God’s Favor
We have recently returned from a five day, all-expense paid vacation to Orange County, California and the whole trip was so full of God’s favor, we couldn’t stop thanking Him for days on end. When we accepted the offer of the vacation, we knew the weather would need to be warm enough the house water pipes and indoor citrus trees wouldn’t freeze and the animals would remain healthy outside. A kind neighbor agreed to watch over the animals so we had to wait and see what would happen with the house and indoor trees.
We drove to KC on Christmas Eve day to deliver a chicken coop we had built to a lady who lived there and then to spend the rest of the day and night with our daughter, Jenifer and her family. During that night, it was so cold that the remote on our diesel truck caused the truck to start up….twice. This woke us up and made us concerned that if we left our truck at the airport parking, would we have gas when we returned or would it start and run the engine dry? We knew the key would be to have downhill parking.
Christmas day, after a lovely celebratory morning with our grandson and family, we headed off to the airport. All the airport parking lot was on a downhill slope. Thank you Lord. We parked and had barely turned off the key when a shuttle bus pulled up behind us. The driver said he had to fight with himself to come over and pick us up at the truck since he is only required to stop at the waiting shelters but we knew it was the favor of the Lord. We hurried like everything to get our luggage onto the bus, thanking the driver generously, and shuttled to the airport front door hoping we hadn’t forgotten anything.
Once inside, we found our line to check in luggage that would go under the plane and then the line to go through security. The lady looked at our ticket, looked at us, drew a yellow line through our ticket and said, ‘Tell the next people you have a pre-checked ticket. You won’t have to take off shoes, coat, or anything.” Wow! We walked up to the security guards, showed our yellow lined ticket, and were waved on through. Then we looked at each other and asked, ‘What just happened?’ God’s favor just happened.
Our flights were some of the smoothest ever, were uneventful in a good way, were on time or ahead of time, and we arrived to our destination to have our ride waiting at the front door just a few steps away from the luggage pickup point.
Jonna would come by the same flight a couple hours later. Meanwhile, her boyfriend, Mike, took us to see a large neighborhood known for exhibiting Christmas lights and other displays. We met and went with his parents also, enjoying the hot chocolate and cookies she brought us to munch on. We were participating in one of their yearly traditions.
We spent five wonderful days with our daughter, Jonna, and with the Montellano family, visiting many of their favorite places and restaurants, having our anniversary celebrated again with a tiara on Joyce and a big bow on John. We were treated with the greatest care in their home, sharing Christmas gifts, snacks, and stories with one another. Sunday of that week, we all went to church together, had lunch, then met in a nearby park to finish up a wonderful morning with another family tradition…sharing what blessings they had experienced in the past year and prayer requests for the New Year. It was such a lovely time sharing and praying together as family. Monday, we would head home.
Our return home was much as it was going; it was smooth, it was uneventful in a good way, ticket agents rearranged other people to bless us with seats together (one of John’s tickets didn’t have a seat assignment), and we went through security with the least amount of trouble. We never even had to open our bags although, John did have to take off shoes that time. We were so favored.
But the story doesn’t end there. When we returned to the parking lot via the shuttle bus, we explained that we didn’t know which waiting shelter because the arrival bus had picked us up at the truck. It was cold and it was midnight. The bus driver asked us about where we thought we were, he found it easily, and let us off right at our truck. Yes, there was gas in it…all that we had left in it. It started easily and took us back to Jenifer’s. We stayed to celebrate New Years eve with them in prayer and the Word and to celebrate anniversaries together. This was the third anniversary celebration for the year. That set a new record for us.
That in itself was significant to us because on our anniversary day, while in our time of prayer, the Lord said, “This is a new year of your marriage.” We still don’t know all that means but it seemed God was confirming His Word after the third time of our celebrating it. The rest of the meaning we will wait to learn.
We finally returned home. All was well. All was well. God’s favor was just as evident at home as it was with us on our travels. We were in awe and praise for days as we considered it all. A new baby kid was born and the weather went to extreme cold, below zero just days after we arrived home. But, we were home and we had time to prepare. God’s favor was made evident even in that.
That is only one story. There is more and more and more.
We had a registered Nigerian Dwarf nanny goat given to us a couple years ago. She didn’t carry her first pregnancy the first year and the previous owner seemed surprised that she even became pregnant. We have been praying the Duet 28 blessing over her and expecting her to breed and birth this year. She is now preparing to give birth. God’s favor. What happens you’ll have to hear about next writing.
We have a friend to whom was given several rabbits. She wasn’t fully prepared for them so when winter came, they needed a proper shelter big enough to house the expecting broods of bunnies. John saw how to and built a rabbit hutch. In exchange, he is getting three female bunnies and several gallons of fresh cow’s milk.
Next is a change of story, but not of subject. Through the prompting of the Lord, we attended a ‘healing meeting’ in Springfield we were invited to. We didn’t know the church, we knew of only one of the two speakers, we had no idea of what to expect, but God put a strong urge in us to be present. We arrived a half hour early to find it already packed and we seemed to get the last two available seats up in the far corner of the balcony. That night at the end of the meeting, we saw and experienced God’s healing power. John was healed of an old injury to a shoulder that occasionally pained him. We saw that there was a revelation of how to minister God’s healing that we did not yet know and we decided right then that we wanted that. The speakers of Global Awakening had a school to train you in their perspective of healing. It was online and it was not free.
“Well, God…you led us there and put the desire in our hearts. We will wait and watch to see what next.” Soon afterward, a second computer (and Ipad) and the monies came to begin the first class that would cover eight weeks training from videos, books, and interaction with other students from around the world. Upon registering, Joyce asked if there were any discounts. From that rather funny question, we both were surprised to receive a scholarship towards our first class. We both would study the first level….for free. The monies given would be held for books and future expenses. That was God’s favor. We have now been in our online class for two weeks and look forward to all we can learn. The ‘rest of the story’ will be in next writings.
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