After my husband, Jim, lost his longtime job, we pooled all our resources and started a trucking company together. I handled the billing and taxes and kept the books, while Jim dispatched the trucks and arranged the loads. Our profit depended upon keeping the trucks running around the clock.
The winter of 2013-‘14 was brutal. Temperatures fell to 17 below zero during the daytime, and snowfall was measured in feet. After a short period of success, our tender start-up began to fail. We continued to pour our time and money into it, but after fuel, taxes and driver’s wages, we had nothing left for ourselves.
A failing business is easy to spot: Our drivers saw that we were struggling to pay for fuel, friends and relatives saw that we didn’t have money to go out and do things anymore, and my ¬parents saw that our refrigerator was nearly empty.
I was praying for the business to succeed, trying to cut costs and working to increase profits. Jim spent hours making cold calls to try to drum up business, but nothing worked. It seemed like God wasn’t listening.
Then my son found a Bible at the local recycling center. Inside was a verse in childish handwriting: “Psalm 81:10 I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Also in the Bible was a little bookmark that said, “A promise is a promise.”
Over the next few days, people brought us food. My parents butchered a cow and gave half of it to us because they didn’t have room in their freezer. Our driver gave us a gallon of maple syrup because he “didn’t like the taste.” Our neighbor, who had received boxes of canned goods from his mother, asked if we knew of anyone who could use them. My sister cleaned out her cupboards and asked if we wanted rice, pasta and gourmet cheese. Soon our pantry was full.
Only later did Jim tell me that while I was praying for the business to succeed, he was praying for food. I still have the handwritten verse, and I keep it in the same place in that old Bible. God answered the need behind my prayer.
We may have lost the trucking company, but we found our faith.
from Reader's Digest http://ift.tt/2auL4nE
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