deserves it too, of course, but in this day and age it is far too easy to become complacent in the face of true need and talk ourselves out of things like this because of jaded perceptions - 'he'll just spend it on drugs' and so on.

I've got a tear in my eye and my husband is beginning to look at me strangely, so I'll leave it at that. I just wanted to say how incredibly blessed I feel for having read this today :) This needs to be entered somewhere - I don't know where, LOL, but an essay contest or maybe even sent to Chicken Soup. Just LOVELY. *Big hugs*

Cheers,
Lizzie
http://lizzieshome.com/
http://whisperofgrace.blogspot.com/

Anonymous –   – (6/09/2008 11:55:00 PM)  

Wow. I just love stories like this. But no matter how many great stories like this I hear, I still struggle so much with faith.

Leigha  – (6/10/2008 07:04:00 AM)  

Oh, Daiquiri,
What an awesome story! I cried a little while I was reading it. You are such a blessing to not only the women that read your blog, but also to total strangers.
Thanks for sharing your story.

Rosheeda  – (6/10/2008 07:56:00 AM)  

This story is so powerful. And it is just the reminder that I needed. I am trusting the Lord for some big things, and I have done things very similar to this just because He said so - in so many areas of my life. Thanks for being transparent. I think this might just be what I need to hold on to over the next few days.

Unknown  – (6/10/2008 10:07:00 AM)  

Thank you so much for sharing this story. Your humble heart an the finger prints of God are all over it.

The Lord is most honored by you. God bless you my friend in Christ. Love and hugs, Lynn

Dineen A. Miller  – (6/10/2008 12:52:00 PM)  

Wow, this brought me to tears. What an awesome story. Thank you for sharing it. And no worries about where your heart was. God is all over this thing. That came through loud and clear. :-)

Blessings to you!

Amy  – (6/10/2008 02:03:00 PM)  

WOW! God is awesome!
amy
mytudorhouse.wordpress.com

Chris  – (6/10/2008 04:14:00 PM)  

Beautifully written. Was just clicking "next" on blogs and found your photo blog with the link here. A good reminder to keep listening for directions at all times. I was blessed. Thanks.

Shannon  – (6/10/2008 04:45:00 PM)  

I just popped over from Meredith's for a visit and I was so blessed by this story. God is so good! I wonder how many blessings I've denied myself by ignoring His voice?

Michelle  – (6/10/2008 05:07:00 PM)  

God always provides for His people, no matter where or who they are, He knows our needs and always sees fit to provide in His time.

Take care
Michelle

Friar Suppliers  – (6/10/2008 05:14:00 PM)  

Whoa! Amazing story, thanks for sharing.

Jana  – (6/10/2008 05:23:00 PM)  

What an amazing testimony! I came across this post from a link from Meredith at Like Merchant Ships. Thank you for sharing it. It made me cry! God Bless!!

Jennifer @ Conversion Diary  – (6/10/2008 05:53:00 PM)  

I am absolutely blown away by this story. I'm humbled that Meredith included mine in a list with yours. I'm going to be thinking about this for a while. WOW.

Anonymous –   – (6/10/2008 06:12:00 PM)  

Just as wonderful a story the second time around... :) Thank you for sharing it.

Marisa

Anonymous –   – (6/10/2008 06:25:00 PM)  

I too came her from Meridith's site and am so blessed that I did. Your sharing of how God can use His children who really listen to His voice brought me to tears. God cares about all of His children and uses us and circumstances to bless one another. He always makes a way for us to do His will doesn't He? God bless you for listening and being obediant.

Debbie
frugalfriends.proboards.com

Mercedes  – (6/10/2008 06:43:00 PM)  

Thank you for sharing and thanks Meridith for directing me here. I am crying as I type this.

Lana  – (6/10/2008 06:54:00 PM)  

I am sitting here with tears in my eyes. I really needed to be reminded of He total care for us.

