Page 60 - Evidence of Things Unseen

terror. Although we had already been called to steps of faith and had seen God’s
faithfulness, each new leading from God was calling us to deeper and deeper waters. At this
time it had been nine months since we had canceled our health insurance, and God had
proven Himself by healing me from diabetes and keeping us all in good health. It had also
been about fifteen months since we had canceled SSI benefits on Josiah, and he had not
broken another bone. I had been able to persuade Tony to willingly follow in these past
steps of faith, but I could not move her on this matter of trusting God for our finances.
I knew there would be great difficulty if I followed God down this path, so I asked Him
for further confirmation of His will. The Holy Spirit spoke to me again while I was at home
and told me to look up the first occurrence of the word “fourteen” in Scripture. I sat down
at my Bible program and did a search on this word. My Bible program lists each occurrence
in order and gives a snippet from each verse where the word is found. The very first
Scripture in which fourteen is found is Genesis 31:41, and this is what I saw, “I have worked
for you fourteen years.”
I was shouting when I got up from my chair, for I knew the Lord was telling me that
I was to leave my employer, and I was excited about pursuing the greater dream the Lord
had placed in my heart. I decided to check the first occurrence of this number in the New
Testament as well, and I found it in the very first chapter of Matthew.

Matthew 1:17
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David
to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to
Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

I saw in this that the number fourteen is used by God to denote transition, for each of
these occurrences marked a definite transition point in God’s dealings with His chosen
people. A transition was coming in my life as well, and God had been preparing my heart
for it ever since the morning He spoke to me at work. I was convinced in my heart that this
was what I was to do, and I expressed this to Tony, but she was not moved. She became very
emotional, and then threatening, and indicated that she would not go along with me in this
step of faith.
God had been preparing the hearts of the ministers at Living Faith to follow Him
wherever He would lead, and had been speaking much about trusting Him for health and
provision. One of the elders had met Charles and Nancy Newbold from Tennessee, and had
invited them to the church. The Newbolds told this elder about a couple they knew who
lived near them. This couple is Bob and Peggy Hughey. The Hugheys had been living a life
of complete trust in God for all of their provision for a couple decades, and God had taken
them all around the world to minister. They had a biographical book out about their
experiences titled A Lifestyle of Light.
The Newbolds invited this elder they had first met, and Richard, to come up and visit
with them, and while they were in Tennessee they introduced them to the Hugheys. Richard
came back excited about what he had heard concerning the experiences of the Hughey’s,
and he brought each one of the ministers at Living Faith a copy of their book. I was
tremendously encouraged and challenged in reading about their lives, and I was equally
excited that the other ministers were beginning to talk about trusting God for real practical
things in their own lives.
One day Richard shared with me about a time a few years earlier when he had been