“PUBLISH HIS GLORIOUS DEEDS”
By Martha Van Duyne, VP Administration
Every day we cross paths with someone who needs to hear some good news. I’d like to tell you about an amazing thing God did for me and my family.
The year was 1993 and my daughter needed a car. She had just finished Valencia Community College and was about to transfer to a college out of state. Since we were going to pay for that, and since she didn’t have enough money to buy one, we weren’t going to purchase a new car. A good, reliable used car was what was needed.
My husband wasn’t able at the time to be involved with this endeavor, so it was left up to her and me to find one. But what did we know about car shopping? Nothing, especially about finding a reliable and affordable used car. How could we do this?
Well, it didn’t take long for us to fall on our knees and cry out to God. “Lord we really need your help. Please guide us. We’re leaning on You and Your Word, especially……………”
Matt. 7:7 “Ask and it will be given you; seek, and ye shall find…”, Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths”, and Proverbs 16:3 “Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established.”
We then got out our Consumer Report magazine that featured the best used cars, and studied it. Karen decided what she really would like to have would be a little Honda Civic either an ’86 or ’87 and gray in color. They had been rated very high for reliability.
So, one Saturday morning she & I set out to buy a car. Doesn’t everyone buy one in one day? Anyway, that was our plan. Making our way all over town, we went to one Honda dealership after another, but to no avail. We were told that those’86 and ’87 Civics were very hard to find, because as soon as they came on the car lot, they were snatched up like hotcakes! Each salesman shook his head and wished us luck. But we knew we had more than luck! We had the Lord, and He was guiding us.
Later in the day we happened to pull into a parking lot at a Denny’s Restaurant. We were about to get out of the car when I noticed the car in front of us. It was parked so it was facing us. Would you believe that it was a gray Honda Civic that seemed like it was about 6 or 7 years old? It looked exactly like what we were looking for! It even had a Jesus license plate on the front!
Suddenly the Lord gave me an idea: put a note on the windshield. So I wrote one that said, “If you’d like to sell your car, please call us.” Well, that night the owner called. I answered, “Yes, I left a note on your car.” The man was so excited. He said, “The angels must have sent you!” I nearly dropped the phone. “Why do you say that? “ “Well, I want to sell it because I’m getting a company car. I don’t need it now, but I do need the money.” Wow.
So that night my husband went with us to meet the man in the parking lot. He looked at the engine, “kick the tires”, asked questions, and gave it a little spin. We talked about the price. Would you believe it? The price he was asking was exactly what we wanted to pay.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
The Lord had answered our prayer, exactly and precisely…………as we had prayed, and ………as He had directed. He was the One who led us to pray in the first place, and then He answered in His creative way. ALLELUIA!
In Psalm 96:3 God tells us to "Publish his glorious deeds...". He wants us to talk about the things He has done, wherever we go. Our stories and the Bible stories can encourage us & others, during difficult times, especially when He seems far away, and our prayers continue to go unanswered, and our situations don’t seem to change, and our loved ones still remain unsaved or backslidden.
Yet, we can praise Him in the midst of any circumstance, any difficulty, any valley, any hardship, because He has promised to be with us and to never leave us nor forsake us! He is our Strength, our Rock, our Fortress, our High Tower, the Lifter of our Head, the One who was and is and is to come, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, our Mighty Counselor, our Comforter, our Healer, our Deliverer and the Great I Am! GLORY!!
PSALM 96:1-3
“Sing a new song to the LORD!
Let the whole earth sing to the LORD!
2 Sing to the LORD; praise his name.
Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.
3 Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.
Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.”NLT
