by Daniel Fazzina I love how God works. He often surprises and delights me by connecting me with people in ways that I know are totally by His design. One such experience with a divine appointment that really amazed and encouraged me happened in 2009. My bride, Sahani, and I attended church at Calvary Fellowship, our local congregation at the time in West Hartford, Connecticut. Pastor Bill, who is a great teacher with a fun personality and quirky sense of humor, gave a challenging sermon on living out our faith in Christ. His sermon text was taken from the Book of James in the Bible, where James admonishes his readers to not just have faith, but to demonstrate their faith by putting it into action. While being careful to acknowledge that our salvation as Christians is a gift from God, obtained through faith, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9), Pastor Bill pointed out some pretty challenging things that James says, like, “Faith alone, if it is not accompanied by works, is dead. You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe there is one God; you do well. The demons also believe, and tremble (James 2:17-19).” And, “If any among you seems religious but does not control his own tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion before God is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world (James 1:26-27).” I believe the point of all this is that if we are truly saved, and are following Jesus, there should be some evidence of this by how we live our lives. There is a big difference between people who merely believe in Jesus, and people who actually follow Him. As Pastor Bill taught us these Scriptures, he told a story about how God had tested him with this concept that very week, as he was preparing his sermon. Apparently, God frequently does this to poor Pastor Bill. I guess He doesn’t want him teaching a message he hasn’t lived. I love that about God, and that Pastor Bill is such a good sport about it. In any event, one day during the week, as Pastor Bill was working in the church office, which is located on the second floor of a commercial building, he saw an elderly woman struggling her way up the stairs. After what he said was a really long time, the woman finally made it up to the top of the stairs and Pastor Bill came out to see if he could help her. He could see that she looked totally lost and confused. She said that she was looking for her doctor’s office, but it turned out she had the wrong address. Of the several businesses located on that floor with the church office, none were doctor’s offices. When she learned that she was in the wrong place, she was disappointed because her bus had just left, and she was stuck there. Pastor Bill invited her in for something to drink and said something to the effect of, “Don’t worry. I’ll call the bus company and have them send another bus and get you on your way.” There was another lady from one of the other businesses that had come out into the hallway and talked to them, and when she realized what had happened to the woman, said, “Well, if we call the bus company, by the time they get another bus out here for you, you’ll miss your appointment. Why don’t I just take you?” At that point, Pastor Bill was embarrassed, and was trying to stand in front of the huge Calvary Fellowship banner on the wall and hide it from their view. He knew right then that he was being tested. He was convicted in his spirit, and challenged the congregation to not miss the opportunities that God gives us to be blessings in other people’s lives. I so appreciated Pastor Bill’s openness and vulnerability in sharing this story with us. He challenged the congregation to make a commitment during the next week to do something tangible to put our faith into action, and to let him know we were doing that by writing it down on our “connection cards” and turning it in at the end of the service, along with any prayer requests. I checked off that box on my connection card, and asked God to help me put my faith into action this week. The very next day, Monday morning, I was leaving for Long Island, and on the way, I had to stop by the hospital where my wife worked to give her something, which I normally do not do. I pulled up to the hospital, and as I was waiting in the parking lot for my wife to come outside to the car, I heard a knock on my window. I looked up, and there was an elderly black woman standing there beside my car. I rolled down the window, and she smiled and said through a thick African accent, “Excuse me, I am waiting for an angel.” I had to almost do a double take and say, “Excuse me?” as I was shocked to hear this come from her mouth, to say the least. She started to tell me that her son had dropped her off for a doctor’s appointment, but that it turned out that there was a mix up with the dates… her appointment was tomorrow, not today. Her son had already left with her car to go to a job, and she didn’t have any cash for the bus. So she started telling me that she prayed to God to send her an angel to take her home. I was immediately struck with a sense of God’s irony, and I just knew that it was no coincidence that I happened to just pull up there. “Well, I’m no angel,” I said, “But I’ll help you out. Where do you live?” “Manchester,” she replied. We introduced ourselves and I helped her get her bags into my car and she climbed in, very appreciative and thankful. Her name was Elizabeth. When my wife came out, she was surprised to see her in the car with me. I briefly explained the situation and that I was going to give Elizabeth a ride home. On the way to Elizabeth’s house, which was about 15 minutes away, she began to tell me that she really believes that angels walk the earth, and that she believes in miracles. She said she had asked someone else for a ride, and