A Craft Show Miracle (from 2007)

Linny over at the blog, A Place Called Simplicity (my favorite blog, really) hosts a blog party every Monday where she asks others to share the God stories of their lives. She calls this party Memorial Box Monday.


As Linny says, "the purpose of each Memorial Box Monday post is to remind yourself and others of God's great faithfulness, His powerful provision and His Unexpected Gifts in each of our lives." For even more detail on what a Memorial Box is click here.

I am wanting to participate in sharing our God stories "because when we actively remember God's faithfulness in the past, we see that the future is under His control as well." And I need to remember that God has this current adoption in His hands.

So today's story that "only God could write" took place at the end of 2007. Anna was 10 years old at the time.

Over the Thanksgiving break, we sat Anna down and asked her to pray about how she was going to raise the money she needed to go to Guatemala. She and Rob were planning on spending a week that coming summer (2008) loving up on the children in a number of orphanages in Guatemala, including the one Jonathan (our 4th child) lived in for his first 10 months. Anna needed $1500 for her part of the trip.

Anna prayed and said she felt that we were to participate in Sanderson’s Holly Days craft show. We told her that she probably wouldn’t get in since it was coming up quickly. We asked her to keep praying.

In the meantime, Rob and I prayed privately and both of us felt God telling us to follow Anna’s lead and support her. By the end of the long weekend, Anna was sure that God was asking her to do the show, which we had discovered was less than a week away.

Rob and I had a crisis of faith. Were we going to take some serious risks and support our daughter? Or were we gonna tell Anna that she probably hadn’t heard God because it was too late to get in the show? We went with the former. We bought lots of art supplies, cleared our schedules to find time for creating, began making logistical arrangements, and emailed the folks at Sanderson.

By that first Thursday in December (the show started Friday), the crafts were getting done but we had heard nothing from Sanderson. We called the school and were given the same email we had already tried. We wrote again. This time we heard back, a letter telling us they were full and we would not get a space, they had more vendors this year than any other year. We emailed back, thanking them and letting them know we would be available if anything changed.

That night, we pulled the kids and prayed again. Anna felt like she got a picture of us at the show and people flooding our booth. She also saw a picture of Su at her computer on the AOL screen but did know what it meant. After the prayer time, we continued to craft and Rob and David drove across town to pick up tables for the show.

Part of us felt we were crazy preparing for a show we did not even have a booth at. The other part thought there was nothing else to do: of course we were going to prepare for the show, like Noah preparing for rain.

Later that night we put the kids to bed and each one begged God that we would get in the show. Rob and I went downstairs and continued to create.

We popped open email and found a note from Sanderson that read: “We just now had a cancellation. You will take so and so’s place.”

We jumped up and ran to the kids’ rooms. Everyone was screaming and jumping up and down. Tears were streaming down Su’s face. Anna had the hugest smile on her face and said, “I just knew it!” and hugged Su so tightly. We cheered for Jesus and thanked him for showing up.

Our pastor often says, “How do you spell faith?

The answer is, "R-I-S-K”

We are so glad we took the risk. And so to remember this story. . Anna and I bought the wooden word FAITH to put in our Memorial Box to help my now 13 year old

remember the very first (when she was 10) supernatural, faith filled, risk taking God adventure. May this be a mark of her life.

I'll tell you the turnout of Anna's craft show next Monday.

And if you missed my very first Memorial Box Monday post about God showing up at the mall, click here.