Milk

Posted by Worldview Warriors On Saturday, April 2, 2011 2 comments


Since God has put my family and me on this Worldview Warriors journey, there have been plenty of times when we have wanted to say, “Enough—we’re done!” However, God keeps showing us that this is not an option. We must stay the course and continue serving Him in this way. We are called to equip not only students but also their parents to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, even if it isn’t comfortable or doesn’t bring happiness. No matter what, we are all called to rejoice and fully rely on God for our needs.

The following true story happened to us in 2009.

My family’s favorite meal is breakfast, and we especially love cereal, hot or cold. One morning my three-year-old daughter asked me for a bowl of cereal. I retrieved the bowls, spoons, and cereal and placed them all on the table. As I poured the cereal, my daughter asked for “nilk” [sic]. So I went to the fridge to get the milk, but there wasn’t any. Next I tried our beat-up, donated, second fridge in the garage to get our extra milk. (With 6 kids, we usually go through a gallon a day in our house.) Much to my chagrin, that refrigerator was also devoid of any milk.

I told my wife that I’d be walking down to the grocery store to get some milk for the morning’s breakfast.

I was taken aback by her reply, “Oh no, you can’t.”

“Why not?”

She informed me that we had no cash and no money in our checking account to write a check. We were completely broke!

(Now I just want to be clear. We have no debt whatsoever and pay all our bills on time. Doing ministry is very challenging because there are times that it seems like our needs will not be met. We do not at all live an extravagant lifestyle and often go without some basics. But our needs are always met.)

On this morning, however, I disregarded my wife’s statement. “Yeah, whatever, I’m going to get some milk.”

But she held fast, “No.”

My wife looked at my daughter and me and said, “Well, let’s pray. Let’s ask God to supply us some milk this morning.”

I’m sure my face registered cynicism—“Are you joking?,” for my wife said, “Well, Daddy, you can just stay in here and have a bad attitude, but the kids and I are going to go into the dining room and pray.”

And that is exactly what they did. My wife and children sat down together at the dining room table, praying to the God of the universe, while I stood in the kitchen like a pouting child.

Then I heard my three-year-old daughter’s small, soft voice say, “Dear Jesus, we need some nilk. Please, Jesus, get us some nilk for our cereal. We really like nilk.”

I couldn’t hold back any longer. I started sobbing and joined my family.

About five minutes into our praying for “nilk,” we heard a knock on the door. I was honestly startled and looked at my wife in shock. Surely, this couldn’t be the milk we had been praying for, could it?

We opened the door to find one of our friends. She said, “Hey everyone, we’re going on vacation to Minnesota for the next three weeks. We have some extra milk and don’t want it to go bad. Do you need some milk?”

She held up three gallons of milk in her hands.

With exclamation, we told her what had just happened, and we all rejoiced together about how God had heard our prayer and laid it on her heart to bring this over to us at that very moment.


There is no way this was just a coincidence. And there is no way other than the prompting of the Holy Spirit that she knew to bring that to us. We still praise God for this memorable display of His provision. I would love to tell you more ways that the Spirit of God has worked in my family’s life.

I hope this story encouraged you to believe that God will supply your need. If you have faith in God, live it. If you do not have faith in God, please seek Him. He’s making Himself known to you: are you listening?

As you reflect on God’s provision in your life, read Malachi 3:10 and James 5:7-12.

2 comments:

Sarah P said...

Amen! love this story! have read it a few times :)

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing.