37 Years of Blessings

My wife and I have just celebrated our wedding anniversary. It’s been 37 years and we are still in love. That’s quite a feat in these days. God has brought us through all kinds of things together. Pallie Sue and I would do it all over again. Only we want to know all that we know now, please. Thank you.

God has blessed us through the years. When we needed Him most, He was always there for us. When the pantry was bare, He filled it. When the gas was empty, He always filled the tank. When the fever was raging He cooled it. When the clothes were worn He always gave more. We did without things we wanted many times, but never what we needed. We can say, ever need His hand has supplied! For 37 years God has been right with us. Oh! Sometimes we had to be tested, but he always brought us through.

Let me share one story with you, about how God has help. You will know that there were many.

We were pastoring a home mission church in Oakdale, Louisiana. (Seems to me, most of the churches have been home missions). Karla was a toddler and we were expecting the twins. I could not find work and we were out of food. We didn’t want to beg and we didn’t know what to do.

Pallie Sue had fixed the last food in the house. A can of pumpkin, some rice, and a pitcher of KoolAid. I remember this as if it were yesterday. For the only time that I ever knew, we knelt down beside the table to ask the blessing. I remember praying. "Well, Lord you said that you would take care of us and here we are! I can’ t find work and this is all the food we have. We are trusting in your help."

I can’t remember all that I was telling the Lord while kneeling there that day, but I do know that God came through before I stopped praying. While still on our knees, a knock came on the front door. I know, you have read stories like this before, but this happened to us! I went to the door and there stood a woman and her grown son. She had attended the services at the mission. She ask me if I could marry people. I said, "Yes. Why?" She said that her son wanted to get married. I thought that she meant he was planning his wedding, and would a set date to get married. The son then left. I asked her when the wedding would be, and she said her son had gone to get the bride and would be right back. Then it came to us that she meant now, in our house! Well, I went to change clothes, and the lady thought she would be nice and help Pallie Sue clean up the dinner table. She raked out the pumpkin and poured the KoolAid down the drain. Our last meal was gone. Now we were living on faith.

After the wedding the man asked how much he owed for the service. I told him I didn’t charge for weddings. He handed me $10 anyway. Back then, that was enough for a week's supply of groceries. The bride, broom and mother left. We picked up Karla and went to the grocery store.

That was a promise that God would always supply our needs and He always has.

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