WHATEVER YOU SOW WILL COME BACK TO YOU MULTIPLIED!

When I had just come out of prison for preaching the Gospel, I began to attend a Baptist church pastored by American missionary Rev Charles Coleman. Pastor Coleman went Home to be with the Lord a few years ago at around 95 years of age.

I am about to share a wonderful true story with you. Pastor Coleman and his wife Edna had no children of their own, but had adopted 8 local children who had been abandoned by their parents. The oldest of these children is my friend Kevin who now lives in Springfield MO where he attends James River Church of the Assemblies of God.

In the early 70s, there was a time when the Colemans' support stopped coming from the US, and things were very hard for them with no food in the house to feed their adopted children and their church staff.

One Sunday morning, a man dressed in the uniform of a US Air Force Colonel walked into the service with his wife. Rev Coleman had never seen them before. The wife cried throughout the sermon.

After the service they came to the front and shook hands with the Colemans. The Colonel said that he was posted to the US Embassy. The wife, who was a few years older than Pastor Coleman, began to ask him "Pastor, are you from such-and-such town in Kansas"? giving the name of a small town in the south of KS. Pastor Coleman answered in the affirmative. Then she asked, "Was your mother's name such-and-such"? Pastor Coleman answered that yes, the lady whose name she mentioned was indeed his late mother.

 At this the lady threw her arms around Pastor Coleman crying and sobbing. Then she told him this story:

"We were your next door neighbors in Kansas. You were very small and would not remember. My mother had died, and we were 5 siblings. During the Great Depression times were so hard that my father left us and went to a city to earn his living. We were abandoned. Your parents were poor too, but your mom took us under her wings and fed us along with her own family. She made huge sacrifices for my siblings and me, to feed us and to keep us alive. She used to scour through trash cans looking for potato and vegetable peels to make soup for her family. She shared your family's food with us and kept us alive through those years. If it wasn't for her we would have died. I am alive today because of her".

The next day a large truck from the US Embassy drove up to the church, full of food for the Colemans. There was rice, flour, pasta, potatoes, vegetables, butter, cheese, meat etc. There was more than enough for the family and for the church staff. It was from the Colonel and his wife. The food truck kept on coming every week until their support from the US resumed.

The Bible says "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days". Ecc 11:1

Never cease to sow seed, even in times of hardship: because God is faithful. He will see to it that your seed is multiplied and it comes back to you. It may take time, but you will surely reap your blessings.

In this true story, what Pastor Coleman's mother sowed in her own hardship, came back to bless her next generation, to feed her missionary son and his family in a far off land, long after she had died and gone to Heaven. God had not forgotten her faith and her sacrifices.

Never give up just because you don't see the rewards of your faithfulness right now. Sometimes you may not see the harvest in your lifetime, but your children and grandchildren will surely reap the fruit of what you have sown. Just when they need it the most, God will come through!

Thinking of Mrs. Coleman's mother, going through garbage cans to look for peels, to feed her own children and 5 other children. What selfless love and sacrifice! It reminds me of another scripture:

"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it" Prov 3:27

I do not want to be selfish, putting my own luxuries above other people's needs. I want to sow into people's lives, and I know that even my children and my grandchildren will reap the rewards of my faithfulness.

May the Lord find us all faithful, always sowing seed and blessing others.

We and our future generations shall surely reap rich rewards!

Originally posted on Facebook by Pastor Christopher Alam