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God's timing

God's timing

#71 I’m So Glad I Listened To God

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 Photo by Laura Wilkerson Photography

Several years ago, a mama cow protecting her baby attacked my son and me. We went to the ER for treatment. I went into shock and they thought they lost me, but they didn’t find internal injuries and found only three fractured vertebrae. They said they did not know how we lived through that impact without sustaining internal injuries. They said it was nothing short of a miracle, and sent us home that day.

I had a long road to get better. I knew my son was fine, but I was not! I went to the doctor about a week later and immediately they sent me to surgery to drain the football-sized hematoma. I had it drained about three times. I was referred to orthopedics and they would not do any tests on me, even though I had insurance and had it approved to have an MRI. I knew I had more than three fractures; something wasn’t right! As I left in tears and deep frustration, I thought of my long-time patient who was a neurosurgeon, Dr. E. I called him and asked him what I should do. I knew he was a wonderful Christian man, and if anyone could help me it would be him! He had me in his office the next week. He ran several tests and X-rays and told me I had nine fractured vertebrae and said I was very close to severing my spine because he knew I had gone three months with no treatment! Long story short, he helped me heal. Thank God for him!

About two years after that, my friend had an appointment at the hospital so I took her in. As I looked at the directory in the Medical Plaza, I saw Dr. E. had moved his practice there. As I saw his name I felt God speak to me and felt a great need to go tell him thank you. As I went to his office and asked to speak to him, the receptionist took my name and immediately came out and said, “Come back, he wants to see you.”

I waited about three minutes in his office and he came in with open arms asked how I was doing and wanted to sit and talk. I said, “I know you are busy; I don’t want to keep you, but I felt God told me to come tell you thank you!” He said, “I really needed to hear that today, so thank YOU!” We talked a little longer, gave each other a hug, and I left. I wondered why God had me do that? I thought, well, he said he needed to hear that, so I guess that’s it!

Five days later I was awakened by a phone call from my coworker. Dr. E. had died in a tragic accident. Now I know why God had me tell him thank you, and I’m so glad I listened to him!

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.

#70. Angel In The Pasture

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 Photo by Laura Wilkerson Photography

I am a mother, wife, and dental hygienist in Alabama. My husband Mark and I and our two children Hannah (18) and Landon (12) live in rural North Alabama on Mark’s family’s farm. He has always owned cattle, and loves the hobby.  

In 2006, I worked for a dentist who used to be a veterinarian. He had several horses and we seemed to have a connection immediately. I told him I always wanted a horse but my husband was against it because he thought it would “chase his cows.” I came to work one day and Doc pulled me aside and said, “Debbie, this has been on my mind for a few days now. I know you said your husband said no horses, but I feel like I have the horse for you. So you and Mark come over and look at her; if she doesn’t work out with your cows, you can bring her back.” I said, “Great! I’ll talk to him.” Doc had a nickname for me—he always called me “Sweet Angel.” I went home and Mark agreed to look at the horse. Doc mainly had Haflinger horses and a few quarter horses and then the horse he had in mind for me. My husband agreed that we would take the horse! I asked Doc her name and he was not sure. So he went to ask his wife who wrote it on a Post-it. When he got back in the truck with us he said, “Guess what her name is?” He handed me the Post-it, with the name Angel!! He said, “See, I told you she was meant for you!” 

In April of 2007, I went to the pasture where I met up with Mark, Hannah, and Landon. When I got to them, my husband asked me to check on #34 (a heifer) who had calved that morning. I took Landon with me on the four-wheeler, and went down to the pine thicket, where the cow and calf were. When I was about a half-acre away from the cow, I turned off the four-wheeler and walked a step or two to see if the calf was nursing on the heifer. All was well! I turned to look at my son—and felt the ground shake! I turned around and mama cow was running full speed, head down, and I had nowhere to go! If I moved, she would jump on my son, so I was “quickened” to let her hit me in the back! She threw me around seven to eight times, as I desperately prayed for God’s help. “God, I need you! Please keep my kids safe; let someone hear me!” 

