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God Is My
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"Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." |
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In The Beginning
Six Hundred Dollars
The Next Step
Blowing In The Wind
Thinking South
Betty Bucket
In The South Island
Selling Our House
God Provides
A Home of Our Own
What Of Our Vision?
Conclusion
How To Know God
For Part One go here: In the Beginning
Betty Bucket
You see, we owed money on our car. Back before God had told us to get out of debt, and we were still running our lives our way, our old car had come to the end of it’s life, and we had no money to replace it. So, we did what every normal young couple does - we got a loan.
Anyway, now we were committed to getting out of debt. We knew this was something we couldn’t possibly achieve on our own - God would have to do it, but we were committed to doing our part - being wise with our money, and settling any debts we could.
So, the car. We figured we owed more on it that we could possibly sell it for - but what if? We began to feel an urge to sell the car and pay it off. So, we advertised it for more than it was worth, but enough to cover the debt. Just. And it sold to the very first person who called about it.
Great! One less debt of some $5000. But no car! And we were supposedly leaving in a week for the South Island - by car!
Well, with God all things are possible!! So we told him our need, and left it in His capable hands.
A couple of days later, Rob’s grandmother asked us to visit her. She was a dear soul, a believer and a faithful pray-er. She said she wanted to give us some money, to keep and use for whatever we felt was the most urgent need. She gave us $1000.
The next Sunday, our last one in Auckland, our church was holding a shared lunch to farewell us. Rob arranged for us to borrow his mother’s car for the day, so that we could go. He collected the car the night before, and that Sunday morning, while I was getting our two young ones ready for church, he dashed down to the car fair at Manukau City.
At 9:20 he was back - saying he had found a car we really should look at, that the guy agreed to hold it until 9.30 so I could have a look, and let’s go!
We arrived at the town centre at 9:29, and couldn’t find anywhere to park, so Rob pulled up on the side of the main entry, right next to the retaining wall around the side of where the car fair was held. We leapt out of the car and down the wall, landing right next to the prospective car at 9.30 - just as another buyer was about to get in it. But when the owner saw Rob, he said to the other person “he’s back just in time- I said he had first option”. Well, we had only minutes before we needed to head for church. No time for a test drive. I asked Rob if he’d already been for a drive - he said "Yes, a short one." "Is it ok?" I asked. "I think so" says Rob. "Does everything work?" "I think so" says Rob.
Ok, well, how much is it? They’re asking $1495. "Will you take offers?" I ask. "Try me" the vendor says. So I say “$1000”, knowing that we had that much. The response - “No way!”. Sigh. Now what?? How much can I offer? Help me Lord! We’d had a garage sale the day before, but hadn’t had time to count the money yet - I knew it wasn’t very much. Finally, praying under my breath, I said “$1250”. I could see the man’s mouth form the word “No”, but suddenly he nodded and said Ok. Turned out his wife was standing behind me, where I couldn’t see her, and was nodding her head. It was really her car - she had lived in Culverden as a child, on a dairy farm, and had named the car, a little white Chevette, after her pet calf, Betty Bucket. The had travelled up from the Coromandal that day to sell the car at the car fair. And Culverden was the little speck on the map where we were moving to, to work on a dairy farm!
We explained that we were due at church, and arranged for them to come and drop the car off later, after they had had lunch with friends. We got the $1000 out of an ATM, and headed home after church praying we had enough for the car!! When we added up the change from the garage sale, so long as we “kept” the amount needed to pay the change of ownership (the seller’s responsibility in those days), and took care of that ourselves later, we had enough for the car, TO THE CENT!
Looked like Betty Bucket was headed back to Culverden!
And that poor little car - we brought a trailer, and piled it high with our essentials - bedding, clothing, a few toys, some kitchenware. On the way South, Rob was driving, and couldn’t see through the rear-vision mirror because of the height of the trailer. And the wing mirror kept flopping against the side of the car. He told me later that at first he was annoyed with not being able to see behind, but then felt the Lord say “don’t worry about it - you only need to look forward - There’s no looking back!”.
Next: In the South Island
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Welcome!I hope our
testimony will be an encouragement to you! Don't forget to check out my
list of Articles for help with homeschooling, depression, getting out
of debt, decluttering and lots more! May God Bless you!
Cynthia
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CynthiaHancox/Foxton, New Zealand/ +646-363-7743
www.CynthiaHancox.com/Cynthia@CynthiaHancox.com