God's Table

Jader and I had been looking for a table for quite sometime. We would eat while sitting in folding chairs and were becoming experts at avoiding food spillage in our laps. We even took a day off of work (we have a work schedule with specific hours) in order to look for a table. We began to see that even though we are in a developing country things can be expensive. The cheapest table we could find was for $120 and it was small and not very good quality. We found this table at the Nicaraguan market called the Oriental where you find the best deals around. The other tables in department stores ranged from $300 to $600 and it was not in our "table budget." So, that night after looking and not feeling led in any specific direction Jader said "Julie, we just really need to pray." So, we took some time to pray together.

The following day, in the evening, we were returning from a Bible Club and Karen, a Baptist missionary who many of you may know, called Jader on his cell. She said, "Hey, myself and some others are having a garage sale here at the mission house and there's a nice table here. You should come check it out." We praised the Lord for this opportunity and headed over in faith feeling like this was from Him. We arrived and we saw a beautiful solid wood table with a glass center and it was handcrafted in Masatepe, a place known for making good furniture. I've heard that these table can be up to $600. Well, a missionary decided to sell it to us for $75!!!! Yes, we were so excited! We loaded it up in Karen's big truck and brought it back to the house. Upon arriving to our home we were greeted by Jader's family. His aunt, uncle, and cousins. There were 7 of them in all. We had just enough chairs for them all to sit in with our table chairs and our folding chairs and just enough oatmeal cookie bars for each to have one. It was a blessing to see the Lord provide the table and then follow it up with an opportunity to put it to good use for hospitality. Also the following week Jader and I began our discipleships with various youth and the table came to us just in time to be able to invite our visitors to sit down, eat a bite, and feel at home.