God story #1- Angel on the Paper Route

In 1999 the early years of our marraige, God gave me a newspaper route to supplement our small family income after I had my first child. It was the perfect arrangement. My route started at 2:30am and ended at 6:30am in time for my husband to go to work. I was finally a stay-at-home mom. The only set-back was the pay was nothing compared to my previous bank job. Shane and I struggled financially in those years and at times I even traded babysitting for food.

One wintery night in the middle of my route, I realized that I was running out of gas in my car. It was nearly Christmas and we were in the worst financial crisis of our lives. I barely had enough gas to get home nevertheless to finish the paper route. And I had no money. I drove for another 15-20 minutes of my route crying out to God and reminding him of the promises he had made to us about providing our needs. I knew that he wanted me to stay home with my son but everything around us was falling apart. After I had spent that 15-20 minutes driving around, it became clear I no longer had a choice. I wasn't going to make it home!

 All I could think about was sitting out in the dark in the middle of the night with no way to call someone to help me. I didn’t own a cell phone back then. Just as the fear set in, I began praying in tongues. Within minutes, I felt this peaceful calm come over me. "I'm going to be ok." I thought to myself. And I continued the paper route. I pulled up to the next dark driveway, rolled down the window to throw out a newspaper and a man suddenly stepped out of the darkness. My heart nearly stopped. He noticed my shock and apologized for scaring me. Then he reached out his hand and handed me an envelope. "Merry Christmas." He said. Assuming it was a Christmas card, I said “Thank You.” and drove away. I wondered out loud what in the world was a man doing standing outside in the middle of this freezing night. As I rounded the corner, deep inside I heard God say "Open it." So I opened the envelope and to my surprise inside the envelope was a Christmas card and $50 cash. God had provided EXACTLY what I needed. I still often wonder if I had met a real angel that cold wintery night.