Prayers Answered When You Were A WOW

[J0nny Ling0]

I thought it might be fun to read some stories about answered prayers when others of us were WOWs. My WOW year was rough at times, but there really was some great times as well. I posted this story over at the Harry Potter thread, but it really was a de-rail, so I thought I'd post it here, and welcome others to do the same concerning answered prayers when you were a WOW...

Here's mine:

Ok. When I was a WOW in South Central Los Angeles in 76/77, my VW fastback broke down. This was the only car our WOW fam had. I was really bummed because it was the trans axle (VW word for transmission), and how could a WOW in LA move the Word without a car, I thought. At least we needed it to go to the beach for "beach outreach" which translated meant looking at the girls in bikinis... ;)-->

Anyway, one day, while working on the damned thing and trying to fix it, I got frustrated and threw down my wrench down and crawled out from under the car. I wiped what grease I could from my hands and stormed into our apartment. Only my two WOW sistahs were home, and they saw the serious look on my face.

The family coordinator, Kathy V*issem, looked at me and said; "What?" And I said; "We are gonna pray. Let's hold hands". They looked at me like I was nuts because my hands were greasy, but they went along with it. And I prayed to God that someone would GIVE me a car, that my VW was a piece of sh it, and if Sc*tt Fa*st could put an ad in the paper that said; "Fellowship leader needs car, please call" and then someone answered the ad and gave him a car,, then surely God, you could send someone to give me a car too. And then I went back outside to clean up my tools and come back in for a shower.

The very next day, I was out talking to people in Centinela Park and inviting them to Twig. That is when I met Vernon Patterson Brown III. Vernon was a young black man from a really screwed up family. He lived over in Watts, and he had just split up with his wife. I invited him to twig. I told him that I couldn't pick him up, but he said no problem, he'd take the bus.

And so, he came. I taught about Jesus Christ, and Romans 10:9. and how as Sons of God, we had access to God's throne of grace to ask for help in time of need. He was very happy to have come to our fellowship, and was not the least bit bothered by my WOW bro who constantly picked at his bare feet toe nails with devious intensity through out the entire fellowship Roll Eyes

After the meeting part was over, and we all were talking over coffee, the subject of cars came up. He asked me what kind of car I drove. I told him that it was a 1966 VW fastback, but that it wasn't running at the moment. Then he said (and I .... you not) with his inner city African American dialect;

"Well, I have a car, and if you want, you can have it." And I, dumbfounded, looked at him and said; "What did you say Vernon?" as my WOW sistahs and brother looked at him with jaws dropped. And he says; "Well, I have a car, and it ain't dat bad, and actually it's pretty good, but really, I don't want to keep it because what I really want is a Corvair, and besides dat, my Momma wants that car to give to her boyfriend, and he da same age as me!" And there was fire in his eyes at the mention of his Momma's boyfriend.

And so, with extreme excitement bubbling just below the surface, as calmly as I could, I asked; "What kind of car is it Vernon?" And he said again; "Well, it ain't dat good, but really it's really nice! And Jonny, it's yours if you want it." And so I said; Why thank you Vernon. And so, what is it?" And with a grin, he says;

"Well, it's a 1967 Buick Wildcat with a 430 cubic inch engine with a four barrel carburetor. It has dual exhaust and new whitewall tires. It has 'lectric seats and 'lectric windows. It has a nice air conditioning system and a good stereo. And one other thing Jonny, it's gold. Painted gold, and it's yours if you want to have it..

Well, I was dumbfounded. I was so amazed that I didn't know what to say. I just sat there like a duck. But then he produced the key to all of our amazement, and, gave it to me as he thanked me for our fellowship which helped him so much during his time of need. The next day, I picked up the car over in Watts, and later, me, Vernon, my WOW family, and the other four WOWs piled on in and we went for a cruise down Hollywood Blvd, and Sunset Strip feeling like Brothers and Sisters of The King of Kings and Lord of Lords! I swear to God it happened as I just told it, and it was beautiful man, just beautiful...

To me, it was Ephesians 3:20 personified... :)-->

Edited July 30, 2005 by Jonny Lingo

[moony3424]

One that stands out in my mind was the time that we didn't have any money for food. We prayed for money so that we can buy food for a few days. Then, I remember about being specific. We really didn't need the money. We needed food!! So then, I prayed for food. The next day somebody gave one of us big bags of veggies from their garden! If that wasn't God, I don't know what is?

[Allan]

God is good, no matter what the 'rationalization society' tries to say !!

Answered prayers in Employment, jobs landed without 'degrees' where at least a degree was needed.

Housing,

Health, ladies fractured wrist healed during a meeting when the teacher(!) shared record about man with withered arm.

Selinas' niece pretty much instantaneously out of a coma (shared about that before)

Too many to mention, thank God for God !!

p.s. no car miracles unfortunately !!

