APRIL 2015 - What happens when two seemingly conflicting beliefs exist in the same plane?
Faith is born.
I am confident that God has called me and my wife to be debt free. AND, I am confident that my boy is supposed to attend Belmont University this fall.
The conflict with those two beliefs is that the wife and I haven't been able to pay off our debt as quickly as we had planned. Dave Ramsey's snowball works when your car doesn't die and when your family is fabulously healthy. Throw in a dead truck, four surgeries, a couple of root canals and a seizure, and, well, the debt snowball becomes a debt spitball.
On the college side, Belmont University's annual price tag is a little over $45,000. FAFSA (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid) says I should be able to contribute $16,600 per year to a college education, and that we should take out a loan for the remainder.
What's a man to do? When the answer isn’t clear, pray.
I talked to my boy and my wife and encouraged them to ask God, confident that He would answer by providing either the resources or new direction.
A lesson in prayer
My Sunday School lesson the week after getting the financial aid award letter from Belmont was from Psalm 22, where David, in a moment of desperation, cries out "My God, why have You forsaken me?" the same words that Jesus cried out on the cross.
Just a few verses later David says his faith remains because of the record of God's provision and goodness to his fathers.
God seemed to say to me, “Look back on your life. Haven't I been faithful? I will be faithful now.”
I also learned from that Psalm that I should ask others to pray with me when I am seeking something from God. When He answers, their faith is grown as well, and His name is magnified exponentially.
So, I have asked, and I am asking for others, for you, to pray for this need. I believe He will meet it.
A lesson in provision
A couple of days after teaching that lesson, I was listening to a Christian radio station nearing the end of their spring campaign to raise funds for operations. I've listened to these campaigns over the years, but never really paid much attention.
On this day, the station needed $1,200 to meet their goal. In the short drive home from the Y, donors gave enough not only to meet, but to exceed the goal. The station stopped the music, and the staff offered a prayer of praise and thanksgiving, their voices breaking.
In one week God provided $670,000. Suddenly, our need seemed much smaller.
It was as if I heard Him say to me, "I own the cattle on a thousand hills. Look at what I can do. I will meet your need."
A lesson from the past
A few days into asking for provision, I happened upon an AWANA lesson my daughter had completed back in April of 2008. My wife had been unemployed for almost two years. Debt was mounting. Lisa had gone back to school to study medical coding, but we were struggling. Her lesson was on prayer and at the end of it, my then-9-year-old was supposed to fill in a blank, asking God for something for herself. But my girl, in her unselfish way, didn't do that. She instead asked for a job for her mom. Within six months, my wife had a job in her new career, the job she has now. God provided, and He had lined up the job just for her.
A few days later, while working out, I was praying while I sweated on the adaptive motion trainer. There, I had a little epiphany. E's seizure back in December resulted in an epilepsy diagnosis. That diagnosis could qualify him for other scholarships. I researched, and, sure enough, there are scholarships for students with epilepsy. We have applied.
There, in an instant, God showed me that there are other possibilities for provision.
One day at lunch, a buddy told me he wasn't praying for God to provide the money. Rather, his prayer was one of anticipation: "God, I can't wait to see how creative You are in meeting this need!"
I love his bold faith and realized I had room to grow.
I called the school financial aid office and learned that there are special circumstances considerations, especially when a family has had excessive medical expenses.
I was pretty certain our $425,000 in medical bills (thank God for insurance!) would qualify as a special circumstance. I wrote a letter to the financial aid director and to the dean of the music school explaining our situation, praying as I dropped them into the mailbox.
A lesson in the present
A couple of weeks ago, I shared our need with our church, and, again, God provided encouragement. The Liberty University Praise Choir sang at our church that morning and evening, and, during the evening service, a young man gave his testimony. He is a freshman and last December, didn't know whether he'd have the money to return to school after first semester. He prayed, trusting God. On the day he was to leave south Florida for the long drive back to Virginia, he still did not have the money to pay for spring semester, but he drove anyway. When he was less than 30 minutes outside of Lynchburg, he received an email notification. His account balance was $0.
God provided.
Just this week, I received a second financial award letter from Belmont. Our medical expenses did indeed qualify as a special circumstance. E was awarded another grant and an increase in his financial aid package that will provide an additional $9,000.
God is supplying the need.
By my calculations, E still needs between $26,000 and $30,000 for his first year, but I am not worried.
Just yesterday I paid the enrollment deposit.
From the moment my boy first picked up my dad’s six-string, he was a natural, and Belmont is one of the best music schools in the country. Belmont was not his first choice. It was his only choice. At our first visit, it felt right, this university, with its stellar music program, and housed on famed Music Row in Music City USA, Nashville.
He's going to Belmont, and my wife and I won't have to go into further debt to pay for it. God will provide.
And, when He does, I'm going to shout it to the rooftops. People's faith will grow. God’s name will be magnified. My son will know personally that God loves him enough to make a way.
A lesson from His promise
Matthew 7 quotes Jesus as asking,
"Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone, or, if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?"
God will provide. How will He do it? I have no idea. I have surrendered the knowing to trusting in His provision.
You see, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Comentários