A Thanksgiving to Remember
November 22, 2018
Bill Stevens
It was Thanksgiving week of 2012, 45 miles below New Orleans, and as I lay down one night that week, I was so sick I thought I was going to die and not wake up the next morning, but the thought of my wife and our five kids without me kept me going. We were all so sick, I didn’t know if one of them wouldn’t make it through this either. We – the entire family – had been severely sick for a long time, but it kept getting progressively worse, until one of our daughters (7) had a severe seizure one Wednesday morning in October.
The ambulance carried us to the hospital and after extensive tests the panel of doctors said, there is nothing physically wrong with her, she must have been exposed to something that would cause a seizure. We asked the church to pray that night for God to show us what was wrong and what we needed to do – that night when I got home – by chance I saw a small bit of black coming from an AC vent. I pulled the cover and it was full of mold, and not only that one – every vent was full of it as far as we could see. It was toxic mold – the kind that could kill you slowly and painfully, and it was killing us.
We left that October night and stayed in a hotel, and a friend allowed us to stay in his rent house – which was an absolutely amazing place. We walked away from that house with nothing – bought two changes of clothes and threw the others away. A month later and still no answer from the insurance company, and facing Thanksgiving very ill and troubled.
There were many nights I was up crying out to God praying for Him to intervene. I didn’t know what to do. When you are barely functioning and needing wisdom to move forward, it was distressing.
But that Thanksgiving week God began to clearly move in our lives.
God gave us hope.
Out of the blue a friend called, an older pastor, mentor and prayer partner. I had wrote him and told him what was going on and how we needed urgent prayer. He called and gave us a word from God’s Word. He said, this passage has given me great comfort at different times in my life and it may be God will give you comfort through it too, Psalm 66. Strangely enough, I had been reading it that week and looking at how God delivered His people before, and that He doesn’t change. I knew God was speaking to me through His Word to give me hope. Quite a few verses stood out, but v9 that says “you kept us among the land of the living and you have not let our feet slip.” In that moment, God spoke to me and gave me a word that we would not die but He would carry us through this. Our sickness was temporary not permanent.
God helped me overcome my complaining.
I was laying in bed one night on our deluxe air mattress complaining why things were the way they were in our lives. I was having an old fashioned pity party after midnight one of those nights. It wasn’t but a couple of hours later and a church member called and said his dad was dying and asked if I could come over. I stood by a bedside of a man really dying at 3:00 that morning and with a family who was really grieving, and God spoke to me saying, “Remember your situation is temporary, you have nothing to complain about.” And embarrassed and humbly I said, “Yes, Lord.”
God gave us more hope.
The chief inspector came out to house to find the problem and saw a small vent pipe leak causing hidden mold growth throughout the house, which would lead to months later of insurance company feet dragging and eventually for them to admit that they would pay for the loss of the house.
God gave us all perspective.
As we gathered around the plastic folding Thanksgiving table and our sports chairs that was our furniture. They were grieved over loosing everything in the house – everything. If it could not go through a dishwasher, we could not clean it or keep it. The kids were upset and rightly so, but not as upset as our family friends who was my life long friend, introduced Stephanie to me, and our kids are friends with each other. They lost their 17 year old son earlier that year on the operating table to a heart birth defect. I was there with them and I have never felt grief, pain, and heaviness like that ever before – nor do I want to ever again. We gathered our kids around the table, held hands, and prayed for our friends who had a child missing from their Thanksgiving table. They would gladly trade their trouble for ours, as would so many others. Many times we need to see our troubles in light of others to help us with our perspective.
God gave me a freedom from the depression of the situation.
I was alone late another night that week. Every moment of the day was a challenge to have a good attitude and trying to shepherd our kids in the right direction. Some days I failed miserably. I was praying that night to get out of this funk, and as I was praying I remembered the only way to get out from under my circumstances was to get my eyes on Someone greater than everything going on in my life, King Jesus. So I began to focus my thoughts on God and began to praise Him for who He is, and His greatness, His goodness, His love and care for me and my family. I still remember that night vividly and my time of praise of Him – it freed me deeply from a dark cloud surrounding me and keeping me from seeing that God is sooo much bigger than anything I will ever face, and He could stop it in a moment.
God gave me a word for the future as I was praying that same night.
That same night in praise during Thanksgiving week 2012, I began to write down everything I thought God was telling me to do and I needed to do. Two very heavy things on me were to start our own ministry and to develop a mailing list. I didn’t know what that meant and didn’t realize it until much later, the Summer of 2016 when we knew God was calling us to plant churches that would plant other churches in northern Colorado.
God gave us hope to endure.
God kept speaking to me in Psalm 66 especially in verses 10-12. “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.” Psalm 66:10–12 (ESV)
The next five years was going to be an endurance test of numerous hardships that would solidify our faith in God’s active presence in our lives. We saw Him do amazing things for us, but it was difficult. October 2012 began a series of unfortunate events for the next 23 months including losing everything we owned twice in 12 months, sleeping on air mattresses/mattresses on the floor in one room for 14 months, homeless for 9 months, and then unemployed for one year ending in September 2014. The trouble was far from over, but we knew God was with us and that was enough.
Bad stuff and good stuff happens to everyone, but God is always there no matter what is happening.
“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!” (Psalm 66:16–20, ESV)
So we are now starting a church in Loveland Colorado focused on Giving Hope.
Why? We know what it feels like to not have it and that is a terrible place to be, and we believe everyone – every family no matter their social status could use a little more hope. Everyone has troubling times – some times it is for long seasons, but God wants to carry you and your friends through those times.