Mueller Moments!
Shortly before our family realized we would be heading to Wales, we read the biography of George Mueller. We realized rather quickly that although we like to think of ourselves as “full of faith”, we were sorely lacking in this area of our lives. Together as a family we were determined to trust the Lord with our lives, our well-being, our needs, etc.
When we started this faith journey
we were still both employed, our 5-yr / 10-yr goals were mapped out. We had life under control.
Then God called us to Wales.
Realizing that our own faith needed strengthening and that our girls would learn more by watching God work then we could ever teach them in a lifetime, we confirmed our determination to watch God work. And work He has! Below are just several of the ways God has blessed our day-to-day lives in meeting needs, as we never knew before. We hope you enjoy reading of our own personal “Mueller Moments.”
Our girls had a Mueller Moment of their own today. Indiana is having a pretty mild winter, and with our upcoming 2-month trip just a few weeks away the girls were afraid they would miss the any snow of the season. (Mom and Dad were actually prepared this year, and bought their sleds early. We want snow too, since we haven’t used our sled yet!) The girls decided that rather than complain, they were going to do something about it — They prayed!
Last night our girls prayed for snow. I was actually feeling sorry for them, hearing how bad they wanted to snow. When will I learn!?!?!? Imagine my joy when we woke up to snow this morning! It was snowing! We serve such an awesome God! What a blessing for my girls! I wish everyone could have seen their faces when they came bounding from the room shouting “God answered our prayers! God answered our prayers!”
Don’t you just love it when the Lord answers a need?? Let alone three….in one phone call.
This past weekend, we got our girls together to asked God for a specific need. Tires. Our tires were to the steel belts and we have a trip to PA in one week. With our income, tires were not an option — so we brought it before the Lord….and waited.
Unrelated — we thought – Michelle and I have been on our knees a lot lately. It’s so hard on deputation not to get caught up with the “results” and get our focus off of God’s will, God’s timing, God’s call. The more we are reading and praying, the more we are realizing how inadequate we are to plant churches in Wales. We have so much to learn. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming. Physical needs were mounting and physical strength seemed to be draining.
Monday morning I took those exact feelings to the Lord. Unbeknown to Michelle or the girls, I put off my usual Monday-morning cold-calls to churches and just laid my heart out to the Lord. Call it spiritual weakness, but I just asked Him to show me that we were still in His will. Whether He truly planned on using us in Wales despite our shortcomings. Whether this slow-down in deputation was part of His plan.
In the afternoon I started on calls and contacted one of our supporting pastors to ask about possible contacts. He was a true blessing and our conversation was great. He said he felt led to meet a physical need we may have – and asked me to share it. I told him about the tires and he responded by saying that we should consider it done!
But that is not the best part……
That pastor had no idea how I had spent the morning. However, before we closed our conversation he said he felt lead to tell me this….”God hasn’t changed His mind on your calling. You’re right where you need to be. Whatever trial or valley you’re going through has a purpose.” Then he quoted a verse that God has been reminded me of often, “Faithful is He who calls you, Who also will do it.” I was stunned. That pastor had no idea how much he encouraged this missionary’s heart. God spoke directly through him to me — just to say “Hang in there, I’ve got your back.” It was a huge, direct answer to my heart’s prayer that morning.
But wait….there’s more…..
Today the wife of that same pastor called to asked where she should send our check for the tires. I gave her our temporary PA address, she then gave me the amount of the check — which was much greater than necessary for the tires. Before I had a chance to respond she replied that “We know that this is more than enough for the tires, but our church voted and we want you to use this money for whatever needs you may have.” She had no way of knowing that just this morning, we asked the Lord for the fuel money to get us to PA. We were not going to be able to make that trip on what we had brought in this month. She couldn’t have known that , but God did. Even before we asked this morning, he put it on the hearts of a small church last night to meet a need that we didn’t even know existed yet. Michelle and I still tear up just thinking of God’s power that He has shown us this week. We serve an amazing God.
Just recently on our trip to the Illinois we lost our rear brakes to the RV. On this particular trip we had two appointments. One was a church meeting that night in Springfield and then it was off to Chicago for a 2-day leadership conference. We called ahead to the Pastor and he was very understanding in our dilemma. We graciously canceled our meeting.
We prayed about what to do next. It was mid-afternoon by this time and no one was able to look at our RV for several days out. God provided! On route to a hotel we passed an RV service center. It was already after 6pm, but we thought it was worth a try, so we stopped. Not only was the young man able to fix the brakes, Jonathan had an opportunity to share the Gospel with him. What a blessing! (We found out later that the young man’s parents were on vacation and had left the shop to him and his brother to run while they were gone. His parents called while we were getting our RV serviced and told the boys that we struck lucky. Had the dad been there, he would have politely declined on their policy that they do not work on RV brake systems! We chuckled. Only God could work out those “minor” details and send the parents on vacation when we needed a brake job!)
