Two Fishes and Five Loaves

Saturday was a whirlwind of activity at the McDermitt home. We found out late Friday that our caseworker was coming for our first home study visit at five on Saturday. We made the decision to let the first meeting include the home check and interviews with all nine of us. There was lots to be done. We wanted to make the best first impression that we could make. There was one little hitch in the schedule. I was already committed to spending part of Saturday at Belk selling Charity Sale tickets. Kenny and the rest of the crew would have to get the house ready without me. I felt terrible about leaving them to accomplish the house cleaning task. I prayed that God would multiply the work of their hands and that my time away would be fruitful. I did not have the luxury of "wasting" a Saturday. I had no idea what my day would hold. I stood at the entrance of Belk for over three hours selling tickets. All the money I raised was for our adoption. I was a bit nervous and spent the first thirty minutes experimenting with what to say. I got in a groove and sells picked up. I continued to get bolder and bolder and started using the opportunity to talk about my relationship with The Lord. I asked numerous people to pray for God to multiply the five dollar bill that they were giving me for their ticket. During one conversation, a man overheard me talking. He told me that he did not have any cash but he would be back with some. I had heard that several times already. Some time later, I looked up and he was smiling at me. He had five one dollar bills in his fist. Smiling, he said, "I told you I would be back." I thanked him and asked him to pray that God would multiply his efforts. He told me that we would be praying together. He nodded for me to step away from the table. He spent a few minutes talking to me about The Lord and his faithfulness to his children. We bowed our heads together and he started praying. I felt like I was in the presence of one of God's greatest saints. He went to bat on our behalf with Jesus. I think his t-shirt and Bermuda shorts were damp with perspiration when he had finished praying. The sweat on his gold chain was glistening in the sunlight. He reminded Jesus about he once fed 5000 men, not including the women and children, with two fish and five loaves. He then asked Jesus to take his five one dollar bills and multiply them to the exact amount that we needed to complete our mission. He also thanked God for my faithfulness to God's call for my life. Wow! I was speechless for a few seconds. He smiled and left. I returned to my station and finished up my time slot selling tickets. I sold close to fifty tickets that day. Way more than I thought I would. I also made a few connections for the hosting program and was told to stop by a local business on Monday to pick up a check for our adoption. I came home to a check in the mailbox and donations in my paypal account. As for the house, Kenny and the children did an awesome job getting it ready for our first home study visit. God had given us another fruitful day and I was the one who came away with the blessing.