Chapter 70
He That Comes To God Must Believe
When we pray to God, we must believe that He hears us. We may not always get what we pray for, because sometimes God’s plans are different than the ones we see. Nevertheless, we pray believing, and then put action to our prayers, even if the situation seems impossible.
Each time a person or family is attempting to gain something from god there will be signs of god’s approval. It is in these times that we must trust and continue moving forward. It is in the impossible situations that God will be glorified and His children will gain a testimony of answer to prayer. We all have to learn to not be too easily dissuaded. Be bold and move forward, if the door shuts, that’s okay, but if we quit before it shuts, we will never get to see god’s miraculous provisions.
Early during our attempts to get the home, Janie had told the pastor of the Olive Branch Church about our desire to secure the home; he chuckled and said that he didn’t see any way that we could get the home. She had hoped that as our pastor he would join us in prayer for our purchase of this home. Yet we truly believed that it was god’s will for us to have this home, so we put action to our faith and moved forward against all odds. Many times during the process to receive the home it seemed as if the door was shut and the deal was dead. Then something would happen, and god would resurrect it again, breathing new life into it in order to encourage us. God continued to move in such unusual fashions that pulled from every spectrum of our life, family, and experiences as Christians that when we finally closed on the home it was like a dream manifesting into reality right before our eyes. Truly, truly, “All things are possible to him that believes.”1
Had we listened to the nay-sayers and unbelievers, we would not have received our home. Faith and belief, prayer and action-all came together to gain this blessing for our family. All of these stories about our families’ adventure of being homeless and then getting a home are shared as a testimony to each family who finds themselves homeless that they can look to as they trust god to move in their own lives in miraculous ways. These testimonies are meant to expand faith and belief in our sovereign Heavenly Father. Our Father can be trusted to help each of us in our time of need, responding to us according to His Word and His will in each situation.