Unexpected Blessings - Part I

Pastor Mark has been talking about the unexpected blessings God has been pouring out in this season! He has gotten a flood of emails, texts, and  messages of people wanting to share their blessings! From fixing a flat tire, to a young mom receiving a stroller and carseat, there have been tons of great things going on with God at the center of it all. Here are just a few of these blessings! 

SPARE TIRE FITS!

UNEXPECTED BLESSING - today started with a flat tire at Lowes. I bought my truck used with a salvaged title. It had been totaled. The likelihood of the spare tire still be there, along with all the tools to jack it up, release the spare tire from under the truck and tighten the lugs was unlikely. But, thank God, everything including the manual was still in place!

But that's not the best part…The spare tire was actually larger than the four tires on the truck so the jack would not lift the truck up high enough to put the spare on. I worked for 15 minutes and still needed 1/2 inch higher to get the wheel on. I was exhausted and by then, and there was rain coming!  A worker from Lowes walked by and asked how I was doing. I said, "OK except the jack needs another 1/2 inch to put the spare tire on...see...." I picked the tire off the ground and held it against the hub to show him how far off it was and, low and behold, all five lugs just slid on the wheel like nothing! I wasn't even trying to get it on. It just happened! After 15 minutes of trying to make it fit, it was like an angel lifted the truck that extra 1/2" just to help.

I tightened the lug nuts and went on my way before the rain came! Thank you Lord for large and small blessings!!

DOUBLE INVOICE

Last night at Bible Study I felt prompted to have people pray for "unexpected blessings." Then I told them to keep me posted. Well, it started! Someone that was there just told me they turned in an invoice for 6k and the general contractor said, "No, we're giving you 12k!" Wow!! Praise God!!!! This is a faithful family who needed that extra blessing. Thank you, Lord!

FOURWAY STOP

I was looking for a guy I needed to do some landscaping for me. I didn't have his phone number and had not seen him around town for probably a year. I even asked a mutual friend if he was still around. I was told he was.  He has a pretty unique looking truck so a couple days ago I went by his house in one of our city's neighborhoods thinking I might see it. But it was not there. Yesterday I did the same. Again, no truck.  So I turned around in his driveway and headed back towards the closest intersection near his house. On the way I prayed, "God, I need this guy. Please help me find him."  No kidding, when I stopped at the intersection, he pulled up to my right! I have not seen this guy in forever and a few seconds after I prayed, there he was!  He turned my direction, waved, smiled, stopped, rolled down his window and I said to him, "You're not going to believe what just happened..." and proceeded to tell him what I just told you.  Another small but significant blessing! Thank you Lord!

STROLLER AND CAR SEAT

I had an unexpected blessing that I wanted to share with you. I had been putting off getting our baby stroller and knew it was going to be the last big purchase for the baby, and I had the awesome opportunity of sitting and talking with your wife the other day. And before I left she gave me a very unexpected gift and that was our stroller and car seat combo! That was a big relief and I was able to pay up another bill because of it! Thank you both so much!! And your wife is a very wise lady! I really enjoyed talking with her!!

COLLEGE TUITION

I've been reading about unexpected blessings. My daughter is going to OCU this fall for college with no help funding from scholarships from school, ect. We talked about it as a family and decided if this is where God wanted her then He would provide.

We went to registration day for her to get the information she needed to get started at the school. We sat down and they came in and handed us a paper in the financial meeting with tons of people we didn't know. The paper had the expenses. What stood out to me was $988 a month which indicated her payment after government loans. With so many people in the room we just looked at each other. Knowing no way can we do this, not knowing we were both saying our own prayers and talking to God. After 3 more classes with this amount in our heads and not discussing it with each other, we finally got to sit down with financial aid.

In 5 minutes they gave her two scholarships that were never discussed which brought her payments from $988 to $455 a month. After walking out smiling we both said what our silent conversations with God was. God you are in control I need you to take care of this. Here is the next unexpected blessing. My daughter carries around a paper in her wallet that says, "College paid for in full." This was advice from a Godly book she read. Unexpectedly she just received another scholarship from the school for $4,000. Now her payment is $266. Before scholarships we would've paid $9,000 a semester. Now we will pay $1300! God is Good! Faith is believing, not seeing! Thank you for pouring into my daughter all that you have. That foundation is huge!