God does indeed answer prayer.
At the beginning of one summer, I sat in my tan Toyota van in front of my house and told my heavenly Father in private that I needed $2000 to get through the summer. I calculated that I would need that amout to pay the mortgage (long since paid off) and asked that He would have someone send us a check for exactly that. I knew it was coming. Within 2 weeks, out of the blue, I received a check from a deaf Aunt in Ottawa. Yes, it was for exactly $2000.
A year later, my Toyota van (272 K ) began giving me serious problems. I spent $1500 in the summer trying to get to the bottom of them. No luck. As I was driving and conking out on the way to work in September I saw a beautiful gray van passing me by. I pointed to it and asked the Father for one just like that one. Since I did not have a cent left in the bank I told God that He knew I used my vehicles for His glory and asked Him supply me the van without depleting my bank account 1 cent. I had faithfully and regularly given to the poor and now I was poor and needing help. So I knew God would not deny my request.It's called, back-to-the-wall faith.
The next day as I drove my son to college I told him what I had asked God for and how much it was going to cost me (i.e. nothing). After he snickered a little I told him that God didn't have a choice in the matter. Call it presumption if you will; but I knew in my spirit what moves the hand of God. That was Wednesday. On Saturday morning my wife said to me, "Vander, you need a reliable car to get to work; what are we going to do?" . Watch God's timing here. As the words, "I don't know" crossed my lips the phone rang. It was a fellow teacher of the disabled from another school though; an agnostic. "Vander", she said, "I hear you need a new car". Yes, I replied, not knowing how she knew. "Well", she said, "I have $10,000 for you and it is not a loan." She gave me a check for that amount. Coincidentally, another lady at work did not like her (gray) Toyota van that looked like it just got off the showroom floor and sold it to me for under $10,000 even after taxes insurance and registration.
By the way; God repays those who bless His children; at my insistence, this agnostic lady (Eleanor) applied for and received $25,000 severance instead of another teacher who was also applying for this same severance package. Years later I received a phone call from the Royal Victoria hospital telling me Eleanor was failing. As I drove to the hospital...in the van she had in effect purchased for me, I prayed, "Father, I have tried to talk to Eleanor about Jesus, but she has never been receptive. She has been a blessing to me and to our family, taking our home-schooled children on fieldtrips, inviting the deaf and blind to her home....so what can I say to her on her deathbed?" God spoke clearly to my spirit, "Tell her exactly what you just told me" When I arrived, Eleanor's face lit up. I told her how she had blessed others and that now God wanted to bless her back and make her a part of His family. I asked her if she wanted to pray with me...and for the first time, she agreed and we prayed together.
She passed away within 48 hours.
