“Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me” (John 12:26).

Sometimes God works in ways so undeniably miraculous—ways that are so remarkable and so obviously Him. Our family experienced one of these miraculous moments at the Michigan Camp Meeting this year.

I was off alone in the "boondocks" of H loop this year at camp meeting. My two daughters had not yet returned from their evening meeting when I received a phone call from my husband Don who was in Pennsylvania. He had just left for a new job there, unable to keep busy enough with our family business here in Michigan. It was his first week there.

The phone call sent me to my knees in a way I have never been before. He told me his boss had just told him Saturdays were mandatory [work days]. You’d have to know a little bit of our recent history to appreciate how this impacted us. Until recently, we ran a successful contracting business here in Michigan. But this past year because of some mistakes—we take credit for (that's a whole other article)—we have for the first time in many years found ourselves completely and utterly financially ruined. We cashed in all of our retirement funds at the age of 40, borrowed from our family and currently had nowhere else to turn financially.

The job that Don took would carry him to various places around the nation as a superintendent for a very large specialty construction company. We both believed it to be an answer to prayer. We were both at the point where the smallest thing could cause an emotional breakdown. We were at our wits end. The strain of having gone through a separation, a reuniting and financial stress was weighing heavy.

At first Don tried to reason with himself, more than with me, that if he worked on Sabbath, he could just turn all that money over to God. As soon as the words escaped his lips, he knew as well as I that he couldn't work on Sabbath. We didn’t talk very long. Silence hung in the air as both of us contemplated what the effects of leaving this job would be.

When we hung up I fell on my face before Jesus in my tent for about two hours. I prayed, and read the book I had purchased at the book sale, The Radical Prayer, by Derek Morris. What I read was incredible, and I prayed as I have never done before. I pleaded with God for strength and wisdom. I prayed that God would throw me into the harvest. I no longer concentrated on my earthly wants and needs, but asked God to prepare me to do His work, even if we had to lose everything. God already knew what I needed. But, I did also pray my husband would have the strength to do what he needed to do. I knew God would not honor us if we did not honor Him. This last year has been such a test. We were at our weakest point, and I did not want us to fail. I prayed for the strength to remain faithful no matter what the cost.

When I finally came up off my knees, I noticed I had a text message waiting for me. It said, "I don’t have to work Sabbath." At first I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe it! Then doubt crept in, and I wondered if it was just this Sabbath that he was referring to, or if everything had really just been cleared up that easily.

The next morning a friend from church appeared at my tent very early. She said she didn’t really know why she was there, just that she felt God was leading her somewhere that morning, and she ended up at my tent. Well, I knew exactly why she was there, and we proceeded to talk and pray for quite some time. When we finished praying, I noticed I had a voicemail waiting for me. It said, "Corporate put a 50-hour ban on our work week. We have to work four 12-hour days and then two hours on Friday.” Well, that was just too incredible! It was a definite, undeniable answer to prayer.

But wait! It gets better. About an hour after my friend left, I received another voicemail. It said, “The 50-hour work ban has been lifted (which scared me a bit). We can work as many hours as we want, but we aren't allowed to work Saturdays! My boss said he has no idea why, but we aren't allowed to work Saturday.”

This just seemed to be too much. I called my husband, and he described what I imagined as his partnering superintendent standing there scratching his head saying they could work as many hours as they wanted, but they couldn’t do it on Saturday. He was genuinely baffled at this order. What an awesome God we serve!

I must tell you that we had another scare about the Sabbath the following day, but it was laid to rest. I have never felt such complete joy at the obvious answer of a prayer. I literally felt like jumping up and down and singing praises to the Lord.

I had the urge for the first time to tell a gas station attendant and a drive-thru employee that Jesus loves them. I went to work for a few hours and told another employee about my church.

I am sure there will be more trials and struggles to come. Having my husband gone from our family is one of them. We are trying to see it as an opportunity for him to witness to a community of workers who seem to know nothing of our Jesus. Until God brings him home again, I pray we will remain faithful.

Monique D. Gilbert is a member of the Owosso Church where she is youth leader.

Author's note: I highly recommend the book, The Radical Prayer. It will change your life through the power of Christ … if you let it. (This book may be purchased at www.adventistbookcenter.com.)