The late Roger Brunet learned about the powers of faith and miracles at an early stage of his married life. He and his wife, Alice, had three children and a baby on the way, and, as any young couple, they needed money.
At that time, Roger worked as a human resources officer at Montfort Hospital in Ottawa, Canada. A few weeks before the baby was born, Roger had the grand total of two dollars to his name and this would have to last until his next paycheck which was four days away.
That Sunday morning Roger went to church as he always would. When the offering plate was passed something made him put in the last of his money. For some unexplained reason, Roger felt he had to give it all. “I got carried away by an overwhelming feeling that this was the right thing to do,” Roger said, “and ended up giving my two dollars thinking that my wife and I would surely find a way to last until Thursday. I would make myself lunches from our meager food resources and offer the inconveniences of this to the Lord.”
He had given away all his money that Sunday. What in the world had he done? He got on his knees and prayed silently but with great confidence. “Lord, I’ve given my last bucks,” he prayed. “I need You to take care of things until Thursday because we have a baby on the way, and I have to pay the bills.” He went home with nothing in his pocket — but with a sense of having done the right thing.
“You won’t believe this,” Roger Brunet later wrote, “but the same afternoon someone knocked on the door.” It was M. Danis, a neighbor from the next block. He wanted to know if the old car which Roger had parked at the end of the driveway was for sale. Roger had no idea that the carcass of this old rusty car could be worth anything and he didn’t want to take advantage of anyone. But M. Danis was not interested in the carcass of the car. All he wanted was the engine.
Mr. Danis asked Roger how much he wanted for the old car. Roger replied that he had no idea what it was worth. Mr. Danis offered him 75 dollars, the deal was concluded and Mr Danis took the car away.
Immediately after, Roger reviewed the recent course of events with his wife, Alice. He remembered his prayer in church that morning, he told Alice about how he had felt compelled to deposit all the money that they had in the offering basket and how he had put himself and his family in the hands of the divine Providence.
From that day on, Roger never thought twice about the amount of his offering. He put his trust in the Lord to provide for him and his family. Of course, after having lived through a very tough time during the Great Depression and being the human being that he was with his inherent limitations, it took him many years to acquire enough faith in the Lord to stop worrying about not being able to provide for his family. But, with the help of the Holy Spirit and lots of prayer, Roger eventually became able to achieve this state of total abandonment which comes usually as a by-product of spiritual growth.
This story, I witnessed as his oldest child… and it has left its mark in my heart.
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By Jean-Pierre Brunet, mailto:Bioptic@aol.com
Copyright C 2005 by Jean-Pierre Brunet.
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