The Thorn-Bush Angel
By Carrie

It was quite a cold winter in Canberra (Australia) in 1965. It even snowed, a rare occurrence. So when I felt an urging to go outside and get some coal for the fire, I resisted it. Until the urging came again even more insistently. I sighed. I really didn't want to go outside in the freezing cold to get more coal, but I'd learned over time not to ignore what I had come to believe was God speaking to me.

I grabbed the coal scuttle and a parka and stepped outside the back door right into an icy cold blast. I nearly changed my mind then, but gritting my teeth I headed for the coal heap in the backyard.

But I never made it to the coal heap.

I caught a glimpse of something that looked remarkably like money fluttering on a thorn-bush to my left. I rushed over and grabbed a ten shilling note that had been caught on a thorn. It had been so deeply imbedded on the thorn that the only way it could have gotten there was if someone had held it at both edges and pushed down really hard, otherwise it would just have blown away. No human hand could have done it as the yard was fully fenced and the gate padlocked. I believe an angel put it there for me to find. I forgot all about getting the coal then, I just felt it was God's excuse for getting me outside to find the money.

You see, we had no food to speak of in the house at the time, only an egg, and as my husband wasn't going to be paid until the next day, I had no money to buy anything. I'd already decided that I'd boil the egg for my husband to eat and I'd go without. I still had milk for the baby, so she'd be okay. If I had not obeyed God to go outside on His urging the money would have blown away and would have been none the wiser about His provision for me.

Elated, I rushed back inside the house. I dressed my baby warmly and then pushed her in the pram to the local shops, all thoughts of being cold having gone out the window.

Back in 1965 ten shillings went a long way. So I was able to buy a rolled roast of beef; vegetables to cook with it and some fruit to have afterwards and still had some money left over! That night we had a feast. My husband was truly surprised as he knew the state of our larder and our finances and he was equally surprised when I told him how I came by the money to buy it all. God promises to meet our needs and He did!