Faith Can Move Mountains

I remember reading a story(sorry but I can't identify the author) about a small congregation in a town in the foothills of the mountains of eastern North Carolina.  Having received a large gift from the estate of a deceased member, the church built a new sanctuary on the piece of land willed to them.

Ten days before the new building was to open, the local building inspector informed them that the zoning laws  would not allow them to use the building.  It seemed that the original parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building.  Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they would be unable to have services in the new sanctuary.

This was a real problem.  The church had used every inch of their land except for the large hill against which it had been built.  In order to build more parking spaces they would have to move the hill out of the back yard.  This was a virtually impossible task due to the time, effort and huge expense it would involve.

Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening with all members who had "Mountain Moving Faith".  They would hold a prayer session to ask God to remove the large hill from the back yard, and somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service, which was scheduled for the next week.  24 of the congregation's 300 members showed up for the prayer meeting.

At 10:00 pm the pastor said the final Amen and announced that they would open next Sunday as scheduled.  He said, "God has never let us down before and I don't believe He will do so now."

The next morning while working in his study there came a loud knock at the door.  When he called to come in, a rough looking construction foreman came in carrying his hard hat.  "Excuse me Reverend.  I'm from the Tar Heel Construction Company and we are building a new shopping mall near Gatlinburg and we need some fill dirt.  Lots of fill dirt.

I was wondering if the church would be willing to sell us a chunk of that hill behind the church building.  We will pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge, but we need the dirt right away - the situation is urgent.  We can't do any more work on the mall project until the fill is in and settled".

Well, the new sanctuary was dedicated the next Sunday, as scheduled.

There were far more members present than the 25 with "mountain moving faith" who had showed up the previous Sunday night,.

Would you have shown up at that prayer meeting?

Some people say faith comes from miracles, but others know that miracles come through faith!