When Bible words and events are believed as written under the direction of the Holy Spirit: when they are recognised as the Word of God and acted upon, they are no longer just ink on paper, but life-changing principles which millions will vouch for. I can.

I’m in mid-60s and have seen a lot of life, but I’ve taken the Word of God as truth, acted upon it, and I’ve seen my personal situations improve.

Since 1983 when I was in Sydney, God has blessed me beyond measure. I gave up a full-time job as a proof reader (my vocation) to do part-time caretaking with a small salary, accomm and phone included. I did it because I wanted to do street evangelism in the spare time. The job lasted five years from 1983-88. In 1985 I remarried, so financially we didn’t have much.

God says in Philippians 4:19 He will supply all our need, and for me He did. Despite the small income, in those low-paid years we both never went hungry.

People would give me money in the street, $10, $20, $50 without me asking. One evening an American I met in the street had dinner with us. When he left that night he said, “I feel God wants me to give you this” and he handed me a $100US note! The Bible says “if you draw near to God He will draw near to you.” He sure did.

In 1988 the building containing our apartment was demolished to make way for a huge redevelopment project. We then had to find rented accommodation and I had to find work.

Have you ever gone into a real estate office wanting to rent but with very little money and no job? Usually they won’t even listen, but with us the agent referred us immediately to a landlord. He looked at us and said, “So you’re church people?”

"Yes.”

That was all he needed. The house was ours. Who says God isn’t real? Very soon afterward I got work repairing car windscreens. It lasted a few weeks, then I saw an ad for a proof reader with a well-known legal publisher. It came with ketchup on the fries—holiday pay, sick pay, superannuation. I was 51 when they took me on and was there for eight years. After about four years the superannuation admin was taken over by another company and my credits literally doubled overnight. When I left after only eight years I got thousands in superannuation and thousands more from a redundancy payout (in America lay-off money).

After the caretaking position I hadn’t really wanted to work full-time again, but wanted to devote all my time to God’s work. The Lord knows best though. Thanks to the full-time work I was able to send my daughter $2,000 toward her wedding.

God blessed my wife too. She had a series of part-time jobs, then worked full-time for the Government. She got all the perks as I had. She gets a pension from the job too—for life.

We bought a house in 1993, sold it in 1999 and with the proceeds we left the big city and bought a new home. It’s up the coast near the sea in one of the best climates in Australia. It’s like California.

Now both of us have no need to work, have no debts, and though not rich we have everything we need materially. It’s a beautiful quiet neighbourhood with good neighbours all around.

Am I saying this to boast? No. God did it all. I’m merely pointing out that I believed the Bible, did something for God, and He honoured it.

My only regret is I didn’t believe for many years—wasted my youth—and my life was a mess as a result. A person without God has no invisible assets. The way to God is through Jesus. He Himself says there is no other way.

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This is Rod's "handle" and his URL is:- http://home.austarnet.com.au/jesuslives9