TESTIMONY OF THANKFULNESS – DON WOODRUFF

I have been creating devotionals since 2013 (when I retired), and I thought I 
should share how I got to this point in my life. Hopefully you have seen these 
devotionals on FACEBOOK or LinkedIn (or received them in email as a member of my
distribution lists). They are being read in almost all 50 states and over 60 foreign 
countries. God provides the content and I get to distribute them!


STEP 1 - PREPARATION:
When I was thirteen years old, I felt restless and knew there was a need in my life. 
That need was Jesus Christ and I went down during the invitation at my church with 
nothing more to say than, "I want to be saved". I didn't know how to articulate my 
need, I just knew that I wanted Jesus to be a part of my life. I truly believe that I 
received salvation on that day, but I had absolutely no idea how much that decision 
encompassed. As a result, I have made some bad choices since that day.  

However, I discovered that I was not perfect because I was saved, but I was still an 
imperfect person covered by the blood of Jesus. What is amazing is that even though 
I made some bad choices, God kept me on a short lease because He had other plans 
for me, once I understood the real meaning of being redeemed.  Years later some of 
those plans started to unfold for me. 

First of all He put me in a position of teaching ten year old boys. What an experience! 
But you know, in the midst of trying to corral and teach those boys, He was preparing 
me for another step in my journey of serving Him. While teaching those boys I 
discovered that my task was merely to present what God wanted them (and me) to 
hear and let Him take care of what happens next. No matter what was going on when 
I was trying to teach, those boys were simply amazing whenever they would answer 
the questions I asked them. They were listening when it seemed they weren’t! That 
was the result of God's work, not mine.


STEP 2 - TITHING:
My wife and I were giving to the church, but not actually tithing. Tithing was a very 
interesting process for us. We started out by fulfilling what we felt was an obligation 
and transitioned into enjoying and looking forward to contributing to His kingdom.

First God convicted us that we should start tithing. We made the decision that I'm sure 
many have made - we would start tithing on the net pay (since that was the only 'real' 
money we saw). There was one time when we needed money and "out of the blue" we 
received a rebate check from an insurance company! After we had been tithing for 
awhile, He convicted us to start tithing on the gross amount. We 'bit the bullet' and 
obeyed, but never had any real financial stress. 

Finally, God convicted us to give more than our tithe and this is where it became very 
interesting. We obeyed and held our breath, but again we did not encounter any 
financial problems. In fact, when I received my raise the next year, the tithe we had 
been giving was ten percent of my new salary. We 'upped' our tithe again and the next 
year when I received my raise, it happened again – the tithe from the previous year 
was ten percent of my new salary. It happened again the third year - three years in a 
row!  

Of course that's when Satan started trying to plant ideas in our heads like, "You can 
determine what your salary for the next year will be by how much you tithe this year!" 
Sounded like a logical thing to do, but fortunately we didn't fall for his scheme. The 
next year, my raise left us short of what we had been tithing the previous year and we 
realized that God must have a sense of humor. It was as if He was saying to us, "Now, 
what are you going to do?" 

It helped us to focus on how He was blessing us and not on the monetary amounts. It 
wasn't too long after that when we were astounded by His blessings. In just one year, 
I received a ten percent increase, followed by a fifteen percent increase, followed by 
an eleven percent increase. We learned that what some say is true, "You can't out give 
God".  But more importantly we learned the blessings of making efforts to be obedient. 


STEP 3 - TRUSTING:
Trusting was another area where the Lord taught us that He is in control. We learned 
that sometimes we have to make choices based on His decisions and not ours. 

I had a good job as an Applications Manager at a successful company and was 
responsible for the majority of the IT systems there. Then one day I received a call 
from someone I knew at another company asking if I would consider managing a 
Technical Support group. Of course, I knew nothing about Tech Support and told him 
that, but he said that I understood IT and he felt I would be a good fit with my IT 
background. 

Sometimes I believe that God makes things somewhat difficult in order to teach us 
things (even though we may not know it at the time). Since I knew I would be 
uncomfortable in Tech Support, I asked for some additional requirements before 
making a decision.  This resulted in a three month delay in order for the company to
get my requests approved. Still, I was unsure about making the move, but after my 
wife and I prayed about it, I decided  to follow what I 'thought' was God's Will. 

When I first arrived there, I discovered that the company really didn't need the group I 
was managing. After praying and frantically searching for something viable for us to 
do, I was able to acquire full support of the most widely used system within the 
company. Without sharing all the details, I believe that God caused this to happen. 
There were other groups that all had to agree on moving the system to our group, and 
they did!


STEP 4 - TEACHING:
Okay, the first thing I should mention is, there are at least three things I don't enjoy 
doing - reading, preparing, and presenting. Ask me to participate in athletics or music 
and I was always ready, but not reading, preparing, and presenting!

Interestingly enough, God had pre-determined that my destiny was teaching and 
sharing His Word which involved the three things I didn’t enjoy doing. Our Minister 
of Education (Bobby Bragg) at Ellendale Baptist Church asked me one day if I would 
be interested in teaching a married couples class.  Of course a red flag went up for me 
and I replied, "Let me pray about it" hoping that he would find someone else and 
forget that he had asked me. About three months later, Bobby asked me again if I had 
gotten any direction on teaching the class. I thought about how I ‘got out of it’ the last 
time he asked and I replied, "Let me pray about it some more". 

