I have always loved stones. I grew up in a beautiful South American city recognized as a UN heritage site, with cobblestone roads and colonial homes with handcrafted stone accents. When I was ready for the next adventure in my life, my father encouraged me to start a stone business. After a lot of thinking, praying and planning, I quit a great job leading an international commercial organization to focus on starting a stone business that could become a branch of my family’s company.
Two weeks later, God spoke to me about going to Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. I was quite confused. Even though my heart burned at the idea of dedicating nine months to pursuing God, my mind was definitely troubled at the timing. I decided to take this idea to the board of my family company, hoping they would help me straighten out my thinking. To my surprise, they not only encouraged me to go to Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, but they also suggested I get the business up and running before leaving so I would have something to return to when I finished school. School was about to start in a few short months so the idea of getting the whole business running before I left was definitely daunting. In unexplainable ways, everything fell into place. Connections were made in a fraction of the time they normally take, negotiations took place in five minutes, supply networks were built and the doors to my store were ready to open just before it was time to leave for Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry.
When I was finishing my time at school, I was reminded of how worried I had been about finances. When I left for Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry I had to sell most of my assets to cover the cost of the year. Since international students cannot work in the United States I thought I would not be able to build financially towards my future while I was in school. But after two years at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, I stood closer to God in ways I had never experienced before. I was overwhelmed by His goodness and love and realized there is no earthly possession nor price compared to my loving connection with Him. All financial worries had vanished. When it was time to return to Ecuador with my beautiful wife, surprisingly, we had more than enough, including a stone business that had been growing steadily. He never stops blowing my mind!
I was excited to rejoin my business and I carried with me a sense of purpose to bring God’s presence into my workplace. It became a journey of actively including Him in every decision, from finding the right suppliers to closing contracts.
One day, a new supplier came to us from the jungle with an exotic metallic stone we had never seen before. We decided to purchase it and display it in our retail store. Soon, it caught the eyes of architects and designers who worked for executive clients and very quickly we sold most of our supply. When our supply was almost out, an important client placed a large order. We had only half of the raw materials needed to fulfill the order. However, after talking to our jungle supplier, we secured the needed supply and closed the contract with the client. A few weeks later the supplier called and told us he would not be able to provide the stone. Environmental laws in the jungle had changed and they could no longer access the stone. We had a large order to fill and no way to get the stone we needed.
My brother Francisco, who was in charge at the time, called the family to pray and ask God for a solution from Heaven. We started to look everywhere for other suppliers but nobody had any of this unique stone. We tried to offer the client another exotic alternative, but their hearts were set on this specific stone. They asked us to send the stone we had so they could get started. I called the factory and had the team begin to cut the stone into ten-centimeter strips.
Right away the factory supervisor called my brother and said, “You need to get down here and see this! We have begun to process the stone and the product is thicker than usual. One of the workers tapped the cut pieces and they are splitting into two, sometimes three pieces, which means we won’t be needing any extra stone to finish the order.” Francisco was astounded! Unexplainably, we were able to complete the entire order with only half the materials!
It wasn’t until a couple of days later when I studied the figures I realized how God had given us a solution outside of the realm of possibility. We didn’t just have enough to complete the order, but the thicker stone meant our production costs were also considerably reduced. Through this situation He showed us how much He wants to bring His unlimited ability into our business and our everyday lives and that He has more resources than we can imagine. He is that good!
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