MORNING PRAYER TESTIMONY

-Frank Becker

It was 1970 and Joy and I were finishing our first semester at Northeast Bible College. Sandra was 5 years old; Cheryl about 4.

I was barely keeping up with the payments on our mobile home even though I was working a job evenings and weekends. Joy was sometimes typing legal depositions all night to help out. I was a little depressed.

One evening, I ignored my studies and sat up late reading "Prison to Praise" by Merlin R. Carothers. I followed the author’s advice and went to bed that night obediently singing and praising God.

When I awoke at 5 AM, I realized that a new song was going ‘round and ‘round in my mind. So I rose and quickly wrote down the verses that seemed to burst forth. Such a thing may not seem remarkable to you, but I am not a poet. Yet all of the verses seemed to fall into perfect meter and even rhymed. (Joy would make fun of my penchant for rhymed verse; she prefers free verse.) The only change I ever made in the poem was to reverse the order of two of the stanzas.

I later learned that the words were original; the melody was not. It was the music from the old hymn, "The Church's One Foundation."

Later that same day I received a cassette recording in the mail. It was a letter from one of my best friends apologizing that he had been unable to assist us in following God’s call to Bible college. He recounted how he'd set down a "fleece." He told the Lord that, if he received a raise in pay, he would send all but his tithe and the taxes to us.

Nothing happened. After some time passed without an answer, he revised his fleece. He told the Lord that if the raise came before a certain date, he would use it toward our support. Otherwise, he would use it for another ministry. God had answered prayer a few minutes before quiting time on the very last day of the“fleece."

For the remainder of our time at Northeast, this brother and his dear wife faitfully sent us $150 per month for our expenses. That would equal $1,500 per month in 2007 dollars. After we sold our mobile home, God blessed us with a rented house among the few on the shores of beautiful Green Lane Resevoir. The rent? $75 per month. Although it was necessary to continue working, sometimes two jobs, and though we had some lean times, God continued to meet our needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

I called it, "A Morning Prayer." The words to the song?

Oh, precious Lord our Savior,
Be with us through this day;
and keep your hand upon us,
each thing we do and say.

For we are but your children
and need your guiding hand,
to keep us safely moving
through out this sin-filled land.

Your love is more than money,
your trust is more than fame,
your present help each morning
more precious than acclaim.