Written by Jolene Sloan
A specific time in my life that I remember praying earnestly for
something and seeing God provide was when I was just a teenager. God used
this instance to show me that, even as a 16-year-old, I could reach the throne
of grace through the simple act of prayer and fasting.
My youth director, Bro. Robert A. Ross, had taken a missions trip
to the country of Ukraine with a group of teenagers from my youth department
the previous summer. As I listened to his stories and the stories of
those who went on the trip, I had a strong yearning to be on that plane the
next time he went! I talked to him about my desire to go, and he
recommended that I write letters to pastors asking for their help to sponsor me.
You see, I was a bus kid who lived with her grandmother, and my grandmother's
income was not even enough to provide our basic needs most of the time.
She got a lot of outside financial help from compassionate people, and the Lord
worked many miracles to keep food on the table of this dear lady who was
rearing several of her grandchildren. We just did not have extra money
for something as “unnecessary” as an overseas trip.
I was a hard-worker and did as much as I could on my own to chip
away at the price of the airplane ticket. However, as the weeks passed
and the departure date grew closer, I came to realize that everything I had
done just would not be enough to get me on that mission’s trip. I had
never tried fasting for something before, and I knew that this was as good as a
time as any to try it out. With my grandmother’s permission, I began
fasting and used meal times to go to my bedroom to pour out my heart to the
Lord about my desire to go to Ukraine that upcoming summer of 1995.
God worked a miracle and provided me with just the amount of money
that I needed to buy that airplane ticket. The money came in the form of
an unexpected check for my grandmother that she unselfishly gave me. But,
more than that check, God provided me with an opportunity to see Him answer the
prayers of a 16-year-old who wanted to serve Him with all of her heart.
Looking back, I am thankful that I was driven to my knees to see God provide,
because that was just the tool I needed a few years later when God actually
sent me to Ukraine as a missionary’s wife! I needed to learn the power of
prayer and fasting, and I needed to know that God truly does care about our
needs and desires.
{This is a picture of me holding my
daughter, surrounding by some Ukrainian friends I met on my first trip to
Ukraine.
How thankful I am that God answers the prayers of adults,
teenagers, and children too!
1 John
5:14-15 "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any
thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of
him."
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