Finally, my husband got to me, and said, “Debbie, please get up, she coming back!” I couldn’t feel anything below my head, and had already accepted that I was going to die. But I didn’t want another woman raising my children! Then Mark said, “The cow has Landon!” I immediately got up and ran over to a tree, and Mark was at a tree about six feet to my right. Our daughter Hannah was told to stay in the barn lot and pray. 

In front of us we saw Landon’s motionless body lying on the ground, and the cow was jumping over him like she was on a trampoline! With every jump, I just knew she was going to stomp him. We were praying for a miracle. Mark ran in and got him out from under her 1,100-pound body and we saw he was alive! But, it wasn’t over, as now the cow was after them! I prayed even harder! 

Just then, out of nowhere, my horse jumped the fence and ran like she was coming out of the heavens, and turned around and bucked that cow in the head several times as it chased her! We were able to get to the other four-wheeler and get to the hospital for help Landon had stitches on his ear and bruising. I had several broken ribs and about eight vertebrae fractures and a football-sized hematoma. It took about two years for me to get better. There are many more details to this story, but one thing I DON’T want to forget—my horse’s name is Angel. And she truly is! I saw God in her that day.

I have always “known” who God was. In fact, I don’t remember ever doubting that He was real. As I grew to an adult, I started diving into His word more and more, to learn who He really was and what my relationship with Him was. I prayed my family would always keep Him number one in everything and strengthen our faith. This miracle that happened to us was a great blessing! It taught our family that God is never late, His timing is perfect, and that we can always trust Him because His ways are not our ways. If we seek Him, He will carry us through. 

I’ve always heard all my life how stubborn I am; I thank God He made me with passion and drive. I could have chosen to let this destroy me and my family by becoming bitter from three years of surgeries, severe pain, and depression. But I didn’t! I was determined to get better. He held me, and I cannot let Him go! It will be 10 years in April, and my faith is stronger than ever. I’m not where I want to be, but I’m sure not where I used to be!

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.

#27 Finding Fulfillment In Him Alone

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 Photo by Killian Rose Photography

Over the years I’ve experienced God through the realization of answered prayers. At times I’ve felt His goodness when it was a “yes,” while other times my faith and trust in God were tested when His answer didn’t align with my own plan or desires. Sometimes, though, my favorite “God moments” have been when God really shows up. In these times, His presence is made known in such a way that it leaves me breathless, in awe, and shall I say, almost a little freaked out? These experiences are always such powerful reminders to me that my heavenly Father loves me and He hears me.

This past fall after my serious boyfriend and I broke up, I was left completely brokenhearted. I cried out to God in pain, anger, and desperation, asking Him why, and where was He. I was disappointed, confused, and not understanding God’s plan. In tears one night I decided to pull out my devotional book. It had been awhile since I had read it, but I was feeling the need for some encouragement, and honestly it felt easier to me at the time than spending time in deep prayer.  In that moment, God showed up in the way that only our faithful God can. The words leapt off the page and I knew He was there, that He had been there all along, and that He heard me. 

The words in Sarah Young’s  Jesus Calling read:

“Come to me when you are hurting, and I will soothe your pain. Come to me when you are joyful and I will share your Joy, multiplying it many times over. I am all you need, just when you need it. Your deepest desires find fulfillment in Me alone. True confidence comes from knowing you are complete in My Presence. Everything you need has its counterpart in Me.”

There I sat, sobbing and speechless. He knew in that moment it was exactly what I needed, and for that I was so grateful.

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.

#26 God’s Healing And Peace

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Photo by Nicole Tarpoff

 This story is about my friend, Bob (name changed for privacy). Bob worked hard all of his life, graduating as his high school valedictorian, then working to pay his way through college, pharmacy school, and dental school. And his hard work paid off. By his early 50s, Bob  was doing well financially, had a busy dental practice, a loving wife, good kids in college, and had suffered no major health issues throughout his lifetime.