Needless to say, we made it to the conference and we now know why it appears Satan was fighting so hard to keep us from getting there. Once at the conference we met our “RV Neighbors” Mr. & Mrs. Rob Congdon, who…..(are you ready for this?)…….were former U.K. missionaries! What a blessing! What a wealth of wisdom and advice we were able to glean those two days from those who had gone on before us. The Lord is good!
I could not sit here and request prayer for our upcoming meetings without taking the time to share with you what the Lord has personally confirmed to me through the scheduling of them. Just two months ago when our family set out to move to Indiana this January, we had only two churches booked in 2011. When Michelle and I both looked at our nearly-empty calendar, we realized the uphill climb in filling in those dates, and immediately gave our empty calendar to the Lord.
Guess What? He has begun filling it, and at an alarming rate! I can honestly say that these past two months have been amazing, as I watched God fill our calendar quicker than I ever could. What has God confirmed to me through all of this? That He is truly watching out for the McPeters crew. Yes, I knew that already, but as a husband and a dad, it’s comforting when God reaches down and just says, “It’s okay. I’ve got this.”
This week we had the chance to see God provide a very specific need for our family (and within 24 hours of our prayers.) Saturday evening our computer died. As you can imagine, being on deputation, our computer is one of our main tools to communicating, printing prayer letters, etc. To add to our dilemma, it crashed on a Saturday night, prior to a Sunday morning service we were having. We knew we didn’t have the funds necessary to purchase one, even if we had the time at 10pm on a Saturday evening.
Our family prayed for a miracle and on Sunday morning I took my thumb drive to the church and presenting our heart and ministry. The church took up an unexpected love offering. That afternoon, as we pulled into our drive, Michelle opened the envelope and smiled broadly. She handed it to me with a “There is the computer that God’s going to provide.”
Sure enough, the love offering covered almost to the penny the computer and the taxes – with a few dollars to spare. (So we took that and celebrated with some icecream!) Isn’t God good. I just love to watch Him work.
Wow! The Lord has answered prayer. As many of you know, especially if you are part of our daily prayer team, our family has been fervently praying to begin full-time deputation by January 2011. I will be honest, as of August and September it truly wasn’t looking possible. We emailed our prayer team, we emailed our friends and family all asking them to pray about this with us.
Of course you know the rest…God provided! Only by God’s doing, our family will begin full-time deputation this January. He made it clear this month, that He is asking us to step out on faith in pursuit of this goal. On the recommendation of a fellow missionary, I contact Shepherd’s Bethel, a missionary housing ministry in Indiana to put our names on a waiting list in case a house became available in the next year. Within a week, the ministry called to inform us that a unit was available and it would be ready for us after the children finish their first semester here at BJES. What an unexpected blessing!
This past week Krys was able to experience a Mueller Moment on her own and I wanted to share that with you. She came to me last week and ask if she could just ‘pray off’ three warts that had been bothering her. She said that if anyone could take them off, God could, and she wanted to just ask God to take care of it without having to go to the doctor. That night she specifically prayed for God to remove her warts. By the third day of praying — all of her warts were gone! Krys came to me and said ” See Mamma, I told you God could do it!”
Now I know some will be quick to tell me that warts fall off anyway, and in that regard you would be right. But God didn’t have to let them fall off in the immediate days following a little girl’s pray. I have no doubt at all that He was giving her a Mueller-Moment all her own. What a blessing to watch her grow and learn — but even more to watch God do something for her that we never could — answer a prayer.
Have you ever had God meet a need before you realized you needed it? Earlier last month we received a gas card from an anonymous church friend. We were shocked and grateful. Little did we know that less than four hours after receiving this gift we would be making an unexpected trip to PA. We both thanked God over and over again for that gas card. A need was met and just in time!
Our family enjoyed yet another Mueller Moment.” After our trip we took our van to a repair shop and found that the steering column was badly damaged. We were advised to stop driving it immediately. Unbeknownst to us, a check that would cover the complete repair was already in the mail heading in our direction! God’s provision will never cease to amaze me.
This month our family enjoyed yet another “George Mueller Moment” as we watched God provide a roof-top travel carrier for our van for only $30! That’s amazing! It is exactly what we’ve been praying for and came just in time for our trip to Pennsylvania! Praise the Lord! Once again we were reminded of God’s provision when we resort to prayer and not worry. We serve such a great God!
God provided a display board that is suitable for travel! Up until this time, due to the high costs of display boards, we had been using a foam display, which had to be replaced almost every other meeting. We tried a couple of different avenues to secure a permanent board, but it didn’t look like we were going to be able to get one before I had to fly to PA next week for the camp meeting.
Then God provided. A friend handed me a check one Sunday morning and told us to use it for whatever we needed. When I got home and opened the check, I found that it not only covered the cost of the board, but the shipping as well! Just about the time when we are tempted to worry, God lovingly reminds us that our lives are in His hands, not ours! Praise the Lord!