Me and Angel. What a beautiful vision she is! 17 years is not nearly enough time to have such a woman.

 At the Lord's Land everywhere we walked the buildings and benches where inscribe with scripture. Very powerful stuff. Words of Spirit!

This is "Stump" the cabin Angel and I stayed in at the Lord's Land.

This cabin is also at Lord's Land. It's name is "The Big House" Angel and I would like to have a family trip and stay there in the big house.

Me and my bride of 17th Anniversary at Fort Bragg

A view from the Mendocino coast.
 

The Power Of Simple Prayers

The Power of a Simple Prayer

I had the most amazing weekend with Angel, my wife.  Saturday, June 28^th, was our 17th anniversary. Anniversaries, as a rule, have always been a tough thing for me to plan. I have always wanted to plan something super special that would blow Angel away. However, my creativity always seemed to dry up when our anniversary would come around. This year would be different. This year's celebration began with a simple prayer. In light of past years, I decided to ask God for help. I simply asked, "Lord, help me make this year's anniversary special." 

Over the months that followed my prayer, I began thanking God for hearing my request. As I did this, my anticipation grew. As the weeks passed, it dawned on me that one of my closest friends, Richard, would probably help support Angel and my anniversary. (We did not have any money set aside for the anniversary). I was not sure if this was just my idea or the Lord's, so I waited a week. The idea only grew in my mind, so the following week I called Richard and explained our situation. Richard agreed to allow me to borrow one hundred dollars for the anniversary.

By this time, several weeks had passed and it was the second week of June...crunch time. I knew God had heard my prayer, and He is faithful. I continued saying prayers of thanksgiving over our anniversary.  One morning on my way to the kitchen, God brought back to my memory a conversation Angel and I had had. The conversation was about what she wanted to do for our anniversary. "I want to go to the ocean," is what she said to me. Immediately, I thought of the Mendocino coast, there is a YWAM base there called The Lord's Land, (www.lordsland.org) .

As the month drew to a close I decided to tell Angel about the trip to Mendocino. The word "doubtful" best characterizes her response.  But I kept saying the prayer of thanksgiving. By the week of our anniversary, Angel’s perspective changed. God started by providing a babysitter. The babysitter just happened to drive a hybrid car, which she allowed us to borrow for the weekend. Then there is the subject of money. We were expecting to at least spend a quarter of the hundred dollars we had on the cabin. That was not to be. God directed a fellow YWAMer to leave us another hundred dollars at the Lord's Land that paid for the cabin, and left us an additional sixty dollars.

 Two days before Angel and I left, Deb, (a mission builder) asked about the cabin we were staying in.  Angel told her that we were basically staying in the least expensive cabin there. Deb asked if we could upgrade. Would we want to? Angel turned and asked me if I wanted to upgrade." Yes, of course I would,“ I said.  Just like that, Deb paid for an upgrade on the cabin.

As if that was not enough, another mission builder, Janice, reached over and planted more money in the palm of my hand with a smile on her face. “You kids have a good time” she said.

The last blessing before we left the base came from Deb. A heart shaped basket filled with chocolates and a candle. “Every anniversary should have a candle and chocolates. Don’t you think?” she asked us.

Finally, Friday afternoon, Angel and I drove away…anniversary or bust. Our heads were spinning with so much favor from God. Truly I live the blessed life.