[Sudo]

Jonny,

I'm not really into prayer. Just telling you this on the front end so you know where I'm coming from.... Why is it that God has to be beseeched to do things? Why not just give you the car since He knows you're moving His Word for Him and all that. No prayer no action?? That always puzzled me even back when I believed in such things. -->

sudo

[fellowshipper]

Johhny jump up that is a beauteeful story. I once remember in twig a twig goer said he needed thirty bucks for a muffler. The coordinator said to him you don't need the thirty bucks you just need a muffler and the person found one used and functioning. I think we get oriented of throwing money at problems rather than getting a resolution.

[George Aar]

I was a W.O.W. twice.

We prayed for everything. Jobs, housing, a "class", jobs for "new" people, and of course the normal intercessions for health and healing.

Funny thing is, we could rationalize and say that yes, that job I finally got (that I was incredibly overqualified for) after several weeks was "God". Or the fact that we were finally able to get a POS apartment to live in - again after several weeks, was the hand of the Almighty, or any of the other stuff that we did to survive the year. Yeah, it was all God, all the time.

But you know what? Unbelieving jerk-offs manage to survive out here as well, sometimes a whole bunch better than the W.O.W.s did (often?). And they don't pray or believe at all. So how do you explain that? Oh, yeah, the rain falls on the fields of the just and the unjust as well.

So, why do anything then?

You can attribute anything you accomplish or receive as being evidence of the wages of perseverance or of intervention of the Almighty. At the end of the day, it still don't mean squat.

I always thought it funny that the most powerful being in the universe gave blessings that often had to be read with a micrometer...

(BTW, we never did run a class in 2 years of being W.O.W., and the other blessings were about as miraculous as that, as well)

[TheManOfa Thousand ScreenNames]

The only 'prayer' I got answered was the one to go home :D-->.

[johniam]

Our WOW family was f***ed up. But 3 of us made it through the year. Around July 4 we needed gas money to drive 100 miles to the limb meeting. I had just done a house gutting job for this ill tempered contractor whose wife is a Christian. This guy was something else.

We approached his house daintily. Before anyone rang the doorbell he kicked the screen door open and didn't say a word; just looked at us. I told him our situation and asked if he had the money at this time. He said no, so I, believing God would supply it another way, said OK and turned to walk away. My WOW brother, who had nothing to do with this transaction, said, "We'll take you to court!!!!!" He said to kiss his a**. We left.

The drive back to our house is 10 minutes and we didn't stop anywhere and didn't hurry. We get to our house and this guy's big wheel pick up truck is in front of our house with the motor running and he comes over to the car, says he gave the check to the guy in the house, and if we didn't get a decent meal with it he feels sorry for us, then left in a cloud of smoke. HUH?????

The guy in the house was a new grad who thought this guy was paying for the class, so the grad asked him why didn't he make the check out to the church. The contractor went ballistic because everybody in town thought us WOWs starved a lot (we didn't). I don't even know how the contractor knew where we lived. But we had plenty of gas money. Prayer answered heavy metal style.

[J0nny Ling0]

quote:

Why is it that God has to be beseeched to do things? Why not just give you the car since He knows you're moving His Word for Him and all that. No prayer no action?? That always puzzled me even back when I believed in such things. Confused

That's not a bad or irreverent question. I think it's a good one. I guess it seems to me that maybe He wants to a part of our lives and maybe He enjoys it when we approach Him for stuff. Maybe kinda like when I am glad as a Dad when my kids ask me for things and then I get to say "Yeah, here ya go, enjoy!" And then they are happy with Dad and the relationship is further enriched.

I do know that when I know that God has answered a prayer, I am further humbled and enthralled that the Almighty God, the Most Awesome One, actually cares about little bitty old me, a "most times moron" who usually blindly gropes along through life.

So, I think that the answer to your question is that it further enhances and personalizes the relationship between God and us humans. It also bolsters my confidence in Him, and helps me to trust that Life will continue to to be safe for me and my family. And it also inspires me to tell others of His goodness....

[Allan]

I see the 'rational society' arrived right on schedule !!

One thing that bugs me and the 'rationalists' haven't been able to answer this one,

Who are we, where did we come from, how did we get here, what is our purpose and where are we going ??

[wingnut]

That's "one thing"

[Tom Strange]

well... I am going out to do yard work in the Texas heat!

[gc]

I didn't go WOW, but I have a story. This happened in the 80's.

I was married to someone who wasn't a Christian. We sometimes had money problems. Once, I needed exactly $100 for a bill and I didn't have it. I've always just trusted God for what ever I needed, and I don't even remember if I prayed for the money specifically. My ex was worried about it, which I understood, so I told him that it was ok, we'd find the money, trying to keep him calm. He got angry and said something along the lines in a very loud voice; "Oh, so you think God is just going to deliver this money to us on a silver platter? Its not going to happen!!!" So I told him yes, God would. And I truly believed it at the time.

Within a week or so I got a note from a couple who were friends of mine from twi. In the note the woman told me how I had been on her mind and that she had been praying for me and here's a check for $100. Mind you, I'd told no one of my need at all. So, I took the check and the note, handed it to my husband at the time and said with a smile, "here's your silver platter". And I paid the bill on time :)-->

gc

[J0nny Ling0]

Nice story GC!! Yeah, that was The Faddah, no doubt aboout it... :)-->

[J0nny Ling0]

So, you are a Texan Thomas Strange?

