Wanting to go to Grad school, I found an old student loan that needed my attention first. I needed to pay it off before I could qualify for aid. I asked God for discernment about how to take care of this debt. During this time frame, I heard a sermon wherein the preacher talked about how, when Joshua was leading Israel across the Jordan river into the promised land, God told them to first step into the water before God would make Israel’s path dry (Joshua 3:13-17). I interpreted this sermon as the Holy Spirit telling me that God would have my back financially if I would go ahead and step in the water by paying off the loan with my savings before saving up more money.
So, I saved up money for two weeks, which was enough not to deplete my entire savings (I still had other bills to pay in the near term). I paid the loan off, paid the other bills, and felt the financial crunch I had created. As a result, I started second-guessing my faith in what I felt the Holy Spirit had told me. I decided to confess my doubt and asked God for help. Specifically, I admitted to God that I could not manage my finances, turned them over to Him, and asked Him to take charge of my finances.
Recently, I reread the book, A Praying Life, authored by Paul E. Miller (I highly recommend reading it). In it, Miller discusses how God weaves different sections of our lives together in what he refers to as “poetic artistry.” Miller encourages the reader to pray that God would reveal how He is weaving together the tapestry of one’s life. I set about praying this for myself. In addition, I have also been praying that God would, somehow, surprise me. He has, recently, surprised me several times, in a good way.
The other night (12/12/2021), I was in my car, at work as a food delivery driver, when I heard a still, small voice in my head tell me, out of the blue, to “liquidate the contents of the storage locker.” I said out loud, “What?” The still small voice repeated itself in my head, “liquidate the contents of the storage locker.” I asked out loud, “Sell all the stuff in the storage locker?” The voice said, “Yes, liquidate the storage locker.”
I recognized the voice as likely not my own, but rather, that of the Holy Spirit. This has happened once in a while, before, and the thoughts previously have been the same voice, but they explode into my head while I’m thinking of something completely unrelated to the explosive thoughts; anyway, on with the story. Wondering if this is my thought or the Holy Spirit, I said aloud, “God, if this is You, give me a sign. I don’t know what the sign should be; just make it obvious to me.” My phone beeped at me within two or three seconds, and a message saying, “Let’s free up some storage space” appeared. This is not an unusual message for me to see on my phone. It happens daily. The unique part, the awe-inspiring thing, was first, that it was on topic, and second, the timing of when it happened.
Next, I asked God, “You want me to sell ALL the contents of the locker? Everything? If you want me to sell everything, give me a sign.” I waited for another sign, but I didn’t see anything. I went inside to get another delivery, and one of the other drivers said to me, “Holy smokes, dude! All your deliveries tonight have been to the extremes of our delivery zone!” I thought about it and realized the five deliveries I had at that point had all been to the extremes of our delivery area.
Suddenly, I realized that’s where God’s “poetic artistry” was manifesting itself in the weaving of the tapestry of my life, in the “extreme.” God was telling me to go to the extreme and sell everything to answer several prayers. The first answer was in reply to my request that He would show me His “poetic artistry.” The second answer was in response to my prayer that God would help me manage my finances; selling everything would allow me to dispose of the storage locker, thereby saving me more than $200 monthly. A third answer was in response to my request for God to surprise me. I certainly didn’t expect to hear from the Holy Spirit tonight.
The lesson in this reflects the truth that God cares about all aspects of our lives. Jesus says that God knows about the death of a mere sparrow and that, in His eyes, we are worth far more than many little birds (Matthew 10:29-31). God will manifest Himself to us if we submit to His will. I praise God for what He showed me tonight.
On the Road to Emmaus 