Lisa@BlessedwithGrace  – (6/10/2008 07:21:00 PM)  

As I am crying right now, I am making my husband read this post. We needed this tonight. We just finished a discussion about our finances. My husband is quitting his job to start a new business, and we literally just finished the conversation and I came in here and read this. I can not explain to you the relevance of this story. I know that God planned this specific moment in time for you to share the story and for me to read it. Thank you for listening to him.

Anonymous –   – (6/10/2008 07:31:00 PM)  

Here from LMS for the first time.

I am SO GLAD you shared this story, wow, what an encouragement, what a reminder about the nature of God's tender attention to detail when He loves His children... thank you

deb meyers

Timalee  – (6/10/2008 08:04:00 PM)  

Awesome - I haven't cried this many tears of joy in a very long time. Thank you for blessing me with this story today. I found your from Like Merchant Ships.

♥.Trish.♥ Drumboys  – (6/10/2008 08:19:00 PM)  

what an inspirational story...God is good and you might never know what happened in this fellows life but I hope he pays in forward too.
What a blessing you gave him.

Peggy  – (6/10/2008 08:28:00 PM)  

Daiquiri...and for such a moment as this...Your Children sha;; rise up and CALL YOU BLESSED!

God is indeed aMazing and awesome in knowing the perfect time to BLESS! But thank you for hearing Him and having such am obedient heart for us to learn from and such compassion for God's people.

Be blessed for you & this inspiration has truly blessed me,
Peggy

Lisa  – (6/10/2008 08:52:00 PM)  

That story should not only inspire us to listen to God's voice but to also FOLLOW what He tells us to do!

Your sharing that will help me to do just that!! Thanks!

*carrie*  – (6/10/2008 09:07:00 PM)  

I have a similar story that happened in January. I actually typed it up and saved it as a post in my "draft" folder--like you said in your intro, I don't want it to be about me. I want it to celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives!

Thank you for sharing.

Rachel V.  – (6/10/2008 09:07:00 PM)  

Another one of Meredith's followers over here with tears in her eyes. I really needed to hear your story. In fact I have one of my own I need to write down soon before I forget. Thanks so much for sharing with all of us.

Anonymous –   – (6/10/2008 10:10:00 PM)  

I'm crying, of course. :)

I have a similar story only different (similar ending I'd say ... having your needs taken care of). I was really sick last year and a friend of mine had told someone about me and what hard time I was having and the person decided to go to the store and buy me some natural remedies. My friend gave these things to me saying, "someone who doesn't know you wanted me to give you this present" ... I couldn't believe it, I had never even met this woman ... my friend told me she wouldn't accept any money.

I thought, "I need to do something for her." I make jewelry. I had never even met her so I didn't know what style she would like ... so I put all these different necklaces into a bag for her to choose from. I picked up the most expensive piece I make and for a moment I thought, "no, don't put that in there, that's expensive, it's three times the cost of the others, you could sell that" but a moment later I thought, "no, don't be like that, be generous, if she likes that one, she can have it."

Well, she didn't like that one, she chose another one, but I'll tell you what happened, it's amazing.

I overdrew my bank account that week. On the way back from the bank, I thought, "I need $100 (to cover the overdraft) ... where am I going to get $100 from?" ... I was going to pick up the jewelry bag after the woman had selected what she wanted. On my friend's porch was the bag with a CHECK FOR $98 IN IT and a note: "Everybody at work loved your jewelry so much that people wanted to buy it and somebody bought the green one" (the expensive one). Just five minutes before I had asked, "where am I going to get $100" ... Can you believe it??? (Of course you can :) We're always taken care of ... remember what was said about lilies of the field?

Thank you for sharing your story.

Hugs,
Col

Jane  – (6/10/2008 10:20:00 PM)  

Oh yes, God has a sense of humor with the letting us sweat a bit part. Long story short, not too long ago I prayed that I wouldn't have to sit next to a large sweaty man on a plane. I didn't. Instead God sent me a young girl who was sad and confused about a surprise pregnancy left her jobless. It was so hard to "be present" for her as we have been trying to conceive for three long years, but God was telling me to listen and support her. I did though. I put down my magazine and really listened. Anyway, God must have been happy with my performance because on the next flight of my 12 hour travel day, God sent me a deaf mute for a seat partner. No joke. I couldn't have made that up!

