My Church and the Miracle Van
by Debbie Jourden
Over the 44 years that I have been a member of CRBC, there have been many occasions when my church family stepped up to help my family and me. But in 2017, they went above and beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
Because of childhood polio, I have lived life in a motorized wheelchair for the past 30 years. Because of amazing technology, I am able to drive with a handicapped equipped van. This has allowed me to live and work independently despite my disability.
In 2017, my 10-year-old van started to have major mechanical problems and needed to be replaced. My finances were very limited, and I didn’t think I knew anyone who was giving away vans. I started to ask God how He was going to work out this situation. I asked friends at church to pray with me about it. I believe one can never have too many friends praying, especially for a God-sized situation. Unknown to me, one of those praying friends asked another friend to join us in praying about the van situation.
When that friend heard the need, he believed God was giving him the answer to the prayer. He started making phone calls to many different church members explaining the need and asking if they would be able to help with a donation toward meeting the need.
Meanwhile, with the help of the young man that worked at the handicap van store, I started looking for a used van that I might be able to work into my budget. I learned later that within a week the second praying friend had received an amazingly large amount of donations. In fact, it was enough to buy a van that the person at the van store had found. The price for the van was exactly what had been donated by all those generous church members.
What an amazing God we serve! How wonderful to have praying friends, and what a wonderful gift God’s church family is! They are truly family. They love, care, help and generously give when there is a need. I am so very grateful that God led my late husband and me to CRBC in November of 1979. He knew then what help I would need and where the family was that would give that help. Thank you, LORD.
Author Bio
Debbie Jourden has been a CRBC member for 44 years. She has two adult children - one son and daughter-in-law and one son in heaven and two adult grandsons. She enjoys gardening, photography and crafting. She has taught the Soul Sisters Connection Class since 1990 and has run her own small business from home the last 24 years.