Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
I often think that if we took the time to write the things that we realize the Lord has done for us it would fill a book; now how about the things that we overlook?
Reading the testimonies on your website, I often say “I really should send in a few of my own, as God has been so good to us.” As Brother Branham said in Testimony on the Sea, “After you've had a meeting, something has happened, thrills you, you must testify about it. You've got to tell somebody about it.”
Well here is something that happened to our little family recently. In the spring, our neighbor got a puppy from an animal rescue group. I could see right away that he grew quite attached to the dog, as he spent a lot of time playing with him throughout the summer and rarely went out for a drive without the dog riding as co-pilot in the front seat.
A week ago, while my neighbor was driving downtown there was car accident in front of his SUV. While he was attempted to stop to avoid the accident the dog got scared and jumped out the window of the vehicle. In the confusion, the dog ran off and was not to be found. Our neighbor spent the next two days looking for the dog, hanging posters, and calling dog pounds in surrounding towns, all with no success.
A week went by, and every so often I would ask my kids, “Did Matt find his dog?” Every time it was the same answer: “Nothing yet Dad.” Well, slowly the Lord started working on my heart. “Why don’t you ask Me for help?” Many times, neighbors see that you live a bit different, but we don’t take the time or the initiative to tell them what really makes us different. May God help us to change that.
Well on the seventh day, I came in from hunting that morning and asked the question again; “Any sign of Buddy?” The answer came quickly, “Nothing yet.” I knew it was time to act on that pull that was down in my heart, and I finally said, “It’s time to take it up a level.” We gathered the family in the kitchen and pulled out one of the Jesus checks from the book Brother Joseph sent us, and I wrote on out, “Bring Buddy Home,” and then put it up on the refrigerator. Then we all held hands in the kitchen and committed it to the Lord in prayer.
About a half hour later, I left the house as I had a picnic that I was invited to attend. I was about two miles from my house when the car in front of me slowed. When I looked, I could see there was a black dog standing in the road. I could hardly believe my eyes, as it looked a lot like Buddy! As I approached, the dog ran off in the woods. So I pulled over to call the dog, but he was gone. As I started back to my house to tell my neighbor that I saw his dog, my wife and kids were coming down the same road, so we all stopped to discuss what I just saw. Now they started getting really excited, and within a minute, we were all outside walking around, calling Buddy!
A minute later my neighbor Matt drives up and we ask him, “What are you doing over here?” He said, “Someone just called him and said they saw Buddy in the area.” This gave me an opportunity to confirm that Buddy was indeed in the area, and also testify of what was taking place that morning.
For the next hour we circled the area looking for Buddy, but with no success. Then something said to my heart “What was your request?” After a minute of thinking it was just a thought, it was stronger “What was your request?” Now I knew God was talking to me, so I thought, “What was my request?” It was, “ Bring Buddy HOME.” I knew at that point, God was going to finish on His own that which He had started. A few minutes later, when I saw my neighbor, I told him that God would take care of it, and we needed to go to rest on the matter. He agreed (with a rather confused look on his face), and we all went home.
The rest of the day, I really didn’t think much on it as my family and I had plans, and we were away from home. But upon our return that night, we received a knock on the front door. Our neighbor’s girlfriend was on the porch and started telling me that she received another call that evening from someone in the area, saying that they also saw Buddy. After another unsuccessful search, she returned home only to walk in the back yard and call Buddy’s name out in desperation. To her surprise, within a couple of minutes, Buddy came running home though the woods and was finally home. For the next few minutes I was able to testify to her and her mother on my front porch as she wept clutching the Jesus check to her chest.
Now our prayer is that Jesus calls her and her boyfriend to Him, just as He called Buddy home. Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever.