The process of remembering is interesting.
A movie scene might hit a nerve and trigger an emotional response to something you once experienced.
The smell of cookies baking, or the scent of perfume or cologne may transport you to the mental presence of a loved one and place you in a warm, familiar scene.
For me, music often links me to past events or people and to moments shared.
In fact, this week a UPS truck pulled in front of our house with music blaring from the big, brown mobile box. The driver was immersed in a song from the 50’s which my dad sang around the house as he heard it playing on the radio. I nearly lost it in the driveway (and later did inside my home). It was as if my dad, who passed away in 2001, rolled by to say hello and for a moment, he was with me once again.
My current experience of remembering came through words which I wrote and shared publicly. I was invited to be a contributing author for a collection of stories called Quiet Abundance Stories for Christmas compiled by Gary L. Sorensen.
Nearly 45 years have passed since this account of a moment in our lives. God brought my own words back to mind to help me remember the abundance of faithfulness He set in motion in our lives.
I share it with you now during this most wonderful time of year.
For those who know Jackie and I personally, the story may have a familiar ring.
For those who may read this and do not know us or this part of our story, our prayer is that it encourages you to know whether the need is trivial or great, we serve a God who is always faithful.
What He has done for us He will also do for you.
Please join me in Remembering His Abundance of Faithfulness as told below. Enjoy!
God is in the business of authoring what I call defining moments. These are specific experiences at specific times in our lives where the loving intent of the Father’s heart is to mark us with His goodness and faithfulness.
What follows is the formative account of an experience the Father wrote on our hearts years ago to teach us that He is faithful and that we can trust Him, even when the circumstances might suggest otherwise.
The year was 1977. Christmas came and Christmas went. We just completed our fourth semester of college. My grandmother, Busha, had given Jackie $5 as a Christmas present. We were in the sandwich period between Christmas and New Year’s looking for an opportunity to do something together.
It was New Year’s Eve and we felt lead to attend a service at the Methodist church in my hometown.
Attending a church service was not the problem. Going to a non-Catholic church was potentially the problem as I was raised Catholic and going to another church was entirely foreign to me. We went anyway.
During the service, Jackie decided to place in the offering the gift Busha had given her. It was a seed sown which would produce an immediate harvest.
On Wednesday, January 4, 1978, we decided to window shop for an engagement ring as we were contemplating a life together. It was also a way to spend time together, get out of the house for the day during our school break, and to dream a little.
The issue at hand – we had no money to shop for anything let alone an engagement ring.
We may not have had money, but we had love!
We took a bus into the city of Pittsburgh and made our way to the center part of town. We were referred to a jeweler and opted to check things out. We had been to several stores prior to arriving at this specific jeweler.
As we entered the store, Jackie began to shop for the ring which zero-money could not buy. After a few minutes, she saw the ring she wanted.
In her words, it was “the one.”
The cost of the ring was $350 or a small fortune for two college kids short on the green stuff. We were informed that if we purchased the ring within the week, we could save 20% off the cost.
However, if we waited longer than the week, their inventory was going to increase by 40%. We were too naive to know they were playing us. We tried to explain to the salespeople our intention was to price rings out to see how we could work out a plan to save for something like this.
We were tired, hungry, and started to grate on each other’s nerves. We decided to stop for the day and at least came away with a faint idea of what a ring might cost. When we got back to Jackie’s house, we decided to go to a prayer meeting at her neighbor’s house next door. Jackie’s neighbor, whom we called Aunt Bea, was a Jewish Christian with a strong intercessory and prophetic ministry.
Toward the end of the prayer meeting Aunt Bea asked if anyone had any prayer requests.
We spoke up and summarized what we did that day with respect to the ring shopping. We simply asked if those in attendance could keep this in prayer for us.
We never mentioned the price of the ring in making our request. As people began to leave, a lady approached Jackie and handed her a check which was folded in half. Jackie placed the check in my hand and without looking at it, I slipped it into the pocket of my pants.
She indicated she wanted to bless us (we later learned the amount was a tithe of her Christmas bonus). We were appreciative of the gesture and thought it might be $10 or $20. The amount did not matter. We simply felt like God was caring for the desires of our heart. Earlier that day the Lord had placed Psalm 100 on my mind.
During the prayer meeting we were used to minister to a young man having marital issues. Although we grated on each other during our window-shopping extravaganza, the Lord saw fit to use these two imperfect vessels to be a blessing to this troubled man.
Once everyone left the meeting, all that remained was Aunt Bea, Jackie, and myself.
Curiosity got the better of me and I pulled out the check. It was written for the exact amount of the ring, the entire $350.
We were simply stunned and overwhelmed with God’s goodness to us.
Did we need a ring? I think not.
Was it a desire in our hearts? Assuredly.
The next day I called Carol, the kind lady who blessed us, and she told me the Father placed on her heart to share the gift with us. She also mentioned we were to read Psalm 100, a confirmation of God’s seal on this lesson. It read:
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and go into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.” Psalms 100:4-5 NLT
On Friday, January 6, 1978, we traveled back into town and bought the ring. We then went to Seton Hill College where Jackie attended and made our way to the chapel where I asked her to marry me. In case you are curious, she said yes!
The cost of the ring was $297. We had $53 left to do with what we wanted. We could have gone out to a nice dinner and at times we regret we did not. We decided to give the balance of the money to a group of Catholic nuns we knew who were having a tough time. Although we denied ourselves temporary pleasure, I believe this seed has been returned to us many times over the years. God has always seen our hearts.
What was a self-induced heavy weight on us became a joy and a clear representation of the Father’s heart wanting to bless us.
It was a defining moment in our lives as the Father taught us that we can trust Him. We are still trusting God, for those things we which might not be able yet to see.
The Father knew the timeline.
We intended to get married after college. However, the Lord had other plans.
While attending a conference in May 1978 in Pittsburgh He placed on our hearts to get married after Jackie’s 21st birthday. Two days later we were married on September 2, 1978. Four months later, Jackie’s dad passed away and it had always been in her heart to have her dad present when she was married.
As a side note, when we told Jackie’s mom and dad of the ring story, they were happy for us, but her father got quiet. We later learned he had asked the Lord to let him live long enough to see his youngest daughter married. He knew his time was coming.
Overall, this story has carried us through the years and on more the one occasion. God is faithful and he decided to give us a personal object lesson early in our relationship to prove His faithfulness.
Many years later He is still teaching us lessons through this Quiet Abundance of His Faithfulness and blessing in our lives.
We recently heard an online sermon entitled; I Remember.
In it the speaker indicated when a young Hebrew boy reached the age of two, he was presented with a staff. The staff was to be used to record instances of God’s faithfulness and markings were to be placed upon the staff as a reminder how God proved Himself over and over. He is who He says He is.
It makes the Psalms 23 verse “your rod and your staff they comfort me” real to me. It causes me to look at the proverbial staff in my hand, recount the ring story, and to declare He is faithful no matter what we may be going through at any given moment.
We hope this encouraged you and from our hearts to yours have a very Merry CHRISTmas!!