After finishing a year of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, my wife and I needed to get back to England with our seven children.
We had felt that the Holy Spirit was highlighting the date of May 15 for us to travel. We had no flights booked, but we prepared to travel on that date as if we did. We packed up all our belongings and got a ride to the Oakland airport in time for our preferred flight that day. We entered the airport with all our stuff and waited in line, then asked if there were tickets left. The airline employee told us she couldn’t help us unless we already had a booking, because no bookings could be made in the airport.
We then walked around the airport praying and making declarations, wondering what to do next. After we had definitely missed the flight, we took all our bags and walked back to the van to load up. It was a very difficult moment. We were able to get rooms at the Home of Peace in Oakland, and found out that many of our revivalist heroes had stayed in those rooms, and that it was a place my wife and I had dreamed of visiting! This was the beginning of the most beautiful revealing of surprises from God over the next 48 hours.
The next day we didn’t know what to do, but we couldn’t deny the sense that God was working in our circumstances. We went to the chapel as a family and worshipped, danced, and prayed. It felt like we were crushing fear and doubt.
That afternoon, we met a couple who had just arrived at the Home of Peace. I felt prompted to introduce myself. They were an older couple who had almost twice as many kids as us, and we had a very encouraging conversation. They prayed powerfully for us as parents.
A couple of hours later they drew my wife and me aside and told us they wanted to pay for our flights home to England. They handed us their credit card and told us to book them then and there! 10 minutes later they were all booked – costing over $3,000. It was quite overwhelming to receive such generosity from a couple we had just met! We were quite at the end of our resources and would not have been able to afford that ourselves, but we were believing God would make a way for us, and He did!
God continued to give us sweet surprises. Our flight was delayed by an hour, and when we were getting into our van slightly later because of it, the great grandson of Carrie Judd Montgomery turned up. As one of the revivalists from Defining Moments who impacted me most, it was a very sweet moment for me. I asked him to pray over us as a family, and it was powerful! The delayed flight also meant we had time to visit the Golden Gate Bridge, which was another dream we’d not gotten around to. At the airport we were expedited through every line until we were on the plane, which was another huge blessing to us with so many kids.
This whole thing has reinforced again for us just how GOOD God is, and also the need to persevere when things don’t quite go as you expect. Just hold on, don’t give up. His deliverance may just be around the corner, even after you think you’ve failed.
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