Our first church we ever pastored had a huge mortgage [ inherited from previous pastor], a small group and little money. Consequently every penny went into the mortgage and utilities so our standard of living was very low even after I found a job. Too many times I deprived my family just to keep the church going. A mistake many young pastors make....
Anyways, during that time our large, walk in food pantry in the kitchen of this old,100 year old house, would have more shelf space than cans of food. My wife went to the food closet one day to get a can of something to prepare a meal for us. She found one can of food remaining. Knowing we would not get any extra money for food for a while she prayed.Lynn asked God to keep food in that pantry. The next day she opened that food closet by faith....and there were some cans of food. I had not brought any home. My son, who was in school certainly did not bring any home...he hated green beans, peas, etc. For that time on God kept canned food in that pantry..even when we did not buy any. Not only that but many times we would leave for hours and come home and find boxes of food at the kitchen door. One instance we returned to find a large box of frozen fish...still frozen..on a hot summer day!!!
Several years went by and An older lady on Social Security who also was taking care of her three grandkids came crying to my wife and I. She explained that her benefits of assistance being received because of providing a home for her deserted grandkids were going to be greatly reduced. There would be no money for food for the four of them. Of course we prayed to our God to provide. God then prompted us to go to the lady's home and anoint the food pantries with oil and pray. This we did. From that time on her pantry was never without food..even after loosing her benefits. We saw this lady again long after we had left the pastorate of that church. I 'll never forget the grin on her face as she asked me " pastor, do you remember that pantry you prayed for years ago?" I replied " Well, yes!" She then exclaimed" Well pastor, It has never been empty of food..never"!!
Let me also add, the churches we pastored after that first, heavily mortgaged one, were all totally debt free......
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