Money aside, the gift of your fellowship was very special!

Anonymous –   – (6/10/2008 11:53:00 PM)  

Awesome. That's just about all I can say. You've really encouraged and challenged me. Thank you! =0)

Christi  – (6/11/2008 06:43:00 AM)  

What a lovely reminder of God's grace & provision. I've had stories like this myself.

Thanks for sharing - this made my day!

Nancy  – (6/11/2008 07:33:00 AM)  

I love it when God does things like this. He does these things so that we will share with others about Him. So they will know just how good He is. Give God the glory. Amen sister.

Anonymous –   – (6/11/2008 09:22:00 AM)  

Daiq,

What a blessing you are for not only the man you helped but also for you family and friends.

Mom

Mary Ellen  – (6/11/2008 09:59:00 AM)  

Came over from Like Merchant Ships.

Wow, is all I can say! God is good!

Cory  – (6/11/2008 10:02:00 AM)  

Thank you for sharing this wonderful testimony. God leaves me awestruck all the time with the amazing things He does. Take care and may God continue to bless you, Cory

asnipofgoodness  – (6/11/2008 12:06:00 PM)  

Thank you so much for sharing this. I am blown away more by your hug, and kiss on the cheek then the money. The generosity of that gesture is astounding!!! Thank you for your faith, and know that God has been sooooo glorified by your telling ,and testifying of his faithfulness. He meets us in so many ways, whatever our circumstances. He is truly a good God!!!

Jodi  – (6/11/2008 01:59:00 PM)  

Oh, my gosh, this made me cry! This type of thing has happened to me before. I'm so encouraged by reading this! Thank you for posting.

Still Trying  – (6/11/2008 03:18:00 PM)  

I just wanted to thank you for this beautiful post. :-)

Anonymous –   – (6/11/2008 03:24:00 PM)  

I was in a very similiar situation back in November, The Lord is so awesome and so real, that I do not doubt for a moment the Holy Spirit was upon you and convicting you of a blessing to be done, and subsequently not just for the man but for you too.

God bless you

JEANNIE

Anonymous –   – (6/11/2008 05:31:00 PM)  

I definitely think God has a sense of humour:).

I posted something vaguely similar(if I can use that oxymoron;)), in a series of posts a couple of months ago...

My friend Deb just sent me a message with a link to your post and said it reminded her of me. (Though I'd say yours was written more eloquently than mine)

Funnily enough - I needed to 'hear' this today. Bless you for posting about it.

God is amazingly faithful, even when we hew and haw, hey;)!! xo

Anonymous –   – (6/11/2008 05:32:00 PM)  

p.s. I meant to include the link to one of the posts:
http://livinlife007.blogspot.com/2008/04/okay-im-just-completely-floored.html

Anonymous –   – (6/11/2008 05:34:00 PM)  

ppss
actually I meant to post this link:
http://livinlife007.blogspot.com/2008/03/i-think-im-getting-it-now.html

Having said that, maybe I was supposed to post both.

Anonymous –   – (6/11/2008 11:49:00 PM)  

beautiful! this brought tears in my eyes. thank you for sharing this. God truly knows what we need and when we need them. oh, you don't have any idea how much i needed to hear this encouragement. can i just give you a big hug?

(((HUGS)))

Suz  – (6/12/2008 04:23:00 AM)  

Oh, it's so nice to know I'm not the only one crying :-) And I'm at work!

My family has experienced this so many times- my parents worked in the Church and raised five of us on almost nothing... but the Lord provided everything we needed just when we needed it.

Even as little girls we knew that we coudn't outdo Him in generosity- My younger sister once gave her only Barbie doll away to a poorer kid... within two days someone (who had not known anything about it) gave her two barbies!

What I admire you for is that you obviously have cultivated the habit of listening for His voice... that's great!

