Memorial Box Monday: Answered Prayer

Yes, I'm writing my MBM post on Wednesday. It's okay -- next year if you come back to revisit this post you won't even know I didn't write it on Monday!

If you don't know what Memorial Box Monday is, it started with Linny at "A Place Called Simplicity." Linny had this brilliant idea that we should remember the prayers God has already answered. We should cherish that answered prayer and revisit it when we need encouragement. MBM represents my family's faith journey. Much of it centers on our daughter's adoption. Today I realize that I have never prayed as fervently or walked as much by faith as I did then. (I need to get back to that place of total dependence.)

When I first told Rob that God was calling us to China to bring home a little girl, he wasn't as convinced as I was. He had his reasons. All of them logical. One thing he pointed out was that we had just paid off more than $100,000 in student loans the month before. We had a plan for the next stage of our financial life - to start saving for retirement and the kids' college. I'm a planner. Normally, he's more relaxed.

Unusually calm and clear, I suggested that we should pray about the finances. He agreed. So that night we asked God to show us. Our prayers were a lot like Gideon's fleece test. God, if this vision is really from you, prove it.

The next day...

Yes, I said, THE NEXT DAY! We got a letter in the mail from the student loan company. I opened it, expecting the payoff letter. The letter was there, but it said we had overpaid our payoff.

I don't know about you, but when I pay a bill, I don't ever want to pay more than needed. I called the student loan company before I wrote that final check. I followed all the automated prompts to get to payoff information. The automated voice told me our payoff amount and that it had to be received by a certain date (three or four days later). I repeated the amount and checked my figures. Twice. I wrote the check and sent it in.

Back to the letter we received... It said we overpaid the payoff. Not humanly possible. It included a check to reimburse us for the overpayment.

As I write my heart is pounding from the excitement of that day!

I called my husband right away. Again uncharacteristically, I calmly read the letter and told him about the check. I didn't connect the dots. This check was for him. From God. To help him see that our money is not ours. God can do whatever He wants whenever He wants. We just have to be obedient.

My husband and God had a little talk that day. I think we both learned how very great, how very loving, and how very in control our God really is.

To remember God's faithfulness, I'll put the check stub (yes, seven years later I still have it) in our memorial box. I never want to forget that God is in control and I don't need to worry about anything. I want my daughter to know that God cared about her from the moment she was conceived. I want her to know that God made sure we listened and brought her home -- where she belongs! May she never doubt His love -- or our love -- for her.

Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Matthew 6:26