$398.88

March, due to a couple of unforeseen events and expenses, was turning out to be very tight for us.  We’d recently paid two different expenses, both right around $200 each, totaling around $400.   Two hundred of it was money we hadn’t planned as an expense and therefore wasn’t written into our budget.  Then there was the $200 check that we had written to Walker’s preschool the day, maybe two days, before we moved him to my school. (another God story, so see the post below!)  Now, I have no problem giving that preschool my money.  They have been wonderful to us and for Walker, and we truly believe in their cause.  However, there are times when we could really use the extra $200 that we paid for a month of school he wouldn’t attend there, and now is one of those times!

Cliff and I are currently doing a 40 day prayer challenge.  We are reading through a book called “Draw the Circle,” and we are learning so much about growing our faith through prayer.  We are learning to pray bold prayers, prayers where it is so far out of the realm of our understanding on how they can possibly come to fruition, prayers that challenge us and prayers that grow us.

On Friday, March 8, in the evening hours, I began to pray that God would return our $200 for preschool to us.  I knew that the preschool was not going to call and offer us our money back, and that surely there was a policy in place for situations like this. One that works out in their favor, as it should because we were the ones who made the decision to move him after paying.  (I most definitely was not going to the school to ask for it) That particular $200 would remain in the hands of the preschool.  I also knew that God was bigger than a policy though, and that if He chose, He could return our $200 to us.  I will be honest, when I uttered the prayer for the first time I felt twinges of doubt that we would receive our $200 back, and honestly I felt a little greedy to be asking for such a thing.  The original prayer, for me, was more of an exercise of faith than anything else.  It was a bold and crazy prayer.

As the weekend progressed, something began to change though. I began to fully anticipate that we would be receiving our $200 back.  I didn’t know how, or when, or through what avenue, but I knew it would come.  Over the course of the days from Friday until just yesterday, Thursday, I prayed that prayer many, many times.  I simply asked God to return our $200.  It was a bold and crazy prayer.

Yesterday, with the arising of yet another expense, Cliff and I both were feeling a little strain of discouragement.  We exchanged a few emails throughout the day about changes to our budget, detailing exactly how much (or little) we had to spend on groceries, so that we could also get gas, etc.  without having to use a credit card or tap into our savings.  There was no room for error or any other unexpected expenses from this point on.  At all. There was simply no extra this month. With us, there is always something unexpected coming up it seems.  Cliff and I simply were not comfortable with our bank account, and it was unsettling to us. 

I had the thought during our email conversation that I just knew that God was going to provide for us.  An inkling of discouragement, entertained for a second, quickly turned to a renewed faith and a reminder that God always takes care of His children. A prompting from the Holy Spirit, no doubt.  I emailed to Cliff, “I am still praying God will return our $200,” moments after I asked the prayer again.  See, just $200 would make all the difference.  It would make room for error and something unexpected. 

About midday, I had the thought that when I got home there would be a check in our mailbox.  This is an irrational thought, to be quite honest.  No one owes us any money, and we receive our paychecks on the last day of the month.  There was simply no plausible explanation for why we would receive a check today, except that God loves to take care of us.  He tells us in Malachi 3:10, Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

I went home.  I walked to the mailbox and opened it.  There were two pieces of mail.  One of those pieces was a check, but not a $200 check.  You see, sometimes God hears our prayers and says, “I’ll do you one better.”  This was one of those times.  While I’d been praying for God to return our $200, he decided to bless us even greater.  In the mailbox, just short of a week after I began praying for the $200 to be returned, we received a check for $398.88.  That check, combined with a $3 check I received for overpaying a bill last month doubled what I had asked God for, and replenished the $400 of unexpected expenses we had this month.  PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!!

Even cooler, was the date on the check.  March 8.  Last Friday.  The very day I began to pray that God would return our $200.  I prayed that prayer for the first time in the evening hours.  Because this check came from a business, it was most definitely written and cut to us in the hours preceding my prayer.  This is no coincidence.  We’ve never received a check like this from this company.  This was the working of a God who was busy rearranging numbers, working values, and coordinating mail delivery dates to bless two of his children on just the day they would need the encouragement. A God who knew my needs before I even asked, and wanted to reward me for exercising my faith in Him.  My sweet Lord, who always takes care of me, giving me more than I deserve, once again decided to show me his power and provision.  He already knows exactly what we need, but it blesses Him so for us to come to Him, to show him we have faith in Him to provide, and sometimes he decides to bless us with not only what we need and ask for, but He decides to do us one better.

 Pray bold.  Pray crazy.  Pray faithfully.  Pray to the God who hears you, who knows you, who loves you.  It.will.change.your.life.

“If we want to see God do crazy miracles, sometimes we need to pray crazy prayers.” –Mark Batterson, Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge