As a homeschool mom, I’m often amazed at how much God is teaching me as I teach my children. This year, we have been learning about all the different continents, the major countries in each, and their cultures. But all of this is done with the primary focus of developing God’s heart and perspective toward these nations. As we have moved around the globe, we have also read about Christian heros in each of these nations. Do you know what a Christian hero is?
A Christian Hero is an average Joe who gives his all to God so God can do the impossible through him.
George Muller is one of those heroes. Now, I’m sure you know exactly who George Muller is, but just in case you forgot about some of the details of his life, I’ll remind you. 🙂 George Muller lived in the same time and setting as Charles Dickens-England, 1800’s. So think Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol and you have a picture of the environment that George was in. Sanitation was poor at best and disease was rampant. This made for a short life expectancy and thousands of orphans. And it was these orphans that God called him to minister to. But George Muller was not a rich man. He was a pastor of a church, but he would not accept a regular income, so by our standards we would call him poor. How was he, a poor pastor, to care for the thousands of orphans of England?
He did not know how, but he did know Who would provide.
So he did start an orphanage. And many times he sat down to eat with his family and the orphans and would thank God for the food He provided-but all that was on the table were empty bowls and cups. And there was not a morsel of food to prepare a meal with! But they NEVER missed a meal. God ALWAYS provided. Like the morning the milkman’s cart happened to break down in front of the orphanage. Now he couldn’t repair the cart loaded with milk, so the orphanage was able to put it to good use for him. Or the time when the baker awoke in the night and could not go back to sleep until he made bread and delivered it to the orphanage. And these are only a few examples.
Now that we have “remembered” who George Muller was, I want to tell you about a time later in his life. He was traveling to North America to speak of all God had done in England.
He and his wife were on a boat off the coast of Newfoundland when a thick fog set in and the boat was forced to a crawl. After tracking down the captain, he proceeded to tell him he HAD to be in Quebec by Saturday to speak. The Captain laughed and said, “That’s impossible!” George replied, “if you cannot get me there on time, I’ll have to ask God to do it. I have not missed a single engagement in fifty-two years, and I don’t intend to start now. Come to my cabin and pray with me.” The dumbfounded captain follows, but once on deck he regains his composure and says, “What’s the point of praying? The fog is so thick I can’t see the stern of the boat. Look!” But George kept walking and replied, “I don’t need to look.
My eye is not on the weather, but the One who controls the weather!”
They enter the cabin, kneel, and George begins to pray. “Dear God, I come to You now to ask You to do the impossible. You know that I need to be in Quebec by Saturday and that the fog has hemmed us in. Please lift the fog so that the ship can go forward and I will be on time. Amen.” The captain nervously begins to pray, but George stopped him and said, “There’s no need for you to pray. You don’t believe God will answer prayer, and I believe He already has.” Grateful, the captain rose to his feet as George instructed him to open the door and look. With all certainty George added, “I have known my Lord for fifty-two years, and in all that time I cannot recall a single instance where he has not answered my prayers. I assure you, the fog has lifted.” The captain goes to the door and looks only to turn, pale-faced toward George and whispers, “It’s gone. Just as you prayed, the fog has lifted.” Needless to say, George Muller arrived on time in Quebec and the Captain arrived as a child of God in Quebec. -adapted from Christian Heroes: Then & Now George Muller by Janet & Geoff Benge
George had experienced God’s daily faithfulness as he daily trusted God and that is how he could make such bold claims. But what about you? What is God doing in your life or wanting to do in your life? Is He wanting to make a Christian hero out of you? I think He wants to make Christian heroes out of all of us, but we often don’t give Him our all. We may not have stories like George Muller, but we can each look back in our lives at the times where God has provided. We have all had our needs that God met, our times of struggle where God saw us through. Even though God has proven His faithfulness time and again, we still often hold back from total trust in Him. Yes, it’s seems frightening because He might call us to house orphans or love the unloveable or give our money to further His kingdom instead of furthering our recreation. And I’ll be honest, those aren’t easy things to do-they are things that I may not even want to do-but I should want to. And God is waiting for us to dive in and trust Him.
Over the course of 63 years of running the orphanages, George Muller had over 10,000 orphans under his care! WOW! I can’t even imagine! But this is what he wrote in his journal about the great tasks he faced, “the greater the difficulty to be overcome, the more it will be seen to the glory of God how much can be done by prayer and faith.” I pray that God will grow our prayer and faith and look forward to what He will do as a result!
Keep praying and trusting!
Brigett 
Brigett, this is exactly what I needed today. I needed to be reminded that there is power in prayer and that God does answer.
Kali, I’m so glad this encouraged you! We learned so much from George Muller-what a life of faith and yes the power of that faith shown in answered prayer.