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Current mood:  ecstatic
So let me tell you a little story about my week and why God is exactly who He says He is! Jesus Rules and it's AWESOME to see Him perform miracles! You're going to love this because it's impossible to make this stuff up. For the week of April 26th – May 3rd God lit my world up!
You can read the blog (on www.myspace.com/jolleytimes) about how God brought a screeching halt to my day on April 26th. (You've got to read the blog before this first - well "recommended reading" - haha ... nobody ever does the "recommended reading" do they?)
On Friday night April 27th, I spent the evening drafting an email to my friends and family regarding a 2 week "trip" to share Jesus with people over in Asia Minor. I probably sent the email in the 10 or 11 o'clock hour that night. In less than a 48 hour period the Lord answered my requests for prayer partners and in regards to the remaining expenses for this trip to Asia Minor! He provided over $1200 a little less than instantly (to my physical eyes), which was the remaining amount needed for GOING! Praise Jesus! I was extremely blessed to see his provision move at such a rapid rate through other brothers and sisters in Christ. WOW!!! Reverent submission to God is a vital part of seeing Him move in such ways.
The week continues to get even better! How could that be, you might ask? We're only allowed one good thing per week from Jesus, right? No way! God's grace is thick, immense, and 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! Back in February the Lord began to speak to me about selling my truck to pay off my remaining student loans. He's been poking at me to do this over the past months because He wants me debt free. At the end of last year and beginning of this year I began selling my investments in obedience to His promptings to pay my debts, as instructed in Romans (found in the New Testament). After cashing in some investments and paying all debts of credit cards and my high interest rate student loans, one substantial loan remained. The only way to get rid of it was to sell my truck.
In February I would post some classifieds on Craig's List to sell my truck or place an advertisement on Christ Church of the Valleys classified section of their website. In my eyes I wasn't too pro-active like I had been in the past in terms of placing ads in the auto trader and big car sales sites of that nature because I enjoy my truck I don't want to reeeeeeeaaaly get rid of it, do I? The Lord continued prompting me with the idea of getting rid of it, to get my debts paid off, save money on gas, insurance, registration etc. etc. In the very beginning of March I prayed in confession to the Lord over what I felt was a lack of effort in selling my truck, it went something like this on a Monday evening:
"Lord, I know you want me to sell the truck to pay off my debts. I'm very busy and don't want to spend the time placing the ads everywhere or spending the money people tend to spend to sell trucks in the "Auto Trader" and other various websites. Please just send somebody along who wants to buy my truck before my registration is due April 1st and I will be required to pay another $200."
Ha! No joke, a guy named Sean called me the next day with interest in seeing the truck. I didn't call him back until Thursday. Thursday night he was able to take a look at it around 8pm in the rain under a street light. On Friday afternoon he calls me with this "bug" to buy the F150 as quickly as possible. I didn't know if I really wanted to sell and kind of wanted to put it off until Tuesday (for several reasons most because I was busy). On Saturday I was in an orientation all day but was able to get away at lunch to sell the truck to Sean. The price was a few thousand less (I'm an ultra-optimist) than I was hoping for but still a fair price for both parties in my estimation because it was in line with the Kelly Blue Book price.
I want to take a moment right here to impress upon you the rapid rate in which the Lord orchestrated the sale of my truck. After I prayed openly and honestly about the situation, He seemingly answered my request instantly. This was a miracle of the Lord. All credit to Jesus! Thank you Lord!
At this point, I'm car less or so I thought, in early March. The people I'm living with Stan and Kathy Anderson have two cars and always let me use their car without hesitation as long as there weren't any special circumstances, which never seemed to materialize. Also, another couple Jon and April Kehrer were kind of enough to give me the keys to their "extra" car to use for about 10 days. At this point I was more than comfortable and didn't have a pressing need to really look for a car, though I did. All I wanted was a Toyota or Honda that would get good gas mileage because let's face it, in the desert you really don't need a huge vehicle because there's no surf or surfboards to contend with, bummer. 
I slowly began to feel a little guilty not being overly pro-active in looking for a car, setting up appointments and what not. I took an evening to make some calls on cars that looked reasonable. In the back of my head I'm wondering how much to spend on a car because it's going to take most of my money from the truck to pay off this last student loan. I begin doing all kinds of calculations and started rationalizing, maybe God just wants me to buy a car and then pay what I'm able to off on the student loan? "Yeah that must be it," I say in my head. I came across a great deal for about 2000-$2500! I spoke with the guy, drove out to his house and before I could get to his place somebody else purchased the vehicle. On my way home, God's speaking with me in conversation saying, "Did I tell you to go buy a car?" "Why are you looking for a car?" Have you been in need up until this point?" He didn't think my "guilt" was a good enough reason to be dis-obedient. When I got home I felt the need to share with Stan and Kathy about the fact God didn't want me to go out and purchase a car on my own ability. I shared with them something along the lines that God would provide the car at the proper time. Jesus simply pressed upon my heart that, "You will no the right car when you see it." Since I was leaning on them for transportation I felt it necessary to get their permission so to speak. Praise the Lord they were perfectly okay with that! I consider this a miracle too!
This is where the fun begins! Hopefully you're all interested in this story up until this point. Check out how much God ROCKS! Hands up everybody this is the good part of the roller coaster!
Three days later, Saturday April 14th (I know the date because my accountant left 2 stern messages needing to get a hold of me for some information to complete my taxes, Vaughn's a great guy) , two other families and myself were taking a trip to an Indian Reservation (no phone reception hence the "messages" from the accountant) to share Jesus. In preparation to going, Joel needed to get something out of his "other" car. I didn't think too much about it at the time. However, when we returned later that evening some how the topic of this car came up. I probably asked a question or two about it. Apparently, the 91 Camry was in a front end accident, they replaced just about everything under the hood and yet it didn't work. Joel expressed that he believed the problem to be with the starter because everything else had been replaced. I asked, "What are you going to do with it?" I was thinking I could fix it and drive until the Lord provided me a car. Ha! Joel says something to the effect, "Nothing, we want to get rid of it." I exclaimed, "I'll take it, if you really want to get rid of it?!" Joel and Ryah (Joel's wife) offered me the key right on the spot! Wow, I thought could this be what God was intending all along? This is exciting!
This car had everything I wanted (even AC working) other than the fact it didn't run or have a CD player (small potatoes … it's a free car!). Well on April 30th I was finally able to get the car towed (for free! - miracle) over to the mechanics garage. If Joel's hunch was right I was expecting to pay a minimum of $200 to get this thing running. The next day at about 1pm the garage calls and leaves a message regarding the Camry. I couldn't tell if they said, "… it isn't ready or is ready." I called the shop and they said, "Your car's ready to go! All the Toyota needed was an alternator fuse. Your invoice is $59.45." Ha! No way! A perfectly good running car for $59.45! I had to share this with Joel and Ryah. I wanted to make absolutely certain they wanted to give me this running car. If they decided they wanted the vehicle I would have been just as happy because I was able to get the car running for them. However, they didn't want it at all. Joel said, "That car is dead to me." Yes that's a direct quote and I love him for it! I began thinking, could it be this easy? Could Jesus really mean the words he speaks, when he says, "My burden is light and my yoke is easy or ask and you shall receive?" Could Jesus really be this good? Yes! Yes! Yes! Amen and Praise Jesus!!!!
I was able to pick the car up on May 2nd. As I drove it to work joy filled my heart because I realized I'm driving a miracle! This car is a miracle from Jesus! It may not look pretty on the outside to most people but that doesn't matter because every time I get in to drive it somewhere it will remind God is exactly who He says He is, our provider, protector, comforter, friend, Father, brother, lover of my soul, creator of heaven and earth, all of it and more! He hears the prayers of His children and answers. I've never loved a car like I've loved this one. Not because it has a bunch of bells and whistles, is brand new, looks cool, but because it's a blatant in my face act of love from God to me! It's a miracle from God and Him saying, "I do own it all. Trust me in that and seek me FIRST."
The stories not over, yet, one more miracle to go! Due to the fact I didn't spend thousands or even hundreds of dollars on getting a new car (g-ride  ) I was able to cut the check to pay off the last student loan by weeks end, in full! Boooooooooooyah!
No debts outstanding to any institutions. As Paul shares in Romans the only debts we're to carry are debts of love for one another.
Jesus rules and has all authority in heaven and on earth! The cool thing is he invites us into this authority to those who believe in His name and word, through the power of the Holy Spirit. So today before you all I praise Jesus! Everything begins and ends with Jesus! All of life for he is the author!
I share this with you for several reasons, to praise Jesus, to encourage you, to invoke a new spark (hopefully) for you to seek out who this Jesus I speak of really is, and to serve as a reminder for myself of the goodness, mercy and grace God has shown in me in my own life. I'm truly grateful and thankful for Jesus. This is just one week in my life. I could write something like this everyday most definitely. However, these events in the American mindset show Jesus in a more tangible richness that we are all (I would imagine) able to relate to and understand. With this being said, I've discovered the TREMENDOUSLY GREATER riches in Jesus are the "intangibles." These physical events that have taken place are simply a "by product" of the greater depths to be experienced on a relational level in Christ Jesus. Seek out Jesus with sincere and honest questions, you will see him too. Praise Jesus, day and night! If you're new to the Bible and want to know where to start, the book of John (in the New Testament) is a great book to choose as a starting point. Email me anytime with questions, comments or personal stories. Thank you for reading my testimony of Jesus in my life this week.
Peace be with you!
3:03 AM
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