In the Fall of 1974, George and I had been married a few weeks when we faced our first major need. We were conducting Kids Crusades in beautiful Northern New England–Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire when one of the pastors in Maine had to cancel our scheduled crusade at his church leaving us with an open week. With money in short supply, we knew we would need God’s help to see us through. As you will see in this account He proved Himself strong and true to us and a God of detail and precision timing to us.
At our last crusade, when the pastor had given us our check, he handed us another check for $40.00 saying a member of his church had felt impressed of God give it to us. The pastor said he felt like God wanted him to give us $5.00. Since Maine at the time was 45th in the nation on the wage scale, with most of the people making less than $100.00 per week, it meant that these extra offerings were a sacrifice for these two men. We were comforted to know God would bless and honor them for their obedience. In a short while I reached for our camera to take a picture and found that someone had neatly folded and inserted a $5.00 bill where the flash bulb goes.
We began checking motels in the area and found the rates were much higher than we could afford for the seven nights lodging we would need. Standing in the parking lot of a motel in Waterville, ME, with rates we couldn’t afford, we agreed together in prayer for God’s divine direction. George said God had impressed on him we would know it was the right motel when we were offered a rate of $8.00 per night. I absolutely couldn’t imagine such a thing happening since the lowest rates we had found so far had been $12.00. (The rates seem shockingly low by today’s standards). We decided to head toward our next crusade in Madison, ME and see if God’s answer was in that direction. A short distance from Skowhegan, ME, as we drove along, I noticed a small five room motel named Whispering Pines and yelled—“that’s it”. I just knew it–somehow I knew that was IT. We had gone past it and had to go back. When George spoke with the owner about their rates, he quoted a rate of $10.00 per night. He then ask if he would offer a better rate for staying seven nights. The answer was yes, $50.00 for the seven nights. We worshiped the Lord for His gracious care for us. The unexpected extra $50.00 given to us in our last crusade had come just in time to meet our need.
George ask the motel owners if they minded taking a lot of change—quarters—for part of the payment, explaining that we had a sock filled with quarters. The motel owners were ecstatic—unknown to us, they happened to save quarters throughout the year every year to fund their vacations. I was taken with how God takes care of details that might seem insignificant, but yet they show His special care—His trademark—He not only blessed us, but the motel owners with which we were doing business. All of it together couldn’t have dovetailed so beautifully except God orchestrated it.