Bargain Hunting Leads to Faith Fuel

I have a confession to make…..I am a self titled “Queen of the Bargain” and I’m addicted to finding the most cost effective way to do almost anything. I can’t just go out and buy something, I have to hunt and hunt, and do the math to find a way to get what I want for the best dollar value possible. It’s a bit thrilling to me. It’s not just getting the cheapest things (I really sorta hate the “Dollar Store”), no it’s about quality too.

Last night I was browsing my favorite bargain hunting site, craigslist.com, not because I need anything, but I am addicted to looking. I found something that really interested me. I have wanted to get a new set of dishes. Right now we have an eclectic mix of melamine, stoneware and the few pieces left from our wedding gifts. I would like to be able to set the table nice for dinner. What I found on craigslist was just what I wanted, a set of white dishes with a soup tureen, gravy dish, creamer, two serving bowls and another serving dish with a lid, cups and saucers all for $30! I couldn’t believe it! I called on the ad and made plans to go and purchase them today.

When I got to the home of the lady selling the dishes, I was greeted by Debbie, a women who was somewhere in her latter 50’s or early 60’s. She had me come in, to her home full of stuff. From our phone conversation I knew that she was helping a friend sell his things and assumed that a lot of the extra furniture everywhere was from him. She showed me a box of dishes and I agreed to buy them. I asked about some bowls I also knew she was selling and got 7 stoneware bowls for $5! I noticed sitting on a table near the dishes some lamps that I saw on another ad and asked if she had more lamps. She took me to another room and we visited as I looked at the lamps. I got a lamp for $5! I noticed up on her wall two different wooden plaques. One plaque had a picture of an older man with his head bowed praying and the other of an older woman with her head bowed praying. I told her that I like her pictures and that my grandma had the same pictures in her house.

After that she started to talk about prayer. Oh we had a wonderful conversation sharing about the power of prayer. She told me a story about her daughter who drove truck and who was in Iowa when there were really bad floods. She said that her daughter was driving near a river that was flooding and that the water from the river was very slimy. He daughter feared that the truck would slip and slide off the road. She called her mom on the phone to pray for her. Debbie said that she stayed on the phone with her daughter and prayed the whole time her daughter was driving through this dangerous area. He daughter told her that it was the most amazing thing. She could feel the wheels of her truck slipping but only to a point and they wouldn’t go past that point. She said other cars were slipping and swerving off the road, but not her truck! Wow! It is so amazing to here of God’s miracles.

Then, sorta out of the blue, Debbie told me that she prayed for a house for 20 years. She told me how she was living in an apartment and at one point her rent was going to be raised by almost $400. She knew that she was not able to afford the rent after that. She then moved in with her sister, which wasn’t a great situation. Her parents at that time where in bad health, her Mom had a stroke and her father was ill. Her father was diagnosed with Lou Garragain’s disease and she moved into her parents home to care for them. Her father died and she stayed to care for her Mom. She said that one day she was in her room crying and praying because she didn’t know where she was going to live after her mother passed. She thought that the home would have to be sold and split between her and her sister.

Her mother walked in and caught her crying and praying. Her mother inquired to what was bothering her. Debbie shared her concerned with her Mom. Her mother then told her that she didn’t have to worry about that because she was giving the house to her! Debbie said that her mother would have times after her stroke when she wasn’t well mentally and then times that she was. She said that God had given her mother just enough of a window of mental stability to prepare for her daughter to legally have the house after she passed and that there was just enough money in her savings account to pay for the lawyer.

She also told me that she had a specific list of things she had wanted in a house, she had been asking God, in prayer, for these things for 20 years. All the things she had asked for she received and even more! God had it all worked out and he is very good.

Debbie didn’t have her life paved out neatly before her. She didn’t have all the answers. She didn’t have money in the bank to make all of her dreams come true. But over the years of hardship and trials God was working out something much more precious than gold in her life. Debbie had the richest riches of all, she has faith in Christ Jesus, and she has hope and trust in God expressed in patient perseverance in prayer. Debbie also has a very rare and valuable gift to share and she freely gave it to me today. She gave me the gift of encouragement, fellowship and faith. Yeah, I got a whopper of deal on some dishes, stoneware bowls and a lamp, but the real blessing is what she gave away to me for free.

I drove away very full, happy and satisfied. As I was going home a passage in Scripture came to my mind. This part of Scripture has been puzzling to me for a long time. It is oxymoron of sorts:
James 2:5 says, “Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?”

It has been difficult in the past to understand that the poor of the world would be rich in faith. I have been slowly able to grasp its meaning. Debbie personified its meaning for me today. When a person has no means of their own to provide something that they need or want they have a few choices: 1) they can steal, 2) They can become bitter and unhappy, or 3)They can pray and ask God to provide and put their hope, trust and reliance in Him. If a person chooses #3, they are well on their way to becoming rich in faith. I am beginning to see that some of God’s richest blessings lay in the realm of our need. The things that are beyond our reach to get, the things that only he can give us are where His hand touches ours in a real and tangible way. Our eyes can truly see that “all generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.” (James 1:17)

And what is the response to such perfect gifts that he gives? God wants us to respond to Him with thankfulness! We are to lift up a sacrifice of thanks to God. I encourage you to make it a habit to notice the wonderful gifts that God is giving you right now, and thank him.

Here is a simple example. I had dinner with a gal in Oregon and when she prayed she thanked God for the money to buy the meal. I commented after her prayer that I never heard anyone thank God for the money to buy their meal. She told me that there were times that her and her husband didn’t have much and from that she learned to thank God for the money to purchase her meal ; simple but very poignant.

I want to be more like Debbie. I want to go to God with every need and desire and I want to freely share all that he has given to me.