Columns In The Tennessean

Show them your light.

Follow up:

Before I stopped working to care for Marcy we bought a motor home for medical trips out of state to explore untraditional treatments.

Marcy hasn’t been up to long trips for a couple of years now and I have tried to sell the motor home. But each time I try, I discover I owe thousands more on it than the book value. Last week I took the motor home to an RV dealer to talk about their selling it on consignment for us.

I got there a little early and, while looking around, I saw a man wandering as I was. He asked me if I worked there as I was wondering the same about him.

He told me he is Greg McDougal, a man looking for a larger motor home for his Christian music ministry. Not too far into the conversation he asked, as most men often ask each other upon meeting, “What do you do?”

I told him I care for my wife and a little of what has happened here. He said, “God Bless you and your wife.”

Then he told me three of his four sons were diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis and he is trying to build an allergen-free house for them. (See AHouseForMyKids.com to learn more.) After talking for just a few minutes, he nonchalantly said he wanted to give me all the cash he had in his pocket - he didn't know how much it was but he wanted to give it to us.

When he tried to hand it to me, I told him he was in the same boat as we. But he insisted, saying God just whispered in his ear and told him to share His blessings. I thanked him (and God,) took the money, and put it in my pocket without counting it.

When I got home I told Marcy the whole story and we counted the cash together. When we had the total, Marcy smiled her Holy Spirit smile and shared why:

Our last few weeks have included outings to home stores and antique stores. At each, she had asked me to show her light fixtures, mostly small chandeliers.

But she hadn't seen one she liked. I was happy she hadn’t found one. I wondered about the need – I didn’t know where she wanted to put a new light in our house. Everything in the house is fine to me.

And I wondered about the source of the money. Things are pretty tight for us financially right now. But I didn’t question her – she knows our financial situation.

The day before I met Greg on the RV lot, Marcy used her speech synthesizer's web connection to shop Home Depot for a new kitchen light and showed me one she liked. Again, I didn't say anything and I ordered the light for her. And she didn't say anything and asked God for the specific dollar amount for that light fixture.

The cash that Greg gave us was $2.68 shy of the cost of the light!

I don’t know of a scripture that says, “Pray for money and you’ll get it.” But Psalms 37:4 is “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

And we now have yet another testament to God’s goodness – a fixture of light - hanging above the kitchen table where we’ll have family meals again when Marcy’s healing is manifest.

Everyone you see today has some sort of need. You can’t know every need of everyone. But if you listen to God and act, He may just shine a little light on you.