Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
General Christian
Relationships and Religion
God’s Guidance to Forgive Gets Me a Free Truck!

God’s Guidance to Forgive Gets Me a Free Truck!

Last updated on: November 28, 2023 at 5:15 pm by Kathy Lewis

0 Comments

God’s Guidance to Forgive Gets Me a Free Truck! 2023-11-28T17:15:08-05:00 Kathy Lewis

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

God’s Guidance to Forgive Gets Me a Blessing! Image Courtesy of Bing Copyright Free Images

God Guides Me to Forgive and Bless the Debtors

God’s guidance to forgive and bless my debtors opened me up to receive His Blessing that was so much more than I ever thought I would receive. I still look back on this amazing blessing, and give so much Gratitude to God for guiding and directing me.

While trying to get my building company up and running, I realized that I was probably going to need a truck for the business. What to do? I didn’t want to take cash out of my limited business funds to purchase a truck outright, and I certainly didn’t want to begin my business in debt with a truck loan.

I Remembered Two People Who Owed Me Money

As I struggled with this issue, I remembered two people who had borrowed money from me over a period of about two years. One woman begged me for $1,000 that she needed for “her sick aunt who needed an operation.” So, I gave her the money (boy am I gullible!) only to find out later from a mutual friend that she used the money to buy a horse! Yes, a horse! She joked to our mutual friend about “duping” me with her sad story.

Another friend of mine who was always in trouble and always desperate for money borrowed over $3,000 from me over a period of two years. Like an idiot I helped him too. Altogether these two people owed me about $4,400.

I Was Angry and Fell into Victimhood

The more I thought about these two people taking advantage of me, the madder I got. I kept thinking “It’s not fair! If they would pay me the money they owed, then I could use it to buy a truck!” I started having trouble sleeping at night, thinking about how those two people took advantage of me.

So finally, one night when I couldn’t sleep – AGAIN – I began to pray to God about what I should do. While I poured out my heart to Him, moaning and groaning about how unfair it was, asking Him what I should do, He spoke to me and said, “Kathy, forgive the debt, bless the debtor, and give it to Me.”

God Instructed Me to Forgive the Debt and Bless the Debtor

Did I hear right, Lord? Forgive the debt and give it to You? How’s that going to get my truck? Once again, He spoke to me, “Trust me. Forgive the debt, bless the debtor, give it to Me and I’ll take care of it.”

I figured I had nothing to lose, so I replied, “OK, Lord, I may not understand this but I’m going to forgive the debt, bless those two people, and give it to You and I’m trusting that You’ll take care of me.”

You know, I slept better that night than I had in almost a month. From that point forward, whenever I thought about those two people who owed me money, I just said, “Nope, I’m not worrying about this anymore, Lord. I’ve forgiven the debt, blessed those two and I trust that You’re taking care of it!”

I Met a Builder Who Needed My Help

About a month went by and I was attending a Homebuilders Association monthly meeting, where I met a builder who wanted to talk to me about doing some consulting work for him. We left the meeting and stopped for a cup of coffee to discuss it. He told me that he’d be in touch, but I didn’t get the feeling that I would hear from him again.

Two weeks later he called me. “Oh good,” I thought, “He’s calling to discuss some consulting work.” While I sat holding the phone to my ear this man started “hemming” and “hawing,” cleared his throat, got silent, “hemmed” and “hawed” some more and finally said, “Listen, I know this sounds a little bizarre, but by any chance DO YOU NEED A TRUCK?”

This Builder Asked Me if I Needed a Truck!

I was stunned! I said, “What?”

He said, “Well, I know this is a little unusual, but I’m a Deacon at my church. One of our members is a single mother whose son is very ill. I know she needs money for his medical expenses, but she doesn’t want to take charity from the church.

“We noticed that she posted a flyer on our church bulletin board for a truck she wants to sell. All the Deacons and church leaders got together and decided to buy the truck, but we didn’t want her to know that the money is coming from us. We decided to find someone who needed a truck and give them the money to buy it. AND I DON’T KNOW WHY, BUT YOUR NAME JUST POPPED INTO MY MIND.”

I Was Speechless!

I was speechless! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! I replied, “Well, as a matter of fact, I do need a truck. I’ve just started my building company and was wondering how I would be able to afford a truck.”

He said, “Well, if we give you the money you must promise not to tell this lady that it came from the church. Is that OK? She’s asking $4,400 for the truck. I’ll arrange to get you a check.”

I said, “How much did you say she’s asking for the truck? Did you say $4,400?”

They Offered to Give Me $4,400 to Buy a Truck!

I FELT LIKE I HAD BEEN STRUCK BY LIGHTNING! $4,400! THAT WAS EXACTLY THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THOSE TWO PEOPLE OWED ME!

The man asked if I was all right and I assured him that I was fine; I was just amazed that they were willing to do this for me. I got off the phone and sat there thinking about what had just happened.

I knew without a doubt that God did this. I found it interesting that the price of the truck – $4,400 – was exactly the amount those two people owed me. I got the feeling that God was trying to teach me something here. So I ended up with a free truck!

I Ran into the Woman Who Owed Me Money

I never heard from the man who owed me money, but I did run into the woman at a social gathering at least six years after this incident. When she walked in the door and saw me standing there, the blood drained from her face, she whirled around, almost knocked two people down, and took off running out the door. I had to laugh! I’ve never seen anything so funny in my life! She looked like she’d seen a ghost!

I said, “Oh Lord, she doesn’t understand, does she? All these years she’s known that she owed me money and has never made any attempt to pay me. All of these years she’s lived in FEAR of being confronted by me. She doesn’t understand how her negative actions are blocking Your wonderful blessings. Please, Lord, help her understand.”

The Bible Says to Forgive and Bless

I remembered reading in the Bible a verse that I shared in an earlier post. It was 1 Peter 3:9: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”

In other words, we should forgive those who have wronged us and bless them, rather than curse them. Well, I used to believe that this was pretty stupid teaching. Bless those who wronged me? Give me a break! Now, of course, I understand that harboring hatred and anger against another works as a “wall” to prevent God’s blessings from reaching us.

There is a Law of Cause and Effect

I’ve also learned that there is a very real “Law of Cause and Effect” – “What goes around comes around.” This law is immutable; it never changes. It either works FOR you – “Do good and good comes back to you” – or AGAINST you – “Do bad and bad comes back to you.”

Forget pursuing legal action – GIVE IT TO GOD!

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 21, 2023

God Guides Me Into a Career as a Homebuilder