First the Blade
© 2019 by Larry Nevenhoven
Chapter 21
Building Mustard-Seed Faith (f)
T. L. Osborn sat in the auditorium, next to his wife, Daisy. The two were young missionaries who had just returned from India. Their missionary experiences had discouraged them, which left them needing answers if they wanted to continue in their callings.
They went to hear William Branham speak that night, hoping for a spark of hope, which would reveal what they needed for their missionary work.
Branham preached a message and afterward he called a young girl to come out onto the stage. The girl suffered from severely crossed eyes. Branham turned her around so she faced the crowd.
“I want everyone to see the miracle God is going to perform in this young girl,” he said.
He prayed for her.
T. L. Osborn sat in nearby balcony seats and saw the miracle as it unfolded. He watched the eyes move around in their sockets until they were properly aligned. The youngster jumped up and down with joy as the crowd roared its approval.
Osborn sat there, amazed by the miracle, and then he heard a thousand angels say to him: “You can do that.”
Because of one man’s bold ministry on that one special night, T. L. and Daisy Osborn went back to the missionary field. Their ministry continued for fifty years to over 70 nations. They preached to crowds of 20,000 to 300,000 at a time. Few Christians have ever known the ministry success and miracles, which the Osborns ended up having on the mission field.
Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. (Hebrews 13:7)
Like T. L. Osborn, I had a “one man on one special night” experience in the early 1990′s. It did not occur in a large auditorium with thousands of people looking on, but instead, it happened in a small church with twenty people sitting in pews.
I sadly no longer remember the man’s name, but he was from a small town in Iowa. His ministry was an apostolic one to parts of Africa and Europe, but unlike the preachers I liked at the time, he was a soft-spoken, humble man.
He gave a testimony, which still reverberates within my heart today on how big our God is and how able He is to help us… if only we believe in Him.
The man told how he and another man were in the southern part of France, heading toward Paris. They needed to get to the Charles DeGaulle Airport so they could fly to Africa, but they had a big problem. All trains were delayed. It looked like they would miss their airplane connection.
As they sat in the train depot, the Iowa man prayed. “Lord, You asked me to go to France and then to Africa, because You sent me on these assignments. It is Your responsibility to make it all happen. Where’s Your miracle? I’m waiting for it.”
An English man walked up to the two. “If you’re going to Paris, a train will pull up over there in a few minutes,” the man said.
He pointed to the opposite side of the depot. “It’s a special train. I’ve already taken care of your tickets, just get on it.”
A train pulled up almost immediately. The man and his friend took their suitcases and boarded the train. They sat down and watched the countryside fly by. After an hour or so, they arrived in Paris and disembarked inside the Charles de Gaulle Airport, near the ticket counter for their flight to Africa.
They paid for their tickets at the airline counter. The friendly agent asked, “With all the problems with trains, how did you get to the airport today?”
The Iowa man pointed over his shoulder without looking. “We rode on that train over there,” he said.
The ticket agent blinked his eyes. “What train?” he said.
The Iowa man turned around and looked. There were no tracks or train behind him, but instead there were walls and walkways through the airport.
What reverberates within me is this: if God will build a train track and put a train on it because a small-town Iowa man asked for a miracle, He’ll do it for you and me.
And being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. (Romans 4: 21)
(Continued…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)
Larry Who 