The Lord Will Provide – Testimony

In Genesis 22 vs 1- 14 we read of Abraham’s intention to be obedient to God and prepare to sacrifice his much beloved son Isaac. When God provided an alternative sacrifice Abraham called the place Jehovah-Jireh – “The Lord Will Provide”.  If we look at the Latin root of the word provide it explains in more detail just how wonderfully God provides for us. Pro means “before” and video means “to see”. So it means to see in advance or before the need is known. God sees the end from the beginning and He is preparing an answer before we know that it is a need.

Recently we’ve seen some great examples of God providing for the needs of his children amongst the congregation here at South Chard and never has the fact that God sees the end from the beginning been evidenced more strongly than in the recent life of Andy Ellis.

Around 12 months ago Andy, his wife Lou and their five young children were living in Bishop’s Stortford on the Hertfordshire/Essex border.  Andy had been brought up as a Christian, but as a successful salesman in his early 30’s had fallen away and saw no need for God in his life.  However, things began to change for the family when, out of the blue one lunchtime, Andy had a stroke and woke up in hospital paralysed down one side of his body.  Although he has since made a full recovery he lost his job and thus began a downward slide over which Andy felt he had little control.  The loss of his salary inevitably put a strain on the Ellis’ finances and further stress was caused by one of their sons being bullied at school.  The school did little to counteract the bullying and emotionally the atmosphere at home began to suffer and Andy and Lou’s marriage hit a bad patch.

Andy did what many men in his situation would do and turned to drink.  Finding work in a local pub did little to help the family, but did quite a bit to help Andy’s increasing dependency on alcohol.  By January 2011 Andy was depressed, drinking heavily and forty thousand pounds in debt.

Realising he had to do something to get out of an increasingly desperate situation he decided to move the family to Chard to be near his old friend Neil Reid, pastor of South Chard Church.  At this stage Andy didn’t really have any intention of turning his life back to Christ , or of joining the church.  In fact he’d been asking Neil for advice and not always getting the advice he wanted!  But something was drawing him to Chard.

Three weeks before the end of the school academic year Andy suffered another set-back by being made redundant.  He and Lou knew that if they wanted to move and live in Chard they would have to find a house quickly in order to get the children into local schools in the next academic year, so Andy got up one morning and said to Lou: “I’m going to Chard to get us a house.”  He continues the story; “my faith was actually at an all time low. I actually wondered if me and Lou were going to split up, but I went anyway.”  With just enough money in his pocket for a coach ticket to Chard and a £5 for food he set off and once here found nothing but rejection.  “I walked into every Estate Agent and Letting Agent in Chard and got no at every turn.”  Despondent, dripping wet and on his last legs, Andy returned to one Estate Agency that had already rejected him for one last go.  “I told the woman on the front desk my story.  She checked her records and apologised but said that they had already rejected me once. Resigned to failure I went across the road to the pub to spend my fiver on a sandwich before the journey home. “

Then something miraculous happened.  Whilst he was sitting eating his sandwich, the Manager of the Agency came in, found him and said: “I don’t know what you said to my secretary, but she’s made me come over here and offer you a house!”  Without even insisting on a deposit the Manager told Andy he could have the house on a gentleman’s agreement and they shook on it.

Andy was on cloud nine as he returned to Bishop’s Stortford and began the process of moving his family to Somerset. Then they found they were £2,000 short of the moving fees, but Andy thought in his heart that moving was the key to getting his marriage back together and he began to think God might be in it somewhere.  He says; “I kept saying – ‘God will provide’ – but I don’t think I really believed it myself.  I had very negative perceptions of Christians and God and kept expecting God to hand me a bill at some point.”  However, he prayed and asked God to provide the £2,000 needed.  “Almost immediately I got an answer from God saying the key to getting your finances together is to stop smoking.  I wasn’t happy about that.  I’d rather He’d suggested I give up eating sprouts, but I got all my cigarettes, ashtrays etc and immediately threw them away.  I sat back and thought the money would pour in.”

What happened in the next week would test Andy a little further.  Instead of money what did pour in were rejections from Andy and Lou’s applications for grants and loans to help them move.  “We did car boot sales and lost money,” smiles Andy.  “It really wasn’t going the way I thought!”

With just eight days to go before they were due to move Andy began to think the worst and thoroughly expected it all to fall through. Then he got a call from his dad, a committed Christian.  His dad said he’d been reading in the book of Ruth about caring for your kin and he realised that Andy was not only his flesh and blood son, be he was also his family in the body of Christ. So he and Andy’s mum had committed to take their tithes and pay them not to their local church, but instead to Andy and his family until they could get themselves sorted.  As his dad had been explaining this to his other son Andy’s brother, his brother had let out a gasp of excitement.  He’d just received a cheque for rent money owed to him on a flat he’d rented out about five years’ previously and when it had come in he’d said to his wife; ‘Let’s use this to bless someone as it’s unexpected money we didn’t know we had’ and so he gave the cheque to Andy.  The amount?  £2,000.

The family moved into their new house in Chard on 10^th August. The children are well settled at school and loving it, making friends and being invited to sleepovers. Andy re-committed his life to Christ at the beginning of the Thrive School of Ministry – a three month course of learning and serving put together for South Chard Church – of which Andy is one of the first students. He says; “I feel really positive and I’ve not felt like that for ten years.  I now have no doubt that God will provide.  I was used to being the big man – the most successful salesman at my company – but I can take absolutely no credit for how God brought us to this place.  The whole thing has been signed, sealed and delivered by God.  I don’t have anything at the moment, but God has planned it that way.  He wants me empty handed because then He can use me.”