This is a story about a really miraculous provision from God. It has always warmed me to witness how God provides for people who dedicate themselves to Him and his values even when they are against a stone wall an there seems no way forward, but into the mote of despair. These people always looked like spiritual giants to me even after I found myself against the same wall of stone.

I knew the voice was real. It came booming into my ears, over the top of my dream and jarred me awake. "When you say I don't love you, you are mistaken." I turned and looked at my wife. She was sleeping soundly, as if nothing had happened. I placed my hand on her shoulder and gave her a shake. "Doreen, did you hear that?" "Huh, hear what?" She turned and peeked at me through mostly shut eyes. "I just heard a voice. It sounded something like a trumpet blast, only deeper. I was in the middle of a dream and it woke me up. It said, 'When you say I don't love you, you are mistaken!' I think it was God."

I had lost my job two years previously. Our situation continued to worsen. Shortly after hearing the voice, we were down to a few dollars and a half tank of gas. The bank was foreclosing on our home. With no money, there was nowhere we could move, no way to store furniture. I was sixty years old, and without a degree, no one would hire me. We would loose the home where we'd raised our five children and lived for 27 years. All would be lost: home, furniture, automobile, and personal things.

We prayed often and trusted God to deliver us. But things only got worse. We had seen others rescued miraculously, but not us. People showed up at their doorsteps with money saying, "The Lord told me to give you this." And it would be precisely what they had prayed for. But that never happened to us.

We were sitting together on the step into a garage that I had converted into a family room. We were talking about all these things and decided that we had been abandoned. "God doesn’t loved us anymore," Doreen said. "I guess your right." We went to bed dejected, hopeless. But God did love us. He told us so—vocally.

The next day, a Friday, I went to see about a job at a conveyor company. The marketing director took me to lunch and offered me his job. But when he had finished telling me about the company, it was clear that there was no way I could fit in with their ethics and continue honor God, my loving Father. Driving away, I was completely discouraged, sort of in a daze, watching the buildings drift by as I proceeded home to give my wife some more bad news. We were against a wall of stone.

Then I saw a business I recognized. I had been on that street once before many years ago. "I know the man that owns that". I thought.
The door was open; lots of desks in a big office; I walked in and through a doorway into a very dirty production area. There was one old man there. "Is this owned by a man named Ron," I asked. "Yeah, Ron Baldwin. Here's his number." When I got home, I told Doreen the bad news and called Ron. He recognized my name immediately. "I tried to call you a couple of months ago," he said. "If you're not doing anything why don't you come to my office for about an hour right now and we'll get acquainted again." I got there at about 2:00 PM. We talked till 6:00 and he decided we should get together. Although we couldn't decide what that should be about, we agreed to agree. Saturday, we talked from 8:00 AM till 4:00 PM. I would return on Monday and check out the market for a line of fishing tackle products he'd accumulated.

Finally, some good news for Doreen. In my haste to tell her, it seemed that all the stop lights were against me and stayed red forever. I hope I didn't offend anyone with my wild driving. (an old man driving like a kid) When I saw Ron on Monday, I had to admit that I couldn't afford gas to get back the next day. He gave me two thousand dollars. I got home before noon with literature to study and a lot of library work to do. I love to see my sweetheart smile. “But,” she asked, "what do we do about the foreclosure? The bank has sent it to their attorney."

That same Monday I had an afternoon meeting with a company I had started a couple of years previously with a former employee. There was a fellow there who had helped us write our memorandum. After the meeting he said he would like to have some of my stock. Tuesday morning, I met him and he offered me eighty five hundred dollars for ten thousand shares of my stock.

Sunday night were nearly penniless, but by Tuesday evening I had deposited ten thousand, five hundred dollars. Wednesday morning, these words popped into my mind. (sometimes God speaks that way) "Go withdraw six thousand dollars." "But, Lord, you know those checks couldn't possibly have cleared." "Do it." There was some hesitation at the bank, but within an hour I had the cash. "Now, get on your good clothes and get to the mortgage bank fast." No argument that time. As it turned out, I was just in time, almost to the minute, to save myself fifteen hundred dollars in legal fees!"

And the two years of trials were over. He really does love us, just as He said. Since then, doors had been opened to us that we couldn’t have imagined. I stand in awe at his timing and orchestration of events. All that time, when I was alone and discouraged, He was leading—preparing me to trust more fully. Sometimes we feel ashamed of our fears. But God knows. After all, Jesus became a man to experience our trials, hunger, and pains so that he could be our advocate before God. He even calls us brothers. He agonized nine hours on the cross to make that possible, to make us good enough to stand confidently before God. He loves you too. You are not reading this by accident, anymore than I passed that business by accident, or did any of the other things. You don't need to be good either. He understands. All you need is to say, "thank you Jesus for sacrificing yourself for my punishment. I accept that. Thank you for wanting me to live forever with you. You really do love me. I love you too."

You just heard the voice of God in your heart.

Dear Reader, God has been so dedicated to us, to teach and protect, and we know He desires to do the same for you. Please trust in His provision of His Son’s sacrifice and appoint Jesus as your personal savior. It is exciting to know that there is joy in Heaven over one each person who trusts and turns to Him.