That all changed in 2003, when his wife noticed a place on his back that didn’t look right. It turned out to be malignant melanoma, a type of skin cancer that can be life-threatening. A surgeon removed the melanoma along with some lymph nodes. Afterwards, the doctor told Bob that the lymph nodes were not cancerous and that he had removed all of the cancer. The chance of recurrence of the cancer was only about 25 percent.

But Bob didn’t feel very relieved. He felt like up to that point in life, he had been in control, but after his cancer diagnosis he felt God was telling him, “You are not really in control.” Bob was baptized when he was 14 years old, but he was a worrier, and had always struggled with leaving things in God’s hands. As a man, he wanted to take care of himself and his family. The diagnosis of cancer was a wake-up call. He felt his dependence on God more strongly than ever before. 

He also found himself asking, “What is really important?” He had always wanted to teach, so he sold his dental practice and was hired as a full-time faculty member at a nearby dental school. Eight years later, against the odds, the melanoma recurred on Bob’s left lung. The surgery to remove the cancer from his lung was successful but it was very painful, as was his 10-week recovery.

In 2013, the doctor found another melanoma on Bob’s right lung. He went through the same painful surgery to remove the cancer from his right lung, but this time he went into renal failure in the hospital. Bob’s wife is a pharmacist and she noticed that the medications they were giving Bob could be causing the renal failure and demanded that the medications be changed. The medications were changed and his renal failure reversed. This time the recovery was even longer. But because Bob was a full-time university employee, he was able to take a three-month fully paid medical leave. Bob feels that God gave him the foresight to sell his dental practice and begin working at the university, as he would need the good benefits the university provided during his illness.

Two years later, in 2015, the cancer recurred in both lungs and his chest wall. Surgery was no longer an option and his oncologist suggested that he seek care at a cancer center. Bob’s daughter had gone to school with a fellow who was doing melanoma research at Duke. He had been Bob’s dental patient and his parents were good friends of Bob’s in high school. This fellow recommended a cancer doctor at Vanderbilt and Bob was able to get an appointment. The Vanderbilt doctor told Bob that they had discovered a treatment for advanced melanoma—immunotherapy—and that worked in 40 percent of the patients. The treatment cost $150,000 to $200,000 and Bob was the first patient whose insurance agreed to pay for it.

After the first three months of treatment, Bob’s cancer was shrinking; three months later it was shrinking further. Now the PET scan shows that Bob is cancer-free. When I hear Bob tell this story, I think of all of things that had to fall into place for Bob to now be cancer-free. 1) His wife noticed the place on his back and suggested he see a doctor. 2) His surgeries were successful and lymph nodes weren’t involved. 3) He sold his dental practice at a time when dental practices are hard to sell. 4) He got a full-time job at a dental school when that, too, was challenging without a specialty like orthodontics. 5) The job at the university provided Bob good insurance, paying for very expensive treatment, and provided paid sick leave that he wouldn’t have had as the owner of his own dental practice. 6) Bob’s wife, a pharmacist, noticed the medication problem causing the renal failure and demanded that it be changed. 7) Bob’s former dental patient was a melanoma researcher at Duke and knew the best physician in the nation to deal with advanced melanoma. 8) If Bob had presented at Vanderbilt only two years earlier with advanced melanoma they wouldn’t have discovered the treatment yet. 9) There was a 60 percent chance the immunotherapy wouldn’t work, but it did.

My friend Bob has been through a lot in the last 13 years, but he says he feels blessed. Bob is now at peace with whatever happens. He feels content and prepared for whatever God has planned for him. 

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.

