Cookies and other miracles

Heidi Baker, a missionary from Mozambique, shared with our schools this week. One of her stories was about a cookie miracle that took place. When she was ministering in a very poor area, cookies and juice were served to the children in there, and somehow it multiplied so much that they were able to have juice and cookies for three days! How sweet of God to provide such luxuries in such an impoverished region of the world.

It was a bit ironic that we were served cookies on our break that day. Because it was corporate week on campus, every school had gathered in the Ohana court to hear the speakers for that week. There were well over 500+ people in the room. As the servers in the kitchen surveyed the crowd, they realized they had underestimated how many people were there. Initially they decided to tell people only to take one cookie each. After hearing Heidi's story, though, they decided it wouldn't be right to tell people to only have one. So they prayed over the cookies, and began to set up for the break. No one knew about the shortfall, so several began taking more than one cookie. Tom, one of the leaders who knew about the shortage, stood by as he watched grown men walk away with four different cookies - one of each kind! And so it continued, as each person took their fill. By the end of the break, they were passing the trays around to try to give away the leftovers! As Heidi said, it's not either-or, it's both and more. We receive the basics of salvation and God's goodness, and we also delight in the small things He gives. His love is extravagant!

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The following evening, an offering was taken to raise funds to send missionaries overseas for a year. The goal was to raise $10,000. Each person was to ask God what to give and respond accordingly. I was actually picking up the girls from their classes, so I wasn't there to witness what happened next, but Carlie, our sweet nanny, shared with me from her perspective:

         When I prayed, I heard - Give all the cash in your wallet. Since I didn't have my wallet with me, I ran to my room to get it. On the way, I remembered the sixty dollars I had just pulled out for necessities. When I got to my room and opened my wallet, though, I only found three dollars. Three dollars? Oh yeah, I just went to the store the other day... but I felt like I was supposed to give all the cash in my wallet, so I'll give...

 

And even though it was three dollars instead of sixty, she gave it. At the end of the night, after the money had been received and counted, someone stood and announced that they had received ten thousand dollars and seven cents - $10,000.07 exactly! What a story! I was blessed to hear that even though the amount she intended to give was bigger than what she actually had, she still obeyed. Her obedience, coupled with that of every person present that night, equaled the exact amount needed.
Amazing, huh? I thought so...