It was a half an hour before I realized I had been sitting and talking with my Dad and sister and my dirty laundry was still sitting in my car! After loading up the washer I took the Focus over to the Midas car service shop to have its oil and filter changed with a coupon my pops gave me. They let me know it would be 20 minutes before they could get it in, and another 45 minutes to service. I decided it was best to walk to K-Mart, visit some of my former co-workers from my first job days back in 2002, and buy a bag of Fritos Honey BBQ Flavore Twists so I could take out some cash using my debit card to pay for a hair cut. My hair appointment was at 1:00 - an hour from the time I left my Focus at Midas - plenty of time for me to use the parents' computer to e-mail my resume to someone I know through United Way - because I still have the hope of one day representing a not-for-profit organization as a career - and empty my inbox! As soon as I cleared the last of my 997 messages, the phone rang. Midas had finished getting my Focus back on track in less than 40 minutes, plenty of time for me to pick up my car and drive myself to the hair cut appointment instead of having to depend on a ride!
I walk in to pick up my car and Angela hands me my key. Angela greets you when you walk in the door to Midas and is the one that puts your information in their computer. She asked me if i was from around the area and I told her I was here visiting family and getting my laundry cleaned, and that I had come in from the St Louis area. That got her asking what I do "all the way up there", which brought up the topic of working for Journeys, following God in music ministry, and how God has been my Provider.
The door opened.
Angela told me about her daughter pursuing her education and the difficulties she faced being a supportive mother helping her daughter afford the pursuit. She started to tear up as she told how her daughter called home one day pleading for what to do, because the cost of books was higher than expected and, after paying for the tuition, did not have enough money in her account to pay for them.
Even Angela's whole paycheck wouldn't be enough to help her daughter's expenses and they both began to have concern in what to do next. After praying and crying out to God for answers, Angela looks into her daughter's bank account to see how everything was adding up. The total she found in the account shocked her!
$700+
Almost the same time she saw it, Angela's daughter was calling her. She answers the phone to her daughter saying she was looking at the same screen and discovered that her paycheck had somehow posted three days before it was suppose to! God had provided by speeding up time and depositing that paycheck before it would normally go through!
Angela's testimony serves as a reminder to me that God tells us in His Word to put Him to the test. He is not offended when we wrestle with Him as Jacob did; that's what makes our relationship stronger. It's when we let ourselves get to the point of not believing God will come through that we put up the barricades in our own lives and block His Spirit from being able to move. When we recognize that we are blind to God's works and can only trust Him with complete Faith, even when our head is full of questions, He is allowed to defy even the greatest miracle.
Angela and her daughter could have never known that paycheck would deposit early, but they prayed and praised God for the will He had laid out. Because of that faith, His name was lifted high and glorified.
I was almost late to my hair appointment, but I wouldn't have missed that testimony for the world. In the end, I got my dirty laundry washed cleaned, my head cleared, and my focus restored.
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