Yes, we read the stories of fantastic miracles in the Gospels, and it might bolster our faith for something we are praying for, but do we really believe that He can and will do those same things today? For us?
I went on a mission trip to Costa Rica last month and something happened right before my eyes that is still hard to believe today. Our in-country missionary hosts partner with several churches and organizations to bring the love of Jesus in tangible ways. One of those ways is helping provide school supplies, so they had asked us to bring school supplies for 500 children, including drawstring bags to hold notebooks, pencils, erasers, etc. It was the beginning of the school year there, and there are many needy children from families devastated by the pandemic.
One of our team members received some grant money for living expenses at her university. As she was budgeting out the money to meet her needs to last the semester, she heard the Lord speak to her heart, asking her to tithe on the grant money. She looked at the budget and she knew that tithing would leave some of the line items blank. Pondering what to do, she decided to follow her heart’s desire and give the money needed to purchase the school bags for the kids, and trust God with her budget.
As she placed the order, she realized she didn’t have enough money to provide for 500, but she would order as many as she could — 360.
The bags arrived the evening before our flight, so she packed them in her suitcase. Thanking the Lord for the opportunity to bring these bags to the children, she wondered what would happen when we ran out. She carried this mixed feeling of concern and joy, even as we arrived and began to pack the bags with all the supplies the team brought. Packing the bags became quite an adventure! We would separate them into groups according to the places we were going throughout the week – 60 in this pile, 80 in that pile, 110 in this pile, until we had all the bags filled and organized.
She had quite the look on her face as we were packing, because the “math wasn’t mathing!”
We continued to place bags in piles, count, recount, and load them into plastic tubs to take to the churches. But somehow we couldn’t get a correct count. So we would put as many as we needed for the day into the bins, leaving the rest at the missions base for another day, and go to the children’s ministry events to give them out. Each day the children would line up and we would pray for them individually and then place the drawstring bag of supplies over their shoulders with a hug. These were precious moments to be the hands of Jesus to these kids who were so grateful!
As I looked at the line of kids, and then in the bin of bags, I would think to myself, “Oh no. We did not bring enough bags for all these kids!” Then I would reach into the bin, and give out a bag, over and over again. Soon the line of kids was done and we looked in the bin and saw we had more bags to hand out. So we would ask if there were any high school students there. Once again, we would have a long line, and I would wonder how we were going to have enough for all these kids. Soon that line of kids would be done, and we would look into the bin, and there were still bags!!
Asking if there were any college students in the room, the line would fill up again! By now, we were all staring in amazement as we never saw the bottom of the bin! After the college kids were blessed and prayed for, we would ask if there were any adults attending night school or any other classes, and there were always a few! Once everyone that needed school
supplies was blessed, and we were ready to leave, we would gather our bins…yes, with bags still in them! We would take the leftovers to add to the next day’s events, praising the Lord all
the way back to the base.
This happened every single day and at every meeting!
When we left to come back home after 10 days of serving, praying for, and ministering to many people, there was a bin full of bags still there!!! Is this a modern story of the “loaves and fishes?” Yes, it is! What still amazes us is that it wasn’t just the bags that were multiplied right before our eyes. Everything in the bags was multiplied as well –the notebooks, pencils, sharpeners, even the treats: packages of cookies and a bag of homemade popcorn!
I really don’t have the grid to process this. It completely defies logic. This must be how the disciples felt as they reached into a little boy’s lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish and fed 5,000+ people…with leftovers!!! God is truly good. He cares for the details in our lives, like the need for lunch or school supplies.
You can trust Him with your details! He is definitely still doing miracles today.