#22. 54 Rejections

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Photo by Nicole Tarpoff

One month before my high school graduation, I met the woman who would become my wife for 47 years and counting. We both lived in small, rural Kansas towns but went to different high schools. God brought us together just in time—right before I left for college. I had been a terrible teenager, but God changed my life through my wife. Despite my many poor choices in life up to that point, the Lord brought to me a companion who accepted me not based on my past but based on what the Lord was doing in my life through Christ.  I had recently committed my life to the Lord and repented of all the terrible things that I had done. We dated for approximately one year before getting married. She was always there for me as an encourager, helping me focus on the mission that God had laid before us. To this day, I continually praise God for the wonderful grace He brought to me that day in April of 1968.

I had wanted to go to the University of Kansas to become a chemical engineer, but my parents only had $500 for my college education, so I opted for the chemical engineering program at Kansas State University, which was less expensive. I had saved enough money to get through one year of college if I worked while going to school—so that is what I did. At the end of my freshman year and before starting my sophomore year, I married the young woman that the Lord had brought into my life 16 months earlier. We moved into the basement of my wife’s cousin and my wife worked to support us while I was in school.

In April of 1972, a month before graduating from college, my wife was six months pregnant, and I had no job offers and no insurance. Chemical engineers had previously been in great demand, but the year I graduated was the first year of the oil crisis and companies were laying people off and not hiring. I had 54 job interviews and NO OFFERS!

Finally, I had a job offer from a government contractor making nuclear bombs. This didn’t feel right to me; furthermore, my wife’s pregnancy and delivery would not be covered by their insurance. We had reached a point of desperation but again God in His perfect timing intervened. A company with which I had previously interviewed and was rejected by called me back for an interview in Michigan. I caught a plane as soon as I could, but when I arrived, the human resources director said they had hired everyone they were going to hire. I must have looked very disappointed because they said they would try and arrange an interview with the company across the street for the next day. 

The interview went well. The job was a perfect fit for what I wanted to do. They offered me the job with benefits that would cover my wife’s pregnancy and delivery! This was the only company with which I had interviewed who would cover the medical costs of a pre-existing pregnancy. Again, I had to praise God for His providential care. 

But there was one more hurdle. I didn’t have a car that would make it to Michigan where my job was located. There was no way for my wife and me to get from Kansas to Michigan. I tried to get a loan at the bank, showing them that I was to begin work at a big company as a chemical engineer, but they turned me down.  My grandmother, who knew the president of the bank, offered them the money she had set aside for her burial as security for our car loan. They agreed and we were set! Once again, God had provided, this time through my grandmother.  

There were many more lessons that the Lord had to teach me. One was the lesson of humility. On my first day at work on my new job, my manager told me that prior to offering me the job they had narrowed down the choice to two people. The other person was so overqualified that they decided to offer me the job. This helped me see that it wasn’t my efforts that were the key ingredient in my life, but rather the Lord’s direction and control over people, places, and circumstances. I don’t know what my future would have been at any of the 54 companies that turned me down, but the job I ended up getting—across the street from one of those 54 companies—turned out to be an incredible opportunity.

I worked 32 years with that company. I became the executive director of Science and Technology for one of their major businesses and was one of their top-compensated employees in the company. I was able to see and do many amazing things, including living overseas with my family for four years. 

Praise God for the 54 rejections. Praise God for the one offer that was just in time and provided so well for our family. And praise God for my wife whom God used to transform my life. Praise God that I am now able to be a full-time missionary, leading an agency dedicated to taking the gospel to places where Christ is not known. Praise God that I can do this without requiring any funds for my own living expenses and thus return 100 percent of the donations to the Lord’s work. And finally, praise God for the hundreds who are giving their lives to Christ because of His work in this ministry. To God alone be the glory.

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.

#12. Rest In God’s Promise

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Photo by Shining Light Photography

 I knew the stereotype for college about dating/hook-ups, etc., so before I started college I prayed that God would protect me from that. I prayed that the Holy Spirit wouldn’t let me open my heart to anyone unless it was my husband. Sometimes I would meet guys in class or at work and see qualities that I was looking for and would ask Jesus, “If this is not the one, take him away.”

