God's Surprises

As we travel around sharing what God is doing at New Day, we sometimes wonder, after speaking, “Did we make the right decision in coming to share with this church or with these people?” Or, we wonder, “Did we come at the wrong time?” But, God loves to surprise us in the way He moves in the hearts of people.

One of the churches where we spoke is located in the inner city, in a location where handguns are carried to church for protection. Recently, a kingpin for the Bloods was saved when he came into the church for counseling. He told the pastor later that he was on his way to kill three people when he came into the church. He was sitting in the back when we shared. Most of the people, in this church have little money and very difficult lives, but, in spite of their poverty, they gave generously to New Day and many joined our prayer team. In addition to that, they were a great encouragement to us through their words.

It was Wednesday night. We got lost trying to find the little country church, and when we arrived, the church was dark and no one was there. What good could come out of this?  Great things!  There was a good crowd for a Wednesday night, and they seemed generally interested in what God is doing at New Day, and thanks to the efforts of one young lady in the church, this little country church blessed New Day with a very generous gift for our truck fund.

The next church was a rather large church—a church with three services.  The people were very friendly and warm, but very busy on the Sunday we were speaking with lots of exciting things happening, and we had quite a few problems with our videos. I was standing at our table between services, but most people were passing by to sign up for a special event that was happening the following week. I was not upset by this, because the things that were happening were very important for this church. However, I did feel kind of awkward standing there. Suddenly a little lady came up to me and handed me an envelope and said, “God told me to give this to you!” and walked away. It was time to speak again so I put the envelope away for safe keeping until I could look at it later. Was I surprised when I opened the envelope and found 10 hundred dollar bills and a note that said, “This is a hard time of year to give this, but God told me to do so.” Wow! If we would all be that obedient when God asks us to do something!

These are just a few stories of the way that God has surprised us as we have traveled around sharing the story of New Day Orphanage.  We really do serve a BIG God!