# Stories of remarkable providences



## jambo (Feb 15, 2010)

This happened a wee while ago but over the last couple of days I have been thinking about it a lot.

I work for a cable company and my job involves going to people's houses to fix their TV, broadband and telephone services. I got a call to fix a telephone line at a house that was just a few hundred yards from our church. Normally on such a fault I would go to the street cabinet first to check the line there. I put my key in the door but the door would not not unlock. I pushed and pulled, huffed and puffed, got my screwdriver out to use as a lever but still the door would not budge. The only option was to drill the lock out. However before doing that I thought I would check the house first.

On arriving at the house I recognised it as one I visited with another church member some months earlier when we were knocking on doors. On that particular night we had a very good conversation with a young girl who was quite clearly searching for spiritual truth. We had a long conversation with her and although I called back on a number of occasions, every time I called she was never in.

On this day however I rang the and as soon as she opened the door she was recognised me and was truly astonished. Just 10 minutes earlier in some distress she prayed out to God, "Oh Lord please send a Christian to me." Then here I am on her doorstep. We spent some time talking about spiritual things. 

After this it was time to fix her phone. I checked the house and I knew I had to get into the cabinet. I got my drill out the van but before drilling out the lock I thought I would try the door one more time. I put my key in and the door opened immediately. Now it was my turn to be astonished. Had the door opened when I arrived at first I would have fixed the fault and just phoned the house and driven away without knowing who it was I was talking to.

I find it remarkable how this door would not budge on arrival yet opened so easily after talking with her. 

I am wondering if others have stories of providence where seemingly insignificant events turned out to be hugely significant. The world of course calls this coincidence, but we would know it as providence.


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## coramdeo (Feb 15, 2010)

We do serve an Awesome God!


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## Wayne (Feb 15, 2010)

> Ah, sirs, let me tell you, there is not such a pleasant history for you to read in all the world, as the history of your own lives, if you would but sit down and record to yourselves from the beginning hitherto, what God hath been to you, and done for you: what signal manifestations and out-breakings of his mercy, faithfulness, and love, there have been in all the conditions you have passed through: If your hearts do not melt before you have gone half through that history, they are hard hearts indeed.



John Flavel, _The Mystery of Providence_, in his _Works_, vol. 4, pp. 416-417 (BoT edition)


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## a mere housewife (Feb 15, 2010)

Once when I was home sick from church I got a call from a lady in Canada who'd briefly stayed with my family, and I'd just said hello to her then. I told her everyone was away and she said she had called to speak to me, to tell me not to give up on praying. I had just that day come to the conclusion that God doesn't answer prayer, and it was useless to continue.

I'd been on the phone with Ruben about some financial difficulty a few years ago, and he said that God would provide. I thought something to the effect of 'even God doesn't provide money out of nowhere'. The phone rang again and it was an insurance agent offering me 300 dollars to settle a claim I hadn't known existed, for an accident I'd been in before we were even married. It's a comfort to think of that when there are other needs that don't get supplied -- He can easily give us whatever He wants us to have; and the reason He doesn't give us something, is because He is giving us something better. 

I'm so glad to read that God heard and sent a Christian to help that girl.


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## Wayne (Feb 15, 2010)

> . . .the reason He doesn't give us something, is because He is giving us something better.



One of my favorite doctrinal truths. You'll find a number of Puritans making very similar statements. Here's Sibbes:



> It is a true rule in divinity, that God never takes away any blessing from his people but he gives them a better. When Elijah was taken from Elisha into heaven, God doubled his Spirit upon Elisha. If God takes away wife or children, he gives better things for them. The disciples parts with Christ's bodily presence, but he sent them the Holy Ghost.



[_Works_, vol. 7, p. 200]


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## a mere housewife (Feb 15, 2010)

Wayne, I pray God will truly teach me that lesson but I'm afraid I'm a very recalcitrant learner.

In connection with this, lately I have been thinking how the times when God doesn't seem to answer at all are just as providential. I have often thought that He wasn't hearing or helping me; but I think maybe it's like teaching an infant to walk. You hold them up because their own legs aren't strong, and you let them go a little so that their legs will get stronger. Not that God ever truly lets me go, of course: but I think I understand a little better now, why sometimes there is no seeming deliverance. I have been thinking that the 'unremarkable' providences are just as carefully ordered as the remarkable ones to strengthen my faith: of all of them, I will be able to look back and say 'God was with me, God heard me, God was my help'.


