God's carefully woven plan left me with $2 and blessed beyond measure

In November my aunt's mother passed away. She asked me to make a video slide show for the memorial service. I did the work without expectations of payment, but my aunt paid me anyway. I thought I'd use the extra money to buy a coat for a children's coat drive we were having at church. I had planned on taking the check to the bank on Tuesday and then going to Walmart afterwards to buy the coat. The Sunday before, I received the Walmart Black Friday circular via email and saw they were going to have the same coat on sale for just $8 on Black Friday. So I decided to wait and buy two coats instead of one.

I went to work that Monday excited about the upcoming holiday and shopping for those coats. After work I had to run to the feed store for some dog food and on the way home the water pump on my car went out. I had $24 and some change in my checking account; not enough for a water pump. First I tried the salvage yard, but they don't sell water pumps. So I checked around and found the cheapest one at Autozone. Tuesday afternoon I took the check my aunt had written me to the bank, which brought the total amount of cash in my checking account to $54. On the way home we stopped by Autozone to get a water pump. My parents were going to help pay for it since I didn't have much money. As the guy rang up the part I wondered how much my parents would have to contribute and was surprised to hear the man behind the counter tell me the total came to $52.

I couldn't believe it! God knew I was going to need that money from my aunt to fix my car, so he orchestrated the black Friday sale on children's coats just to keep me from spending the money before I needed it. He then made sure the amount in my checking account was just enough to cover the cost of the water pump.

While I was happy that I could pay for the water pump myself, I was still quite disappointed that I wasn't going to get to buy any coats for the kids. I thanked God for His provision and asked Him to give the coat drive a double blessing so the fact that I couldn't donate a coat wouldn't mean some kid didn't get a coat. He did just that! Our original goal was to donate 50 coats. After the final count, we had collected 100 coats to donate!

I thought I'd share this story to remind you that God doesn't just answer prayers; He provides for us before we even know there is a need. On top of all of the above mentioned God works, He has also given me several full days of work. I've had the opportunity to work many more days than I normally get this time of year.

This is just one interwoven story of how BIG and MIGHTY my God is and how He has displayed His power to us in recent weeks. God answers prayers; from the unknown to the big to the seemingly insignificant ones. He cares for all of our needs.


Merry Christmas and Happy Miracle Season!