This article is from Issue 8, Called to be Witnesses
Provision to prayer
Val T.
Who said that the age of miracles is passed? I for one do not believe it for a moment. There are many accounts that I can give of the goodness of God in my life, and this one concerns my own mother.
Right from being a little child she was sickly to say the least. She was born a ‘blue baby’ which means there was something wrong with her heart. After the birth, the midwife thinking the child would die just threw her onto a cold slab and told my grandmother that there was little hope of survival. However, she was proved wrong and mum continued to live for many years after. Much prayer was always made for her in the Church for which I thank God.
Many years later there came a time when it was necessary for her and our family to leave the house we lived in and to seek out a bungalow which had all the bedrooms downstairs and all on one level. Time was of the essence as mum’s health had become so bad that my father was having to carry her upstairs for bed. But there was a problem; no-one seemed to want to move house at that time and the housing industry was static. There was a housing recession.
At the time I worked in an Estate Agency and was used to cold calling on people, asking them if they wanted to sell their property. During this period every Agency was more or less in the same dilemma. Thinking about this I decided to work on behalf of my own Mum, but where to start? We were given clear direction by the Lord as Mum, when seeking God’s will, found herself reading the book of Jeremiah chapter 40 and verse 4, and read these words: “Behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seems good and convenient for thee to go, thither go.”
So I began, as it were, in Jerusalem knowing that there were some bungalows near to where we lived, and I was led to a conspicuously yellow painted bungalow, very bright and very clean. I walked up the drive to the property and knocked on the door. A pleasant lady answered, and I asked her if she had ever considered selling her property. “Yes” she said, “I would like to go and live near my niece, but she doesn’t live here,” and she went on to name the town which was some 20 miles away.
Not only did she have a desire to live in this new town, but she said it had to be near her niece otherwise she and her husband would not go but would prefer to stay where they were. She went on to say that there was in fact just one bungalow that she would ever move into, but years and years had gone by and it never came up for sale. The conversation ended and I handed her a slip of paper with our name and address on just in case she ever had a change of heart and I left it at that, and believing God I continued on in my search.
Several days passed when there was a knock on my parents’ door. I opened it and lo and behold there was the same lady standing on the doorstep. She was excited and asked me if we were still interested in her property. “Absolutely,” I answered. “You’ll never believe it,” she said, “but that bungalow I have always wanted, the one near to my niece has just come up for sale, and I still want to buy it.” God had answered our prayers and a few weeks later we moved into her bungalow. Has the age of miracles passed? I think not!
Taken from Life on the Altar Publication
Issue 8 Spring 2023
LIFE ON THE ALTAR 