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## TimV (Feb 15, 2010)

That one sent shivers up my spine, Stuart. Thanks for posting!!!!


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## awretchsavedbygrace (Feb 15, 2010)

Dont know how you would define remarkable but here you go..

When I was about 8 years old in Feb19th (dont remember the year, it was the day my grandfather died, and my sisters birthday). I was at my aunts house drinking some soup and eating some chicken. I accidentally ( dont ask how) ate a small chicken bone. It got stuck in my throat! They tried everything to take it out. I was turning purple! My mom picked me up and rushed me to the emergency room. I remember asking my mother " Am I going to die"? I got to the hospital and I was laying in the room about to go for a xray, a nurse came in the room and asked me if I wanted a doughnut. I took the doughnut and once I ate the dougnut I gagged and the bone came flying out. Funny, I know.


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## kvanlaan (Feb 16, 2010)

I've posted this elsewhere, but it definitely merits posting on this thread:
When we decided to adopt the four brothers from Ethiopia, we looked at our savings, and figured that we would probably be OK (however, there were certain fees we did not figure on, and others went up). However, we did not count on our Chinese adoption getting finished in the same general time frame that it did, and because of that, we likewise did not figure on needing about $25,000 in airline tickets to get the boys from Ethiopia and get us all back to Canada in roughly the same time frame.

We applied for adoption grants from many, many foundations (some of which charge you for applying) but none were forthcoming. It was not surprising, really; we were an American and a Canadian living in China. Whose criteria covers that?

Anyway, time was we were coming down to almost the end of our adoption and were about a week away from having to go to my father for a loan (who figured at three children that we had enough), because we were about $12K short just to finish paying for the adoptions, and had no collateral real-estate wise to go to the bank. I was making not a whole lot teaching English at the time, definitely not enough to save our shortfall in the few months we had.

Then we got a phone call.

The last foundation that had not rejected us (Shaohanna's Hope, founded by Steven Curtis Chapman) called us, and on a bad line, told us they had some good news for us (their usual grants are between $2-4K). They said they'd call back and we nervously waited the few minutes to find out if we were indeed getting help, because though even a $4K grant would not do the trick, it would give us some breathing room and time.

When they called back, they made it clear that the good news was better than we thought. Instead of $4K, it was $40K! Someone in country music in Nashville, a donor to the foundation, had asked if there was someone who needed a little extra help. Shaohanna's Hope told this person about us, they wrote a cheque, and suddenly the airline tickets and last payment on the adoption was taken care of, with enough left over to help us ship some stuff home. We arrived in Canada nearly destitute but debt free. The Lord was so good to us! (And continues to be in how he has integrated our family).

PS - By the way, though Shaohanna's Hope would not tell us who the donor was, we think it was Faith Hill that was the donor in question from what we've seen on the internet about her. But it may have just been a record producer with a big heart, not sure.


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## Christoffer (Feb 16, 2010)

This is a small one, yet still quite funny!

In the autumn last year I was running on a trail. I wore a footpod that registered distance and speed. They are quite expensive and it was perhaps the 3rd or 4th time I used it.

While I was running I felt it come off, and it tumbled into the woods. I looked for it but finally gave up.

I returned some days later and tried again. After a while I decided to leave, but changed my mind and went back again. I also prayed that God would find it for me. 

Just moments after I prayed, another runner stopped and asked what I was looking for. A footpod I said. It turned out he had found it a couple of days earlier and I could come by his house and pick it up!

It didn't lead to anything hugely significant though... I hope I could post it anyway!


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## AThornquist (Feb 16, 2010)

This particular story has had a huge impact on my life:

When I was 8 or 9 my dad virtually fathered a teenage boy whose family was in shambles. This boy, Josh, became a part of our family. He was an older brother to me, and son to my parents, and a friend to us all. He was a friend of almost every clique at the high school; he was one of this kids who could get along with _everyone_. Secretly he would drink with his friends and live a party lifestyle. Anyway, after months of fathering this boy the Lord pierced Josh's heart and he responded to the Gospel. He was saved. Shortly thereafter he and I were baptized together by my dad on a Lord's Day morning.

