Maybe it has never happened to you, but I have faced such challenges. And I was faced by such for the South-Korean publishing ministry who had been faithfully providing me work since the Good Friday of 2010 managed to promise me a new book....which I have been waiting for a while by now. They evidently run into financial difficulties, but forgot or did not think expedient to warn me. So, similar to the situation which unfolded with them on the last day of May 2012, I found myself from a position of uncertainty. With the approaching tax payment deadline, and other extra obligations connected with the arrival of my child from Africa, things did not look good. Although I had what it took at the moment.
So, when my child returned from her volunteering, which turned "accidentally" (but we all know there are no accidents with God) into a ministry mission, and had needs of her own, I found myself asking, How am I going to make it? And how am I able to make it to church at Chiswick, which would take about £30 or more just for coachfare (depending on a route, as the airport coach fare is always more expensive, but I discovered that homeward bound coaches had their last stop at Hammersmith too early to make it every time also to Sunday evening meeting. So it managed to cause me a certain concern, for naturally I would have wanted to be a part of everything. I was happy to make it just to Sunday morning service, but if to pay anyway, and there is more, then you would want to make the most of it.
So, things did not look promising. They had been in a similar state for a while. TOSHIBA laptop had its (assertedly unbreakable) titanium cover broken from the inside, which made me miss a copywriting training seminar, as I managed to rush to my laptop only a couple of minutes before the beginning and lift it, forgetting about the crack in the cover...and the rest was a history. I could hardly close or open the laptop, as everything became a mess, and it just did not look good.
Then, Internet connection broke, and disappeared for a day or two. As I need it for my work, it just wasn't good news. But, I could get the support by phone, and although I could not understand almost a thing for it had to do with a new accent for my ear, the man knew what he was doing at his end and got the job done.
Then, as the support man had asked me to plug the Internet cord into my laptop to test the connectivity that way, I could see that it had helped stabilise the broken cover issue.
The computer shop did not sell the tiny plug at the end of the cord separately, so I spotted at Waitrose a magnetic clip set, which seemed to be able to hold my cover and laptop together. It worked just fine.
Then, my washer broke down. I spent 36 hours before leaving for London for church at Chiswick and going to the airport to meet my daughter eliminating the results. The whole kitchen and living room area was flooded over. On the positive side I got a good exercise. But it just did not add to happiness. The door was locked and the things in the inside. And if to keep them there for a few days, water will do its job and destroy the clothes. Google helped, I found out about the solutions and the meaning of the error code. I had to complete a washing cycle to open the door. On the positive side, I could warn the letting agency and as they worked on Saturday morning, they could alert the appliance engineer, who came on Tuesday and stated that it was a plumbing issue, and there was nothing he could do. He must have had an enlightening thought, though, as he turned back and fixed it half an hour later. And, it worked. Not without an error code, and the need to let the machine run to the end of another cycle to get the door open again at our next try. But this time there was no flood, and the kitchen sink did not run over. A huge improvement.
But as my daughter needed to go meet her team mates in London, and there were certain sums payable for her career loan, which threatened to bite too much out of my existing funds, which had been dwindling way too fast....with no certain prospects for future...the situation did not look good. The publishing ministry was silent, although they order each month a newsletter translation, which would have been something to reckon with....on the other hand, there was no lack of work, but somehow the NYC agency which mediated medical projects, had forgotten all about our agreed prices, and had slashed its prices which were according to the American rates anyway...although the clients were major pharmaceutical companies, which could not have run into difficulties for sure....it just did not look too good. So, I seriously needed God to step in and do something certain to save my skin as to tax money.
The disciples got it solved by going to fish with Jesus. God made the exact fish which had swallowed a gold coin, swallow their bait, and solved the tax issue of His disciples in such manner. But for me the need was looming on the horizon, and it just did not look good. I had what it took for now....but taxes, they needed to be paid, and on time. Was I stupid to go to places where He had asked me to go. Was I stupid to give when He put it to my heart to do so. Certainly not! But I needed His aid to ace the case.
So, today He let the fish with a golden coin in its belly swallow my bait. Not in a physical, but virtual sea. It was a UK Government fish. And the golden coin in its belly is going to take care of my tax money. I have time to work at this large project for CPS or Crown Prosecution Service until mid-January, but that would mean waiting time until the end of February. I need the money a month before. Which means a bigger effort this holiday season. But I have done the impossible before, and after such testimony, you know that it is possible with God. Besides I have just enough time for that. For the impossible a few years ago demanded a three times larger project in the same time. And I could make it. This is easy.
Once again I have experienced the faithfulness of God. He has been good to me. I so wanted to go to church. And the sight of quickly dwindling resources and no seemingly adequate income did not make me happy, if I thought that I may not be able to go to church therefore. But God knew. And even if the sentence has been used as a "Christianese" or not necessarily Word-based Christian saying, He provides when He tells us to do something. A step in a right direction will be always accompanied by provision. And Chiswick was that. It made all things fall to their places once again. I am so so grateful. What would we do or where would we be without Him? But with Him, ALL things have become possible. And that means that I do not have to economise, and skip the Sunday evening Carol service, but I can make it, and come home via Heathrow, which is located conveniently, just on my way from Chiswick toward home. Although more expensive than the regular bus option.
The above, the drying up of source of supply, the lingering and hindrances and breakdowns indicated an attack of the enemy at a sensitive time. But God, He showed once again, that He was bigger. It felt a bit like the place where Moses ended up with the Israelites, on their God-given journey. They had been following God. They had been doing everything according to His instructions. They had been obedient. And....the road took them to a place with the angry Pharaoh with his army chasing them. Desert with dangerous creepy-crawlies at both sides, and the Red Sea in front of them. They cried out of anguish, and concern, and it did not look good. But God told Moses, Why do these people cry out to me? Take your rod (of authority) and tell the sea to open up, and walk through it.
Exodus 14:10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
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