And God was faithful. Boys dropped out of class, quit jobs, or in some other way God removed them from my life. I didn’t go on any dates in college; guys would ask and I would say no because the Lord was protecting me for so much more. My friends were all going out and it was hard to explain why I wasn’t. I would get made fun of; people wouldn’t understand. But God would always remind me, “It’s not theirs to understand.”

In April of my sophomore year, I sat in Starbucks and wrote a list of 20 things I wanted my husband to be, and I prayed over each one of these 20 things every day for a year. While making that list, I replaced the shallow “attractive, over 6’ 2”, great teeth” to the Holy Spirit-led “loves God more than he loves me” and prayed, “Father, allow me to marry a man with rich spiritual heritage.”

After praying over that list for a full year, I felt the Lord say, “Quit worrying over something I have already taken care of.” So, with reluctant obedience, I stopped praying over the list daily, and one month later, I met the man I am now engaged to marry. He and I were both planning to go on the same mission trip and his brother and my sister were also going on the trip. His sister set up a “coffee date” before our trip to Haiti so that we could meet and “get to know each other” before leaving. But I only saw him as a friend during the “coffee date” and this was the way I felt throughout the mission trip—he was just a friend. I was so used to protecting my heart that I wouldn’t even pretend to let anyone in.

When we got back, he asked me on a date. I prayed about it and Jesus said, “YES!” This was my first YES from God about a man, and I knew this meant he was going to be my husband. I knew that I needed to tell him the journey that the Holy Spirit had taken me on and that I was dating with intention, not just because I was bored. Although I was nervous about telling him that, he said he had known he was going to marry me since the “coffee date!”

After dating 10 months, we got engaged. Sometime later I found the list of the 20 things I wanted my husband to be and read through each item again. My fiancé far exceeded everything on the list—even the physical characteristics I failed to mention on that list. I put my full trust in God and continually asked for His guidance, and God did not disappoint me—He exceeded my expectations.

God is a faithful and good Father and He delights to give His children the desires of their hearts. So if you are still waiting on your “one,” don’t settle because you are getting restless, but REST in the promise that God has already written your story. He will bring the exact one He has chosen for you at the right time—because waiting for my One was worth more than anything in the world.

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.

#9. God Used The Pain For Good

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Photo Nicole Tarpoff

I am a sophomore in college and just spent my summer working in Texas—1,600 miles away from home—as a camp counselor. We didn’t have access to our phones most of the time, and I truly missed my friends and family. But I learned so much about how to sacrificially love others. We were trained to put the campers first in everything and to sacrifice ourselves for our campers. I was with my campers 24/7 for weeks, and with God’s help my goal was to pour out His love to each one with all that I could. By the end of camp, I was emotionally and physically exhausted.

But there was a friend back home, who was like a brother to me, who I wanted to be with as soon as I could. His grandfather had died the week before. I had missed the visitation and funeral because I couldn’t leave the camp early. I loved my friend and wanted to be there for him in his grief, just as he had been with me so many times before—especially when my dad died when I was 11 years old. I called my friend before I left camp and promised him that I would walk with him in the days ahead as he dealt with the grief of losing his granddad that he loved so dearly.

And then before I boarded the plane to come home, my mom told me that another good friend’s dad had just had a heart attack and died. My heart broke for my friend, as I knew that he had a very close relationship with his dad. He was with him when he died. Thankfully, this time I was able to go to the visitation and funeral. Less than 48 hours after I landed, I was on my way to this visitation and funeral. 

The morning of my friend’s dad’s funeral, yet a third friend sent a text to me saying that his dad had just died. Again, my heart broke, and I wanted to go to my friend and be with him. And so the day after I returned from one funeral, I left home to attend another and comfort another friend in his grief.