Anonymous –   – (6/12/2008 11:25:00 AM)  

Daquiri, I just wanted to tell you that my cousin, God bless her, sent me this link. I want to thank you for the wonderful testimony to your faith and devotion to the Lord. We are currently studying about the Proverbs 31 woman in our evening bible study. Your testimony sounds just like what she would have done. God bless you. He is certainly a faithful and blessing God. Leanna

Peggy  – (6/12/2008 09:08:00 PM)  

Daquiri...I hope you are not upset with me for linking my Thankful Thursday to your story/ I probably should have asked your permission,
so please forgive me for not doing that...I'm glad that you came over to see and pray for God's forgiveness if I should have asked first...I'm relatively new to this!
I was so blessed by this and I couldn't help it. Lizzie told the 1 Peter 3 Living Yahoo group to go read it and it just went from there. God bless because like I told you...they will Call you blessed...Be blessed and keep blessing...my hope was to necourage more people to not walk by these people cause you never know...Thanks! Peggy @ Mazes, Messes & Miracles...aMazing Grace
again (2nd visit)

Anonymous –   – (6/13/2008 11:06:00 AM)  

that was incredible. Thank you for sharing us that sweet story!

Mama  – (6/13/2008 06:03:00 PM)  

Oh, that God! He is so faithful. And so awesome. I love when He does stuff like that, don't you? Thanks for sharing.

Jessica  – (6/14/2008 09:53:00 AM)  

We sometimes forget God is in the business of miracles. I know we can put God into a box and forget he is much bigger than any box, anything is possible. I sometimes fear speaking such stories that others would think I'm being boastful! That is such a lie. Thanks for your obedience to God and serving that man. Thank you for sharing that story and showing how faith and obedience can bring much pleasure and fruits from our heavenly father.

Jamie {See Jamie blog}  – (6/16/2008 06:56:00 PM)  

Awesome, awesome post! Even more awesome God we serve! Thank you so much for sharing that story. I clicked on it because I wrote one called "My Loaves & Fishes" on June 8th...

I'd love for you to come read mine, too. :-)

gemma  – (6/17/2008 12:22:00 PM)  

Wow! He is awesome isn't He? We are so lucky that He's here in our lives. Thank you for sharing.

Amy  – (7/09/2008 11:25:00 AM)  

Oh, that was beautifully written! I am totally sitting here at my keyboard crying and smiling at the same time. My son is looking at me like "Mama, you have lost your mind!" :) Thank you for sharing that story!

Amy  – (7/09/2008 11:27:00 AM)  

Would it be ok if I blogged about this and linked to your post? It really touched me and I'd love to share it with the friends and family who read my blog.

Vansmom  – (7/15/2008 05:47:00 PM)  

Thank you for this! God is SOOOOOO good!

Andrea

Unknown  – (8/09/2009 03:53:00 AM)  

Thank you for sharing this story. I have been in similar situations and when we obey God and do as He tells us He will truly bless us and take care of us! God is soooo good all the time!
Blessings!

Anonymous –   – (10/23/2009 12:33:00 PM)  

That story touched me on so many levels.

#1 I encounter people asking for money or food or something almost every week as I enter the grocery store. It's something I pray about often.

#2 Once when I was living so tight I squeaked, the Christian radio station was having their donation drive. Someone said, "Even if you don't have anything & have no idea where you'll get the money, pray about it, & call us to say 'If God provides it, I will give X amount." That seemed easy enough. So I did. And I didn't give it much thought after that...even after I received the donation envelope, I placed it in my top drawer. It was in God's hands I wasn't going to worry about it. There was a lot of peace in that whole thing. Well, 7 months later, AT&T sent me a check for $100 (the amount I had pledged to the radio station) IF I would switch my long distance carrier. They didn't know it, but God did...I couldn't afford to make any long distance calls, so switching to AT&T & cashing their check was way too easy. But the minute I saw the check, I knew WHO it came from & WHO it was going to.

#3 I heard that inaudible voice of God one morning when I was 18...telling me to find an adoption agency for my unborn child. I wrote about it on my blog.

God is more than amazing. I have heard it said that we don't see miracles because we don't need miracles. We do way too much depending on ourselves when we should depend on God.

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