From Nothing To Something
18 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Christianity Tags: Bible, cross, God, inspirational, miracle, religion, Spirituality, Theology
This was the beginning of our testimony of faith in 1994. We still continue to live by faith. If you want us to come to your church and speak, please contact us.
“Give away our home?” I asked. The discernment that my wife Mary had was right. This act of obedience was to be the biggest step of faith that has taken us to where we are today.
Our family of six, by today’s standards lived a very comfortable and blessed existence. We owned a paid off, cherry wood furnished condominium in Miami Florida. I had a successful career with a major Hispanic television network, and our future finances were virtually secured due to family wealth. God had bonded us as a tightly knit and loving family. Yet Mary and I were terribly disillusioned. Christianity, as we knew it, had become disappointing and boring. It seemed for us that Jesus represented no more than Sunday church, home groups, and an occasional outreach to the lost. All of this, in a frantic city that seemingly had little time for the things of God.
Years of cries, and prayers to the Lord for the Book of Acts, was to be answered in a way that has caused us to live out the gospel. God’s answer came, or so we thought, as a call for revival work to the West Indies, specifically in the Virgin Islands. We knew that the cost of island living was so high, that financially we could not make it. Even with the best of financial scenarios, selling the condo, would give us only half of what was needed to place us in the same rent free position that we had come to enjoy. We could not believe that God would have us leave a debt free environment and be forced into the struggles of mortgage payments. The Lord challenged us to obey Matthew 19:29. He that forsakes home and property for the gospel’s sake would receive a hundredfold return. To live a life of supernatural returns, as we desired, would obligate us to one of supernatural giving and trusting, such as forsaking home and property for the glory of God.
After making a first “contact establishing” trip to the Virgin Islands, the idea of giving away the condo pursued us more hotly than ever before.
Mary and I finally decided to telephone old Christian friends, who now have a family of eight, and propose to them what we felt led to do.
In this “teary eyed” meeting we informed them that the home was theirs, conditional upon the Lord giving us a large sum of money that would sweep us to the islands.
A second trip was needed to investigate property leads. Mary and I sipped coffee from our balcony overlooking the beautiful Caribbean Sea. The beauty of comet Hale Bopp shone in the eastern sky. Then the Lord dropped a bombshell upon us. “Giving the condo, conditional upon My supplying you with money, is not faith. You have not given away anything!” The agonizing reality of giving the condo away with no guarantee of money or even of a future roof over our heads was slow in digesting. We met with our pastor who confirmed the decision. Days later all parties executed a “Quit Claim Deed”, on our condo and furniture, agreeing upon a date on which we would vacate, money or no money.
As the time approached, the Lord surprised us once again. The Virgin Islands had been a training ground for what was to really come. We were to pack up our vans and travel north sharing our testimony.
The dreaded date came and the Lord still had brought nothing. We were forced to use our credit cards. We had loathed debt, had always paid cash, and had credit cards exclusively for car rentals and reservations. We put our personal belongings into storage, packed up our van with numerous duffel bags, left the condo, and checked into a motel. Three days later, after being sent out by our church, we traveled north as Abraham did, not knowing where we were to go. The Lord led us to the great revival in Pensacola Florida, and a smaller one in Tuscaloosa Alabama. Our spiritual batteries were charged up.
In Tuscaloosa, the Lord spoke the word “New Mexico”. We felt relieved because it felt as if it were to be our final destination. Our credit cards were quickly being depleted. In Longview Texas, the Lord spoke to us the word“pueblo.” In a map of New Mexico, the Spirit pointed out a place by the name of Pueblo Santo Domingo. We were to find out later, that there are nineteen Pueblo Indian Tribes in New Mexico. Days later, as we arrived into Pueblo Santo Domingo, we were met by a precious Native lady that was selling jewelry from her adobe home. As we talked with her, the Lord placed such a supernatural love for Native Americans in our hearts that it has grown to become our calling.
We found out from her, that Anglos were not allowed to live in the Pueblos. Her suggestion was nearby Peña Blanca. Through the hand of God we were able to move into one bedroom efficiency with $10.00 in our pockets. The very nice landlady, who knew nothing of our circumstances, did not require us to pay her for a week. The next day we attended a church in Santa Fe whose pastor we had met a few days earlier. This pastor, knowing nothing of our finances, felt led to take up an offering for us which came to over $700.00. We paid our first rent from that. Several days later local believers, of whom we had asked nothing, totally furnished our apartment.
I desired greatly to apply for work at a local television station, but the Lord would not allow it, knowing that the faith level that would be required to bring His mission about must grow even more. One great frustration that we encountered was that in the pueblos, the preaching of the gospel is strictly prohibited. At this time, all that we felt to do was to build relationships and start up Bible studies in Peña Blanca.
Our credit cards were quickly being depleted. We had four dollars to our name, one diaper for our son, and our auto insurance was to be canceled on the following day. As I knelt in prayer, calmly reminding the Lord, that our son had one diaper left, Mary gleefully entered our home with a $10,000.00 check in her hand. Her aunt had unexpectedly passed away and had desired to give Mary this money. Needless to say, our debt and credit cards suddenly were paid off. Praise the Lord!
Another time that we had ran out of money and food, God sent us the ravens as with Elijah. This time, however, the ravens were dogs. On that day our adopted pets showed up with an unopened bag of beans, and numerous unopened cans of food, including a huge jar of peanut butter!
Lastly, Mary’s parents blessed their three children at the end of 1997 with a large sum of money. We are in the process of buying an acre of land and a paid off mobile home twice the size of what we gave away in Miami!
At the end of last year we were invited to preach at a Navajo Church in Tuba City, Arizona. The Spirit of God is being poured out in His native churches. We saw a considerable amount of instantaneous healings in both services. One Navajo lady, most probably in her eighties, after prayer, was able to walk about her home without the use of a walker. She exclaimed in Navajo, “I had legs of Jell-O but the Lord has given me new legs.” One Pueblo lady that I prayed for in Peña Blanca received back her temporarily lost eyesight. She said to me,“ Thanks to your Lord Jesus I can see again.”
As we traveled to Tuba City, through Navajo and Hopi country, I could not help but notice the great amount of satellite dishes on the Indian reservations. I was informed later that satellite TV is a popular commodity amongst the reservations, due to their remote locations.
Shortly after our trip, the Lord challenged us with something that we could never have dreamed of. He said, “What about building a Christian Indian television network that would have a strictly Native American gospel format? There are many good Christian programs, but few that are produced by Native Americans for Native Americans.” How great is our God! How unfathomable are His ways! He takes the little that we give Him and greatly multiplies it in His Hands. We knew now why God had brought us 2,200 miles. We also understood why He had us give everything away. Apart from the faith that was developed, we were called to those that had everything taken away, and today virtually still possess nothing. How could we minister to those to whom we could not identify with?
As work on the network slowly progresses, some of the interested parties are meeting together to pray and discuss the project. At the last meeting, the Spirit of God fell and I saw the eyes of God; Two virtual rivers of tears, being drained for His native people. He is burdened to have the network developed:
You can buy Mary’s book on Amazon with our whole testimony.