Not long after that he was driving down the highway with some friends and their vehicle veered off the road into a tree, and Josh died. This was a _huge_ blow to our family, as you could imagine. My dad was asked by his mother to preach at Josh's funeral. As I said, Josh was friends with everyone - so the high school offered all students to go to Josh's memorial service instead of attending class. The building was *packed* and kids were lined up for blocks outside the particular building. There my dad preached the Gospel. So many ears heard it.

After that we mourned and coped, and time went on - for another 8 or so years. Then a few years ago I was at a youth conference in town that was being held once a month throughout a several month period. A lot of it was goat herding so I didn't care much for it, but I figured I would attend anyway. (It was free!) Well one night the speaker was a local youth pastor, Dave, who was gave his testimony. He recounted how he lived in licentiousness for years until he heard the Gospel at his best friend's funeral - Josh's - though he did not know that Josh confessed Christ in the short time before his death. It turned out that he heard the Gospel from my dad at the service, which the Lord used to regenerate him. Soon he was growing in the Lord and eventually became an elder/youth pastor, though he resigned due to issues with the leadership.

So I met Dave at the end of the night at this conference and we were both shocked to meet one another. We began to see the Lord's providence in Josh's salvation, funeral, and also our meeting. We parted ways and I moved to another county for four months. I attended a Reformation Day conference in the area and a pastor, Tony, preached on Solus Christus. I spoke to him afterward since I remembered that he was a guest at my father's house for dinner at one point. He mentioned how he led a Bible study in the town that I used to live in and invited me to come at some point. I didn't realize at that time that I would be moving back to my old town. 

When I moved back to Ukiah I attended the Bible study I had been invited to, which was also led by Dave, Josh's friend. We talked for a time and I kept attending the meetings until summer hit and they concluded. Over a period of months I began attending the church that Tony pastors, which I am currently a member of, and this was the same time Dave resigned from the church he was an elder at. He too, with several families from the church he resigned from, began attending Pastor Tony's church.

Dave and I became members of Potter Valley Bible Church on the same Sunday and he is now one of my best friends, along with his wife and two beautiful little girls, ages 1 and 3. I feel like a big brother to the girls. Anyway, Dave has been a huge blessing to me, and we have breakfast together every week and hang out just about every weekend. The Lord has used Dave in my life and also the lives of others, including some who were discipled by Dave over the years and who are now good friends of mine as well. 

Plus, Potter Valley Bible Church is a faithful, Christ-centered church that has simply grown phenomenally in the last year - right as we are finishing up with the new, larger building. Many of the orthodox families from various churches in the area have started attending. The Lord is certainly building His church. I'm blessed to be one small stone in this.

One thing about the conference I went to and met Dave at - Dave was the coordinator and he decided to stop organizing the events since they became too worldly, largely due to the liberalness of the churches in our area. As far as we know there was no good fruit from the events other than this one providential meeting. 

Interestingly, my dad was saved by the Lord many years ago under the same teaching pastor from the church that Dave resigned from, and this man is who is now attacking and slandering Dave. My family cut ties with this pastor years ago when he hurt my family, particularly my father, in different but equally troubling ways. Strange connection. It's amazing how God uses even the wicked in his providence for the good of his saints and for His glory.

All these things brought me to Potter, where various members knew my dad in some way or another. For example, a man who was a criminal in jail was a friend of my dad's when my dad was a correctional officer in the jail a few decades ago. When this man was released they hung out and hunted together on various occasions. At that time, neither my dad or this man were Christians, so I had the pleasure of reuniting them, both new creations in Christ.

. . . Anyway, I'll stop typing now. The connections and providences are so abounding in these situations it's difficult to not want to keep sharing them.


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## jambo (Feb 16, 2010)

Thanks for all those entries. It is fascinating to think back over time and have been conscious of the Lord's providential dealings. Sometimes in darker moments, reflecting upon the Lord's dealings with you can be a means of much encouragement

I came across a piece by JC Philpot where he says:

There are three books which, if a man will read and study, he can dispense with most others. 

1. _The book of providence_ and this he reads to good purpose, when he sees written down line by line the providential dealings of God with him, and a ray of Divine light gilds every line.

2. _The Word of God_ and this he reads to profit, when the blessed Spirit applies it with power to his soul.

3. _The book of his own heart_ and this he studies with advantage, when he reads in the new man of grace the blessed dealings of God with his soul and in the old man of sin and death, enough to fill him with shame and confusion of face, and make him loathe and abhor himself in dust and ashes. (JC Philpot, Reviews)


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