It seemed like one death after another . . . one heartbreak after another. Tragedy upon tragedy. In those moments, it’s easy to question God and lose hope. But I knew from my own experiences that God is never closer than when we are feeling most hopeless and heartbroken (see Psalm 34:18). Having lost my own father, there is a special bond, a special understanding, but also a special pain that comes with being in these situations at funerals and visitations. The memories that come back are difficult.

However, God uses this pain for good (see Genesis 50:20). My tragedy eight years ago, when I lost my own dad, helped me understand the pain and grief of my friends in a way that many could not. I believe that God used that experience to help me comfort others (see 2 Corinthians 1:3–4). Ultimately, I cannot provide healing and true comfort that the heart needs. But what is special about sharing in deep tragedy and sorrow, is that it gives us the opportunity to speak about real hope and ultimate healing of the heart that only God can provide.

In the midst of this week of death and grief and sorrow, when my heart broke for my friends and my main goal was to love and comfort them, God found a way to love and comfort me. I was looking for something in my car the day I arrived home from camp and found a note that I had received at my high school graduation. It was written by a wonderful family friend about the man God had molded me into in light of the trials I had been through in my own life. I had forgotten about the note, but God had not forgotten and knew exactly when to put this message before my eyes. Here is what it said:   

      Like a lighthouse, you are a strong and steady presence of hope at the very place where the waves of life crash onto the rocky land. You are a light bearer for those who are storm-tossed. Christ is the light within you. He shines through you with compassion for the lonely, strength for the weak, love for those lost at sea. Be not afraid. That light within you can overcome any darkness.        

       

Only God, in His perfect timing, knew how much I needed this reassurance in that moment with such trying times up ahead. He knew my anxious and inadequate feelings as I prepared to offer whatever comfort I could to friends who needed it so dearly, and who were especially looking to me with anticipation, as they knew I had been through a similar tragedy. I would be lying if I said that my soul did not feel the burden of this. However, just as only God can, in my time of need, He was there to give that gentle yet so powerful reassurance that indeed I should not fear. He would be my strength. My friends did not need me in this time; they needed the Lord and the comfort, hope, and light in darkness only He offers. He reminded me that it was the light and hope of Christ that He had shown me in my life that could overcome any darkness. 

God knows our deepest needs and He always provides.

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.

#1 Single But Never Alone

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Photo by Nicole Tarpoff 

I was a single mom for 17 years. Many of those years I longed to meet a wonderful man and remarry. I was told that my children needed a father, and I truly wanted a good father for them. I was so, so lonely. Life was hard, raising children alone and working long hours to support our family. But I believed that God had a plan for our family and continued to pray each night for God to bring the right man at the right time for me and my children. Night after night, year after year, I prayed this prayer. I waited—sometimes patiently, sometimes not so patiently. While I waited, I tried to grow and learn and become a better person. I practiced gratitude even when life was hard, and eventually gratitude came much easier.

But as I got older and my last child approached high school graduation, I was pretty sure that a husband and father was not in God’s plan for our family. Strangely, though, I was at peace with this realization. Over the years I head learned to use my time alone to deepen my relationship with God, and I trusted wholeheartedly that I was indeed NOT alone. I felt God’s presence with me. I knew that I could be happy with or without a husband and began looking for a few acres in the country where I could build a small cottage and have a flower garden after my son moved away to college.

But then a man who had been sitting behind me at church for many months, began to talk to me. He walked me to my car—which, in the parking lot full of hundreds of cars, was parked right next to his car! Eventually, he ask me to join him for dinner. Six months later, we were married in a small ceremony in the church where we met.

He has been the answer to my nightly prayer and so much more. I am so thankful for the husband and father that God provided at just the right time. God used my years of singleness to bring me closer to Him and to grow my faith. It was hard, but I don’t believe I would have ever developed the gratitude and deep relationship I have with God now if I had a married earlier. My years alone as a single mom forced a dependence on God that resulted in my KNOWING that God is with me and that God listens, loves, and responds in just the right way, at just the right time!  

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.

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