The other day I read a great post on the ACFW southeast loop from Crystal Sandow of God’s provision for the ACFW Conference.

I am always so inspired by stories of God’s love, provision and deliverance, healing.

So, I asked Crystal if she’d share her story here with y’all.

If you want to go to the fall ACFW conference. Or if you are just needing the Lord to meet a need, ignite your faith!

And read on!

My heart to write was stirred long ago. But in my early twenties, the Lord asked me to set it aside. To wait.

So I did.

For nearly 14 years I waited. Then one day last year I heard a whisper in my heart. “Now. It’s time…” With a tiny thrill, I began to write.

I discussed it freely with my Lord. I had no ambitions, simply a compelling need to put words and story onto paper, regardless of the outcome.

The more I wrote, the more I sought to understand the writing world.

There were conferences? Oh my! My heart was entangled in my writing and I wanted to do more, know more, learn everything I could. Maybe the Lord had different plans for me than I’d originally thought.

I prayed about it. I talked to my husband, my parents. There was no way I could afford to go the conference, but I had begun to feel I was supposed to go. So I kept praying. And kept writing.

I gained a deep peace that if the Lord truly wanted me there, He had a plan; but if not, it was okay. There was no budget we could tweak to make that amount of money appear in our account, so I started squirreling away extra cash in a small container.

That little box of cash…well, it was very slow in the filling. And often there was something that took precedence so I’d pull twenty bucks out, maybe more. It’s what I had to do; I heard the still, quiet voice of the Lord telling me not to put my trust in that stash. He had a plan.

And so it went. Waiting. Trusting. Believing. And yes, sometimes being discouraged.

A couple of weeks ago, I began filling out the registration form for the conference. I had a stirring of excitement that compelled me to do it. I wanted to see the details, the options, all of it. A few days later there was a huge sale on flights and my husband told me to buy one. It took very little arm twisting.

It was a leap of faith for me, though – I still couldn’t see the rest of the money arriving mysteriously.

We put a tentative plan in place. Again I was reminded that if God wanted me there, He could make anything happen. Amazingly, I had more peace after I paid for that flight than before. He surely has something in mind….!

Five days later, on a miserable, tantrum-laden Monday, I checked the mail, mostly to escape the craziness inside for 30 seconds. A couple of envelopes were unfamiliar. One was just an insurance statement. But the other was different.

Suddenly I was holding a check we weren’t expecting. My heart skittered in my chest as I called my husband on his way home. His excitement nearly matched mine. “You know what this means? You can go to the Writer’s Conference!” The Lord had provided every dime of the funds I needed!

I still don’t know the fullness of His plans. But He set me on this path, so I will gladly follow…

A lifelong lover of books, c. joy allen also loves playing with words on paper (or laptop). She lives near Atlanta, GA with her husband and four kids – who keep her constant company by homeschooling year round. It is c. joy’s hope that she can express the nature of Christ each day in her roles as wife, mother, friend and writer; for without Him, she is nothing.