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What would
you do if you had needs but no money to meet them? Annette Smith found out
how God can provide for a widow in ways that do not necessarily involve cold
cash. |
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Newly
widowed, Annette was overwhelmed on several fronts. Financially, she was
trying to pay off medical bills. As a homeowner, there was property to
manage. When spring came, she started thinking about selling the
house--surrounded by two acres of lawn. She faced a major problem: The
lawnmowers no longer worked. |
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One
weekend, as she got ready to go to her Mom's for a visit, she took another
look at the weeds and grass--or was it a hayfield? |
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"God,
if you want this mowed, okay. But if not, I'll praise you anyway," she
said as she drove off. |
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When she
returned home, she couldn't believe her eyes. The entire two acres had been
beautifully manicured. Two friends admitted they had hand-mowed it. |
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Annette was
exuberantly grateful, and yet she faced reality: The grass would grow back
and continue to need mowing. |
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Without a
husband, she depended on God for everything, talking to him just as she had
formerly talked to her husband, Gene. "Lord, I know I need to be
specific when I ask for something...." Flipping through the current
Sears catalog, she stopped at a page picturing a beautiful selfstarter
tractor mower that cost one thousand dollars. "That one will do, God.
Thanks." |
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Then she
noticed a hand-mower she would also need to reach around the edges. "And
that one too, God," she said, placing her finger on the catalog picture.
She certainly did not have the money for such expensive equipment. But
Annette left her request where she had put it--in God's hands. |
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Later that
spring a Sears truck drove up, and the delivery man said, "Here's your
order." |
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"I
didn't order anything from Sears." |
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"Are
you Annette Smith?" |
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"Yes." |
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"Then
these are yours," he said, as he unloaded his cargo--the exact self-starter
tractor mower she had seen and prayed for. Then he brought out a
hand-mower--the very one she had pointed to in the catalog. Finally, he
unloaded an electric trimmer for weeds--a bonus she hadn't requested. |
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Annette
later discovered the identity of her benefactor. A friend of Gene's had felt
the Lord say to him, "When you sell that motorcycle, buy Annette Smith a
tractor mower and a hand-mower." He had figured they would cost a
certain amount, but when he went to buy them, he had enough money left over
to get the electric trimmer. |
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Annette
gladly accepted God's provision through a friend. But to her it was a
miraculous answer to her specific prayer. |
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If God was
that concerned about a |
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From:
Miracles Happen When You Pray by Quin Sherrer, 1997, pag. 36, 37, Zondervan
Publishing House, |