The Gift of Faith Grew From a Tiny Mustard Seed

This coming year, each day, give the gift of the mustard seed. Give the gift of faith and you will be surprised by the harvest, by what God can do with a tiny act of charity and a few prayers.

A Mustard Seed Story

I was second-guessing myself. Driving to meet someone in a parking lot; a person I’d never met and wondering if I’d made a mistake. Clothes which my daughter had outgrown were to be donated. In my town, there is a social media site for those in need and those who want to give or lend a helping hand. I posted about the clothes, and she wasn’t the first one in line to respond, but she was the first to send me a private message about it. Did I short someone? Should I have contacted the first who voiced the need? Putting everything in God’s hands, I trusted I was doing the right thing, and also that He would keep me safe. I pulled into the apartment complex, parked, and messaged the woman that I would be waiting outside.

Soon a woman in her late 20’s came to meet me with a daughter of 10 excitedly at her heels. Barely had I gotten the bags out when this sweet little girl received them and towed them up to her third-floor apartment to her siblings where they could divvy up who would get what dress.

I Offered to Pray

As I stood there in the parking lot I had the thought to ask the mother if there was anything I could pray about for her. God has been putting this on my heart lately and the worst a person could say is ‘no’. This dear soul (I’ll call her K) had a list which opened up to a life-changing conversation.

K told me she needed help with her kid’s school work, a vehicle that would run (the battery had been dead for some time), a job she could work from home, and for her good health (she’d been having seizures). She had left a bad relationship and with her four children had been homeless and living out of her SUV, but now she had an apartment, just in time for the cold weather, and was so very grateful.

A Mustard Seed- A Miraculous Medal

The thing that struck me the most about K is that she said she wouldn’t take that time of homelessness back for anything. It taught her she didn’t need abusive people in her life and she was capable of taking care of herself and her kids. I said, “K, you don’t know you’re worth do you.” She looked at me with tears and said she didn’t. I let her know how much value she had and that God loved her so very much. Searching in my purse for a blessed Miraculous Medal I wanted to give her left me empty-handed. I wasn’t sure where I had them and told her when I saw her again I’d make sure I had it for her. As I left, I promised her my prayers, and I meant it.

Keeping in Touch

Many weeks later I thought I’d follow up on K and her list of prayer requests. Things were looking up she said, but did I know of any program to help out for her kids for Christmas? I found it was a bit late for that so I put the word out to some prayer warrior friends and very soon there were gifts from some very fine ‘elves’ and all of her children were taken care of. When we dropped the gifts off to K, the last gift was for her. I took out the Miraculous Medal to give her and told her whenever she looked at it, she would know I was praying for her. With tears in her eyes, she thanked and hugged us.

We left feeling as if we had been the ones gifted.

Answered Prayer

Not many days after leaving K I received a call from one of my prayer warriors. It seemed he knew some people who could help get her SUV going. We got it towed but once the mechanic took a look at it, it was clear this was not a safe vehicle for mother or child; it needed to go to the junkyard. But, God had his hand in all the workings; all of the people involved in making Christmas one to be remembered not only by the children but even more profoundly for K. It seemed they just ‘happened’ to have a minivan they were looking to donate for a local family in need. To say K was overwhelmed would be a major understatement.

Having arranged for someone to watch her children, K and I had some moments to ourselves to talk as I drove her to the mechanic’s place. Much to my surprise and delight, K told me how she had sat and cried the night before, happy tears, and that she just held on to that Miraculous Medal. She didn’t know how to pray; didn’t know what to say, but she cried her heart out. She then fell to very restful sleep and woke up feeling changed. Nothing K could put into words, nothing she could express over any text message could explain how she felt. For the first time, she knew God is looking out for her and hears her. In the past, her mother had told her she just needed the faith of a mustard seed. Oh, how right she was.

A Mustard Seed of Faith

This Christmas wasn’t the toys for her kids or even the minivan that was the greatest gift of all. It was a little blessed medal, a seed planted in K’s heart, and an army of people praying for her and her children. The other gifts were just a vehicle God used to get the conversation going and the question asked. “Is there anything I can pray for you about?”

Matthew 17:20 “… Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”