[Oakspear]

"I see the 'rational society' arrived right on schedule !!

One thing that bugs me and the 'rationalists' haven't been able to answer this one,"

Hey! That's more than one thing!

"Who are we?"

Beings evolved just enough to mess things up, but not evolved enough to truly figutre out how to fix it

"where did we come from?"

We came from here

"how did we get here?"

See last answer

"what is our purpose?"

Don't believe that we necessarily HAVE one. That would imply someone GAVE us this purpose, which, IMHO, may or may not be the case

"and where are we going ??"

Wherever we choose, constrained, of course, by our own limitations and the limitations of our envirnment

[Oakspear]

quote:

Don't believe that we necessarily HAVE one(a purpose)

Which is NOT the same as not knowing what that purpose is, if there was one

[gc]

I think its ok for people to question, not that anyone has asked for my permission :)--> I question all the time now and I think its healthy, which is something I didn't do years ago. I don't believe God has a problem with us being human and acting out our humanness as he made us with a brain to wonder and question.

Thanks JohnnyL :)-->

gc

[dmiller]

quote:

Originally posted by Sudo:

Jonny,

I'm not really into prayer. Just telling you this on the front end so you know where I'm coming from.... Why is it that God has to be beseeched to do things? Why not just give you the car since He knows you're moving His Word for Him and all that. No prayer no action?? That always puzzled me even back when I believed in such things. -->

sudo

Sudo you have kids, right? Did you ever see them struggling with homework and want to help (knowing what they needed to know), but held back until they asked for the help?

Same thing. :)-->

David

[TheHighWay]

Frankly, dmiller, my answer to what you just asked Sudo is: No, I don't wait. If I see my kid struggling or in trouble, I offer help right away. And then, once the help is accepted and the problem is resolved, I remind them that this relief would have come sooner had they thought to ask and not wait until I noticed.

But the fact remains... I pay attention. And I notice. And when I notice I help. My kids, my family, the people around me. I don't wait to be asked, and I don't think I make anyone "weaker" for not waiting.

[J0nny Ling0]

And just like you, I have seen God supply, before I have asked. But for some reason, in His Word, He has told us to ask. As Jesus said;

"Ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you..."

I know that in my own life, I forhet to ask when things aren't working out and am getting frustrated, but then remember I those words, and then ask. I think God operates both ways:Supplies before we ask, but reminds us to ask when forgetting to expect His help to be forthcoming...

[Oakspear]

I don't know it was answered prayer, but just getting through our WOW year approached miraculous. :P-->

I do recall a funny WOW story that kinda relates to divine intervention:

"Leadership" decided to move us mid-year from western Nebraska, to a city more in the central area of the state. Just before we moved my WOW sister and I invited Jerry, the pastor of the local Foursquare Gospel Church over for coffee so we could say goodbye. He had been our nemesis for the first six months, but I believe a wary and grudging respect grew between him and us. (He had actually attended twigs during his college days at the University of Kansas)

Anyway, Jerry asks us if we are going to miss xxxx and xxxxx, our other two WOW family members. We looked at each other in confusion, and asked him what he was talking about. He told us that The Lord had revealed to him that xxxx and xxxxx were staying and the we were going (or maybe it was the other way around).

My WOW sister looked him right in the eye and said "Well, The Lord threw you a curve, Jerry", and proceeded to tell him what was really going on :D-->

[dmiller]

quote:

Originally posted by TheHighWay:

Frankly, dmiller, my answer to what you just asked Sudo is: No, I don't wait. If I see my kid struggling or in trouble, I offer help right away. And then, once the help is accepted and the problem is resolved, I remind them that this relief would have come sooner had they thought to ask and not wait until I noticed.

But the fact remains... I pay attention. And I notice. And when I notice I help. My kids, my family, the people around me. I don't wait to be asked, and I don't think I make anyone "weaker" for not waiting.

Highway --- point taken. :)-->

In addition to that -- I am remembering my childhood, and my father (who really does *know it all*), always waited for me to ask for help rather than just jump in and dictate.

I can see both sides of the equation. Dad noticed my struggles too, and when the problem became insurmountable enough for me to ask, he jumped right in. He was always ready and prepared to help me out.

I don't see any problem with thinking the same about the Heavanly Father, but then again (as usual) -- that is just an imo.

David

[laleo]

Oakspear, I'm probably the only one who laughed, but that was really funny. Just had to be there, maybe. Thanks for the reminder. Actually, the part I remember about it is that he wouldn't eat the donuts. It was his day to fast, or something. Now that I think about it, though, maybe the Lord and Jerry had a better idea. I would have had better memories of the year, if it had played out that way.

I've sometimes wondered about Jerry. If you could talk to him now, what would you say? Was he right?

[karmicdebt]

When I asked my Dad for help, he would take me to his library and hand me the perfect book (usually with color plates) and send me on my way. He never told me how to spell a word or what it meant. He just handed me the dictionary or thesaurus.

So I guess I asked for a fish and got a fishing pole...