God is Good, ALL THE TIME!!!

Yesterday was the first day of orientation at my school. What a day it was!! We were in the main sanctuary at the RHEMA church, and for the first part of the day we were introduced to the faculty of the school. Some great, spirit-filled men and women minister there, and I'm VERY excited to learn under these people!!

The second part of the day, Lynette Hagin spoke to us about not comparing ourselves to someone else - a really passionate message!! Towards the end of her message, she had us come to the altar and thank God for how He's blessed us. While I was bowed down at the front, I began to thank God for all He's done for me to get me out here. After a bit, God told me to speak in tongues silently, which I did! It was exhilarating!! Then after a very short while, I heard, "You can stop doing that for now, and pray to me in words you understand."

At this time, Tina and I were trying to sell her car to pay off her car loan (about $300 / month) and purchase a motorcycle for me to ride to school (I only have a 6 mile commute one way). So we had went to a place called CarMax on Thursday, 9/9, where they appraise your car to buy it from you. They were going to offer us $6000 for the car, without having to buy another car from them. Well, that would have been enough to cover the remainder of the car loan but nothing left over to purchase a motorcycle with. Both Tina and I were not too comfortable with this so we left the store, with a 7-Day offer on their appraisal in case we changed our minds. So, we had the car washed, vacuumed, and wiped down and took lots of pictures of it. We then posted the car for sale on Craigslist and Ebay Thursday evening to sell for $8000. Friday morning we began to receive emails of people interested in buying the car, so I told Tina to look at and respond to these emails while I was at school. So as I prayed yesterday morning (Friday), God told me to thank Him for a buyer for Tina's car (which will come into play later :).

So after the time of prayer ended, we had some awesome worship to close out the morning. Then I came home to Tina sitting in front of the computer, and she told me someone was interested in buying her car for $7000! As soon as I heard that, I thanked God because the night before I had put her car on Craigslist. That meant God worked overnight!! He really can do things instantly!!

We went to meet this woman at her place of employment (which was right down the road), and she liked the car right away. After talking for a bit, she wanted to have her mechanic friend look at it, which is totally understandable. So we agreed to meet Monday afternoon and bring it to her mechanic. At this point she was very interested but wasn't convinced...OK, no problem.
We moved on and went to a store and while were were there this woman called Tina back and said since we were so honest with her about this vehicle and kept really good records of all the maintenance we had done on the car, she would like to buy it!! Literally 10 minutes after we met with her!! "PRAISE GOD" is all I could say when I heard that!!! WOOO!!!!! Tina got teary eyed too!

In our excitement, God brought the motorcycle dealer to mind where we had seen a 2006 Honda Rebel for sale for $2100. With the sale of Tina's car, we would remove the $300 a month car payment, and pay for half of this motorcycle!! So we went over to the dealer, and the bike was still there!! We went in, and found 2 brand new helmets (originally $360 each for $199 each) which we bought along with the bike, so the total ended up being about $2600 for everything - which was a great deal!!

Now I forgot to mention that this very day in the mail we had received checks from Tina's credit card for a 0% interest rate for 11 months! We put the bike on this check, and have 11 months to pay off a little over $1500!! Amen!!

ALSO (I know it just keeps getting better)...when talking with this woman and some of her co-workers at her place of business (a Swimming School for children)...she was asking why we were selling the car, what brought us to OK from PA...so we told her that I was going to RHEMA and Tina told her that she is looking for a job. This woman's co-worker then chimed in and said, we have an opening here for a Front Desk Attendant. She told Tina to fill out a job application and we gave her Tina's email to learn more about the open position. WOW!!! However, since this job seems to be more Part-Time, I am actually going to apply to work there and have a job for some evenings and Saturdays.

So here's a summary of what God did for us Friday:
- Walked me through speaking in tongues
- Had me activate faith on behalf of my wife for a buyer for Tina's car
- Provided a buyer for Tina's car that is paying what we were hoping to get for the car
- Provided us a job opportunity for me (or Tina)
- Provided 0% interest rate on a line of credit for 11 months
- Provided a motorcycle and 2 new helmets that are half-paid for already
- Gave us a new sense of peace about being here and being in God's will

WOW!!! What a day!! If I know anything about God, it's that He's good all the time (Psalm 100:5, Psalm 145:9), and He provides ALL we need according to His ABUNDANT riches in Christ Jesus our Lord (Philippians 4:18-20), and that He rewards obedience and those who love him (Hebrews 11:6, Romans 8:28).

Can I get an AMEN??!!

Your brother in The Way,
-Brad

P.S. - motorcycle pictures coming soon to Facebook, along with moving, apartment, our community, school, church, etc. pictures :)