Last week during a Women’s Retreat, I shared about the “Fifty Buck Challenge.” When I got home and opened the envelope with my payment in it, there was not only a check, but also $50 cash. The next morning I received an email saying,
THE TEMPTATION
I will admit, I toyed with the idea of pocketing the 50 bucks myself.
After all I had worked hard all weekend delivering 3 sessions in less than 20 hours…and I could use the cash for my new website development.
It’s a good thing God is powerful enough to work beyond my frailties and temptations. Thankfully, the detour was quick, and I promptly set aside the $50 in a special pocket of my purse, and resolved to watch for an opportunity to use it.
It didn’t take long.
THE QUESTION
Later that day, I was at the same grocery store where I had given the “GRANT” to the stranded motorist, grabbing a few quick items for dinner. En route to the check out, a thought occurred to me that I should get a $50 dollar grocery card for a friend we’d been helping out recently.
I was immediately sure I should help the friend, but I simultaneously thought of using the newly planted $50 Bucks to purchase it.
Then I quickly chastised myself for being selfish. I should just help the friend with my own money, this wasn’t the purpose for the “Challenge Money” was it?
Surely this was my own idea, not God’s.
I didn’t have much time to argue with myself, so I decided to buy the $50 grocery card and figure the rest out later.
GOD ANSWERS
I bought the grocery card with cash from the secret pocket in my purse and asked God to reveal to me if it should go to the friend in question, or someone else. This covered me either way.
But oh, how I didn’t want to be disobedient with this cash entrusted to me.
My steps were involuntary as I proceeded out of the store, my thoughts filled with the who and when of this $50 piece of plastic emblazoned with colored fruit and veggies I now carried.
Was this me? Or was it God?
Within seconds of reaching the pavement, a voice snapped me out of my reverie.
“Sarah!”
I looked up to see the very friend I had been thinking about walking toward me.
And I started to laugh.
I told him how weird it was to see him there. He said, “Why? I live close and this is where I shop.”
And I simply replied, “I have something for you…”
If we become willing vessels for God he will never leave us hanging.
Do you have a story of how God has revealed himself to you in a powerful way? Has God used a $10, $20 or $50 bill to show himself faithful to you or someone else?