Here we see how great God uses his people to help others in need. Most of the time we don't even know how anyone knew there was a need for help

Surprised By GOD

By JOAN VAIL

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2011 Joan Vail
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4269-6761-0

Contents

BOB...........................1JIM L.........................5BRIAN.........................9MARIANNE......................13JIM 72........................17SHELLY 72.....................31BECKY.........................39DON...........................43JANET.........................47MIKE..........................51JACOB.........................55JEFF..........................63DAVE..........................67JAN...........................75GREG..........................79LARS' KID.....................85

Chapter One

BOB

Bob is a musician. Some years back he was happily working seven nights a week in a very large ballroom. Being self-employed he didn't have such nice things as paid vacations, paid holidays, sick pay and most of all health insurance. He caught a very bad case of flu and strep throat, and was taking a lot of aspirin to keep going on with his work. His wife had decided to stop working at a job outside the home in order to be at home when their teenage daughter arrived home from school each day. So his was the only income at the time.

One day he began vomiting blood and passed out on the living room floor. The technicians who answered the 911 call said he had no blood pressure sitting up and very little when he was lying down. At the hospital, the doctor said he had lost half of his blood as he bled into his stomach. They said he had developed ulcers as a result of the aspirin. Many transfusions later and days in the hospital turned things around. He improved enough to leave the hospital and go home. He was told not to take any aspirin again.

Of course all those days he was sick there was no paycheck, so the small family, wife and daughter, was not doing well. Bob was a new Christian so he didn't know what to do. A few months earlier, in the summer, his daughter had attended Vacation Bible School. The pastor of that church took an interest in the daughter's parents, resulting in Bob's coming to faith.

The day before he was to check out of the hospital, their pastor called at their home. His wife greeted him and as he sat down on the couch, he handed her an envelope full of money. There were 11 denominations of money in the envelope that had been donated by the members of their church for the purpose of paying his hospital bill. The tears began to flow.

The next day when she went to the hospital cashier's office to pay Bob's bill, they looked at her with her pile of bills. She could see the questions in their eyes and she explained to the cashier where all the money had come from. The cashier's mouth dropped open as she took the money. This was another surprise.

The Thanksgiving Holiday was the next week. There was another knock at the door that brought the next surprise. A parade of people from their church came walking in with food for a Thanksgiving dinner complete with a turkey. More tears.

* * *

Each "God Surprise" brings tears of happiness and a whole lot of gratitude. His wife said, had she had time to think about it, it would not have occurred to her to ask God for these things because she was too worried about her husband's health. God not only took care of Bob's health but He also used His people to bring peace, food, healing, faith and financial assistance to this family. It was no coincidence that Bob's daughter attended Vacation Bible School that summer. Bob says it was all part of God's plan.

JIM L.

Jim is a retired math teacher who is also a carpenter. He believes his calling is to help people with their homes, be it to build them or repair them. One of his favorite projects is Habitat for Humanity. He and a volunteer crew traveled down to the Gulf Coast to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. They were there for quite a while and he brought back many pictures of the volunteers including the women, one of which was his wife, who cooked and served meals for them. When he talks about these events, it is not unusual for him to get emotional about these stories. Here's just one of them. He calls it "A Surprise We Weren't Looking For".

In November, 2007, a team of people from several area churches went to Rushford, Minnesota to help the people of that small city recover from a flash flood that damaged or destroyed approximately two-thirds of the homes. On August 19, 2007, the residents had retired for the evening during what appeared to be a normal steady rainfall. By 2:00 A.M. they were awakened by sirens and neighbors rousing neighbors to find the streets filling with water and made escape routes impassable. By the time the rain had stopped, seventeen inches had fallen in thirty hours on the Rush Creek Watershed. Because the water overflowed the levees rather than causing a break, the water was now trapped in the town with no avenue of retreat. The foundations of many of the homes were compromised and they sat at unusual angles.

Our team worked hard for five days to help people reclaim their homes and their lives. By the end of the week we had bonded into a cohesive unit and decided that we should go out somewhere on Friday evening for a dinner together before going our separate ways to our homes. We found out about Judy's Place in nearby Peterson, Minnesota and their wonderful fish dinners. That became the destination for the twelve of us. Upon entering the restaurant my eye was drawn to a plaque hanging on the wall. It said "Live in such a way that those who know you but don't know God will come to know God because they know you".

We had a delicious meal, great fellowship and conversation. In fact, the conversation continued for some time after the meal while waiting for our bill. Finally we asked the waitress staff for our check and were told there was none. We insisted on a check and told them we weren't leaving without one. They returned with our check which read, "Thank you for helping our friends and being Jesus' hands and feet," signed Judy. There were many teary eyes and voices that cracked when they tried to speak as the bill passed from one to another in near silence.

* * *

The free dinner is not the point. It is the way this crew bonded and how the people at the restaurant recognized the grace of God moving among them. There is a story in the Bible about some loaves and fishes being handed out to a bunch of people from the hand of Jesus. The people in that story were surprised by the Lord. So were the people in Jim's story. Once again, many tears were shed.

BRIAN

There was a time while I was attending high school, during which I was quite depressed. We can't always place how this type of affliction comes upon us, and such was the case for me. I didn't quite know how I got into feeling this way, and I didn't really know how to get out of the emotional pit I was in. Like the psalmist, inside I was asking, "How long, O Lord, how long?"

I knew that God had not left me, but I didn't know how to open my heart to feel His love and warmth. Even the most well-intentioned attempts by those close to me to help me talk my way out of this situation did not fully heal me. I felt I was letting everyone down since I could not pull out of this cloud of numbness and aimlessness. Outwardly, I usually kept my composure, so it made it harder for others to address my internal pain. How could they help me when they didn't know I needed help?

Although I didn't know how to get out of the depths of this pit, God was always there. He began to thaw the cold hardness of my heart....