Photo by Amy Wallen Photography
Two-and-a-half years ago my wife and I left good jobs, a nice home, and our friends and family to become full-time missionaries in the mountains of Kentucky. The first six months were so hard. We moved to a small house in a rural community with approximately 100 homes. I remember looking around our house and there were buckets everywhere—our roof leaked badly. I wondered if we had made a mistake. My wife and I were feeling so discouraged and not sure if we had made the right decision to leave everything behind.
Shortly after this, in January, my wife and I were at the grocery, and I felt God urging me to buy water. We bought 60 gallons of water that day not knowing what God had in mind, but trusting He had a plan for the water. For a month, this water was stacked on our living room floor and we had no idea what we would do with it. Then in February it got down to 17 degrees below zero. We opened up our community center as a warming center for the people of our town. Water pipes in the town were freezing and busting from the cold. Everyone wanted water and the stores were all out. There were families who did not have water to make formula to feed their babies. This was the reason for the water! We gave the water away to our neighbors and witnessed to and prayed with them.
Then God did something else amazing. During this same time, we had 15 families that came to us needing food. They told us they had nothing to eat in their house. We had a pantry of emergency food, but after we had given the third family food from the pantry, I told my wife we weren’t going to have enough for all of the families in need. There wasn’t enough food for five families, much less fifteen, but God multiplied the food like He did in the story of the loaves and the fishes in the Bible (John 6). We just kept filling boxes with food, and in the end, we had filled enough boxes for all 15 families!
Not only did God miraculously provide food and water for the people of our community, but He also used this experience to show my wife and I that He was with us and He was guiding us. This was affirmation that we did NOT make a mistake in leaving everything behind to become full-time missionaries. God encouraged us and showed us that we could depend on Him and that He would use us to help the people of our community. Over and over we have seen His faithful provision for us and the people in our community. God is a faithful, loving Provider, and we put our trust in Him.
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13
A Million God Stories is a Christ-centered ministry which offers a platform for Christians from all streams of Christian faith to give praise for how God has worked in their lives. Christ heals in infinitely creative ways and we acknowledge that His way of helping may differ from person to person.
