God’s provision can come in unexpected ways. I have been in situations where I have experienced God’s favour and abundance, and I have been in situations where I have experienced lack.
However, I’ve only been in one situation where God’s provision was precise and perfect.
This happened a few years ago when I was booked to go on a mission trip to Turkey with a group from WEC (World Evangelism for Christ).
Many of the people in our tour group were students with limited funds, so we had to come up with a fundraising idea to raise enough money so everybody could travel.
Despite selecting the cheapest travel routes, we each had to find $3k to fund our three-week tour. This was a considerable amount of money for the 15 students wanting to go.
Fortunately I was in full time work and able to fund the cost of the trip myself. However, I was keen to help as many students as possible so they could make the trip too.
Raising funds
To raise funds we designed a tee shirt and each one of us was expected to sell these for $25 each through our networks.
For three weeks I touted tee shirts at my local church and had sold over 20. With one week to go before the funding deadline, I was a bit reluctant to get up in front of my church again.
I thought that people would be getting sick of me by now but decided to give this one last push.
On the last Sunday, to my surprise, I managed to sell almost double what I had sold previously.
One person who had just become a Christian, wanted a tee shirt but did not have any cash on him, so promised to drop a cheque around to my house that afternoon.
With some joy I reported the success back to my friend Caleb in Hamilton who was managing the fundraising for the trip.
As we talked on the phone, he told me that we were still $2,150 short of the overall fundraising target, and unfortunately one student would miss out on the trip.
I felt disappointed in this but there was nothing else I could do.
Provision
An hour or so later there was a knock on my door and the new Christian who had wanted a tee shirt arrived with his cheque in a sealed envelope.
I thanked him for his support and gave him his tee-shirt.
After he had left I thought I better open the envelope and get the cheque ready for banking on Monday.
As I opened the envelope I was stunned. Immediately, I phoned my friend in Hamilton.
“Hey Caleb, guess what? Everybody will be able to go on the trip.”
He was startled. “What do you mean?”
“Someone has just handed me a cheque for $2,150 for one tee shirt,” I explained.
Caleb could not believe it, was over the moon with excitement and could not wait to tell the others.
Later that afternoon I phoned the new Christian who had given me the cheque.
I said to him, “Did you realise that you have just given me a cheque for $2,150 for one tee-shirt?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“That is what God told me to do.”
“Well,” I said, “It just so happens that this was the exact amount we needed to fund the trip for every student. Not a penny more or a penny less.”
The new Christian was amazed.
I thanked him once again for his gallant generosity and wished him all the best.
I imagine as a new believer this was a big moment for him in his faith journey. He had clearly heard from God.
I still find it incredible today that God could orchestrate such a precise provision on the 11th hour.
But I guess that He is a God in control, holding everything together in His hand.
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (1 Colossians chapter 1, verse 17).
It just so happened that we had a wonderful time on our trip to Turkey and there was a plan and purpose for everyone.
God’s perfect will prevailed.