By Thursday afternoon there was still a bit of a gray cloud over the Higham house. I spent the day getting things at the church ready for our departure. We were to leave Friday morning for our vacation. While we had seen God’s hand and provision, we were still questioning all that was happening.
Our savings account empty. All of our vacation money gone. We paid our bills, but there wasn’t much left over. Since I left McDonald’s to focus on Harvest full time, money has been tight. We believed God was leading us to step out in faith, and we did. And for a while, we saw, or at least thought we saw some really neat things happen because we stepped out in obedience. But now… Well, now we just wondered if we missed something.
We have never experienced a financial crisis like this. And that’s what this was, a true crisis.
I spent some time, in tears, begging God to show me something; some kind of confirmation that we were still walking in his will. That what we believed he was leading us to do was real and truly from him. I have never felt so broken and unsure of my calling. I was beginning to think Harvest Church might have been a BIG mistake.
Later that afternoon, Amy told me that one of #3’s friends wanted to come over to see him. Thursday was the last day of school and plans were made for #3 to spend the afternoon with this friend. All of that changed after the baseball accident.
Amy said, that she talked with the mom of this friend and that he, the friend, was very upset when he heard about the accident. So upset that he spent time praying for #3. She asked if it would be okay with us if they came over to pray for him and annoint him with oil. We welcomed the visit.
Later that evening they came, along with our neighbor who had heard about the accident. After some chatting, we gathered to pray. For the next 15 to 20 minute, there was a huge outpouring of prayer. It was emotional, sincere, and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. I was grateful for this families concern and care for my child. I mean, we had barely met them and now here they were praying and crying over my son. We’ve never had anything like this happen before.
But then the unexpected happened. Suddenly the attention was thrust on me. And for the following 10-15 minutes, the Spirit moved in away that only the Spirit could have done. All of the fears and doubts and the questions and worries I had just wrestled with that afternoon, were made know as this family spoke a Word from God. There was no way they could have know where I was and what I had been fighting in my own heart, and yet they spoke right to me.
My heart broke. All that I was fighting… All that I was afraid of… I had to confront it right then and there.
They said, God was at work. That God was going to use me to do something amazing. That what we had come to do wasn’t a mistake. That God had brought us to this place and God would provide for us. That I would have the gift of healing and that I would bring healing to the broken in our community. I was blown away.
By the end of the night I still had questions, lots of questions. But there was a strange peace, that somehow, it would all come together.
We went to bed. In the morning we would leave for vacation. And we were leaving with no money in our pockets.
– jay
The story continues in the next post.
JayHigham.com 