Today I went to the bank. I needed to close one of my accounts. It was one of those fancy accounts that earns more interest if you keep a certain number of dollars in it. But one that charges you a fee if you do not. For the past couple of months I have been below that limit so I decided to close the account so it doesn’t take any more of my money. I know my faith should be stronger, but I was a little sad as I did this. It seemed to be a big glaring neon sign telling me that I had nothing to trust in. When the bank officer looked up and said, “I have refunded the $10 we have taken each of the past two months, which account would you like me to put that in?” I just about cried. Guess what…I had just told God what I needed financially to make it through this day and it was exactly the same amount. Oh, yes – that is Who I serve.
Why do we forget? Why do we walk away from God’s provision and forget what He has done? I know better. God has blessed me so many times I could not even list them all. But tonight as I was sharing this story with a couple of my girlfriends, a list started playing back in my head. In that moment I felt like God was saying “write it down as a memorial so that you have it to come back to.” I could have just tucked it in a notebook and kept it to myself. But I felt like maybe you needed to be reminded that He has you in His hands too. So I have decided to share just a couple of my stories. These are big ones. Because if you remember that God can do these BIG things, you will know that He has it all!
In 2000 I was hired as a field operations crew leader for the U.S. Census Bureau. This job was a tremendous blessing because we were coming out of a time when both my husband and myself had been unemployed for almost a year. It was hard enough to make royalties last for six months. But this time I had to stretch them even farther. We had a credit card that had been maxed out and we did not have the resources to pay it back. It had been so long that the creditor had stopped calling. This is a bad sign.
One day I was home on a lunch break when a knock came at the door. Naomi answered and came to the kitchen. “Mom, there is a policeman at the door.” It was the sheriff and he had come to serve me papers. The credit card company was taking me to court. I was devastated. When Geoff got home, we sat down and prayed. They wanted around $13,000.00. We didn’t have it.
I knew one of the women on my crew had a husband who was a lawyer. So the next day I asked her if he would be willing to see what we could do. He contacted the credit card company and found out that they would be willing to settle out of court for $11,242.17. You may ask how I remember the amount after fourteen years. Well, I am about to tell you. Hold on and watch God work. It was three days before the court date. At the time we were not signed with a publishing company so royalties had not been much. We had stopped counting on them. And it wasn’t the time of year for our regular disbursements anyway. So when I went to the mailbox and saw a check from Glen Campbell Enterprises, I was confused. When I opened it my jaw dropped. I was astonished at the amount but it didn’t dawn on me for a few minutes. Then when it did I started to weep. The amount? Would you like to venture a guess? $11,242.34. I love God’s sense of humor. Seventeen cents left over to show that He can!!! What a testimony I had to share with my crew the next day. And with you. God doesn’t always work this way – but I am your reminder that He can.
A few years before this I was in need of surgery. I had dislocated my shoulder six times – once in my sleep. The doctor told me that I couldn’t wait anymore. I needed to get it fixed. He wanted me to see an orthopedic surgeon. We were songwriters and as such, we worked off a draw on future royalties. We did not make enough money to have health insurance. So I knew this was going to be an uphill battle. I started calling doctors. Over and over again I was told that we would need at least $5,000 before they would even touch me. And then there were the hospitals. They wanted money too. We didn’t have it.
One Sunday night, Geoff was in the studio so I decided to go to church. There was a guest preacher speaking on the evils of rock music. Now if you know anything about me, you will find it ironic that I even thought about going to hear this man! After it was over, there was a woman who came up and introduced herself to me. My arm was in a sling and she asked me what happened, so I told her. I shared a little of my struggle and she said she would pray for me. I thanked her and headed home. The next morning I got up and started the barrage of phone calls again to no avail. I called Geoff in the studio, weeping. “I just can’t do it anymore. I give up. God will have to take care of this Himself.” We hung up and I sat down to pray.
The phone rang and I answered. “Becky? This is Darlene. I met you last night at church and you told me about your arm.” There were 3,000 members of this church, but God sent me the one. “I am an Operating Room nurse at Baptist Hospital. I made some phone calls this morning and I have a doctor who is willing to take your case – under one condition. The person doing your surgery will be one of his residents from Vanderbilt University. He needs to perform this surgery as a part of his training and if you are willing, they will do it.” What? How much was this going to cost? “If you do it as a part of their training program, the whole thing will be covered. Hospital, doctor, and rehabilitation.” I won’t go into all of the details about how amazing this was. For purposes of this blog post, this is all you need.
God is bigger than your circumstances. He is. It is that simple.
I have a whole list of stories just like these. I would be glad to share them with you over a glass of Coke if you are ever in town. I would be glad to pray with you if you are facing a situation where you just can’t see how God could possibly come through for you. And I would appreciate your prayers as I step out on this amazing new journey of trusting Him fully for all of my provision.