A Book of Miracles

Malachi Surprise^R6

David Heeren

I received the notice in the mail from the bank. Make at least one mortgage payment by the next Monday or foreclosure proceedings would be initiated.

I had no idea what to do. My wife, Joan, had recently quit her job as a registered nurse to be a stay-at-home mother to our two young sons, Michael and Daniel. We had met with our pastor and he reaffirmed our decision for Joan to concentrate on raising the boys.

"There may be financial problems, but the Lord will provide," he had said. "Taking care of children is not a hassle, as some parents seem to think. It is a ministry to the Lord."

I had a good job, but not an executive position. It was during the late 1970s, and the economy was a mess. Double-digit inflation; double-digit interest rates; long lines to purchase gasoline.

I did not earn enough money from my salary to support a family of four.

All that week, I grappled with the problem. It burrowed into my mind like a mole. "You made a big mistake. You are going to lose your home."

I spent most of my time worrying. I knew the Bible advised: "Be anxious about nothing." But no matter how hard I tried to climb the hill of faith, I kept slipping back into the mire of apprehension.

The situation seemed hopeless. I could not come up with the money or even a clue of how to get it. Within a few days, legal action would be initiated that would take away my family's home.

Friday was payday, but most of that money had to be committed to necessities such as food for my family. The rest did not constitute nearly enough to make a mortgage payment.

I told no one, not the pastor, not the associate pastor, nor anyone else at the church, about the financial plight of my family as I struggled with a new problem. As a Bible-believing Christian, I felt it was my duty to God to contribute a tithe of my income to His church. But suppose I skipped a week? I could make up for it some other time. If I kept the tithe money in my wallet, I'd be that much closer to being able to make the mortgage payment.

I turned in my Bible to the book of Malachi and read: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

My decision was made. On Sunday morning, I placed my tithe check in the offering plate.

Then I went right back to worrying. I worried through the rest of the morning. I worried all afternoon. In the evening, Joan and I returned for another church service and I managed to worry all the way through it.

After the evening service, the associate pastor came up to me with a smile on his face and handed me an envelope. "The Lord told me to give this to you," he said, then turned and walked away.

In the envelope was a check for precisely the amount needed for the mortgage payment.

I don't know how the associate pastor became informed of my problem, or how he decided he should do something about it. But I do know this: I tithed and God kept His promise by pouring out a blessing.

From that Sunday thirty years ago, to the present time, my family has not encountered serious financial difficulties of any kind.

(614 words)