tried to explain her situation, but that the person did not understand her and rudely drove away. She said, “Well, Lord, I guess that one was not meant for me.” Then she saw me pull up and came over to ask me, and knew that I was God’s sent angel to her. I recognized her accent and asked her if she was from Uganda. She was surprised, and she asked me how I knew that. I told her that I have a good friend who is from Uganda, and that she sounded just like him. As we rode along, she shared with me how she had raised her children by herself, and struggled to send them to the U.S. to have a better life, and how God was with her through out it all, doing many miracles along the way, including how he provided them all with visas to come to the U.S. She showed me some of the Bible study materials she was reading, and she had a confident knowledge that God had sent me to her. She commented again on how she believed that our meeting was a miracle. Then she said something that really struck me. She said, “People tell me I should write a book. I have had so many interesting experiences. I haven’t had time to write it, and anyway, I have never met a writer that could show me how.” I said, “Well… I’m a writer. I published a book.” She said, “You wrote a book?” “Yes. As a matter of fact, I just happened to have written a book about God’s miracles.” This time she was shocked. She asked me how that came about, and told her how God had healed me of cancer, and how that had led me to collect miracle testimonies of my friends and compile them into a book. “I would very much like to read that book,” she said. I told her I would send her a copy. “It’s interesting that you were healed of cancer,” she said, “Because the lady I take care of has cancer. We pray for her, and she is doing much better.” Elizabeth then went on to tell me about a relative of hers who works in an embassy in Tanzania, who was diagnosed with cancer. She said she is a very prayerful and faithful woman, and had flown all the way from Africa to Connecticut to have some tumors removed from her abdomen. When the doctors here were going to operate, they took some scans and the tumors were not there. She was miraculously healed and no surgery was necessary! She is now starting a church in Tanzania. “I would very much like to talk to her!” I said. When our ride was over, and I pulled up to her apartment and helped her unload her bags, her daughter came out of the house, surprised to see her mom with me. She said, “What happened? I was waiting for your call to come and pick you up.” Elizabeth replied with a calm confidence, “Oh, I didn’t want to bother you. I prayed, and God sent me an angel.” We exchanged contact information, and I left feeling God’s presence, totally in awe of how God orchestrates things and answers prayers. Thank You, Lord for answering my prayer and giving me an opportunity to put my faith into action, and for blessing me abundantly as I did! *Editor’s note – Since this incident, Elizabeth and I have kept in touch. She connected me with her relative, Violet, from Tanzania, who graciously allowed me to feature her miracle healing testimony in “Divine Intervention – Amazing True Stories of God’s Miracles Today – Volume II.” About a year later, Violet and I spoke again, and she related to me how she was a bit sad and missed her homeland, but was not able to go and visit because she didn’t have a green card. She explained that she had been waiting for her green card to come since 1997 - about twelve years at that point. She had even hired two different lawyers over the years, and had spent nearly ten thousand dollars between the two of them, and still no green card. She was despondent and nearly without hope that it would ever come. So, we prayed together on the phone and asked our heavenly Father to provide, and make a way for Elizabeth’s green card to come through. Don’t you know, she called me back about a week later, exuberant that her green card arrived in the mail, out of the blue! After over a decade of waiting, it had “miraculously” arrived several days after we prayed! We were both blown away, and totally in awe of our awesome God! How good is God? About Daniel Fazzina: Mr. Fazzina’s professional background is in media production. His experience includes hosting radio shows, editing music videos, directing a short film, and award-winning commercials. He also served as a board member of St. John’s University’s chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, where he earned his B.S. in Communication Arts in 1998. After studying in Spain, Italy, and France, and doing missionary work in the Dominican Republic, he has gained a broadened appreciation for different peoples, languages, and cultures. His radio program, “The Divine Intervention Show,” can be heard on Sundays at 10 p.m. on its flagship station, Hope Radio in New York, on various other radio stations across America, and on the Internet at divineinterventionradio.com. Daniel's own personal testimony of miraculous healings - one from a painful chronic back condition in 2001, and one from a massive, cancerous tumor in 2002, led him to start the Divine Intervention Radio show and book series, in which he interviews intriguing people who have experienced the hand of God in Amazing ways. His additional interests include Biblical apologetics, alternative fuel technologies, networking, reading, writing, economics, cryptozoology, and creation science. Everyday Miracles Pay Homage to Divine Intervention
God’s hand at work in the world, evidenced by powerful personal testimonies
1 comments:
I believe in Angel's, because my best friend always shows up or calls me on the phone when I am in a switch or in need to talk with someone without him knowing anything.
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