Little did I know the plans God had for that class and whoever agreed to teach it 
would be blessed as they watched God at work in a mighty way (more on this later). 
After the second offer from Bobby, I was restless for the next three months. I prayed 
about it off and on and finally went to Bobby and said, "I'll try teaching it and see how 
it goes". Bobby immediately started smiling and when I asked him why, he  said, "Do 
you remember six months ago when I asked you about teaching this class?' When I 
sheepishly replied, "Yes". He said that he went to the members of the class and told 
them that I would be their new teacher, and they had been praying for me for the 
entire six months! 

Now, to be honest, my plans were to ‘endure’ teaching this class of ten people for one 
year and then giving it to someone else.  However God's plan was different than mine 
and I have been teaching the class for well over thirty years. 

Earlier I mentioned the opportunity of seeing God at work - He took that small class 
of ten people and grew it to an enrollment of around one hundred and thirty people. 
Not only did He increase the size of the class, but in order to reduce it to a manageable 
number, seven classes were spawned from that class - which meant that seven more 
people committed to teaching. Just think, if I had not agreed to teach the class, I would 
have missed out on seeing what He could do. Oh, I may have heard about it, but I 
wouldn’t have been able to watch Him at work firsthand. Not only that, but I wouldn't 
have been blessed like I was through teaching (being obedient to His Will for me).  

He was with me when reading, preparing and presenting the lessons. But more than 
that, He would give me thoughts while I was teaching; thoughts that were not in my 
notes. Additionally, He taught me the importance of having interactive discussions as 
opposed to lecturing. Using this method I found I could learn even more from the 
comments of the members of the class. He also showed me how to handle 
controversial topics and comments from members of the class. He impressed on me a 
way of encouraging everyone to participate in the discussions and how to apply His 
Word to everyday life - 'where the rubber meets the road'.  I could go on and on about 
other things He taught me, but the bottom line is, I learned how He blesses those who 
obey Him, even if it requires leaving their comfort zone.


STEP 5 - RETIREMENT:
Have you ever thought about what retirement life would be like? A time when you 
basically go into idle mode except for enjoying the things you wanted to do, but never 
had enough time. Be prepared.  When God has plans for you, then you can be in for a 
surprise (and He does have plans for all who confess their faith in Him).

I mentioned earlier that I didn't particularly enjoy reading, preparing and presenting so 
the Lord decided I would be a bible teacher. However, there is one more thing that is 
"not my thang" - writing. So guess what, God convicted me to start creating and 
distributing devotionals when I retired.  I'm not talking about starting a year or so after 
I retired, He wanted me to start on day one. This has been an amazing experience as I 
look forward each day to see what the Lord wants to communicate to others and me. 
Some nights I have had ideas for a devotional, but He changed it to something else the 
next morning. 

What I enjoy the most is the way He guides me in showing the practical application of 
His Word.  The mentality of 'where the rubber meets the road' that He taught me when 
He invited me to start teaching a Bible class, has continued as He gives me the content
for the devotionals each day.  Now you can see how the Lord orchestrated my life over 
the years to prepare me for sending out these devotionals. 
But He didn't stop there. He also inspired me to write and publish a book (ugh, more 
writing!).  I doubt that will ever recover the expense of getting the book published, 
but I am confident He has (or is) using it in the life of at least one person. By the way, 
if you want to take a look at it, you can find it on the Amazon and Barnes & Nobles 
websites by typing Don Woodruff in the Search field. It is titled, “The Crucifixion 
Catalyst” (subtitled – Unspoken Messages From God To Believers). If you are not 
much of a reader, you're in luck - it is a small book (a little over 100 pages). It is 
inexpensive (less than $10.00 and can be downloaded as an eBook for even less), and 
is structured so that it can double as a daily devotional. 

I have written a second book titled, “I’m Saved, Now What?” The publisher liked it
and suggested promoting it, but then a strange thing happened. I felt that God wanted 
me to put that one on hold and start a third project which I am currently working on 
and nearing the finish line. God has taken someone who does not like writing and 
converted him into creating daily devotionals and writing three books in less than 
three years! Yes, God still performs miracles in our lifetime!

SUMMARY:
Like everyone else, I am still a work in progress and still make bad choices, but the 
Lord has created in me a desire to serve Him and to point others to Jesus.  It didn't 
happen overnight, but it started with a desire to have Jesus in my life and a hope that 
God would change my life and focus. I needed God to be the leader of my life, and to 
influence my thoughts, my words, my actions, my decisions, and my service in His 
ministry.

My hope is that many others will read this and decide to turn their lives over to the 
Lord completely. Hopefully others will have a desire to experience and enjoy the 
exciting journey of serving the Lord in the capacity He has chosen specifically for
them. I hope that others will give up their selfishness so they will not miss out on the
opportunities He has given them, and the joy that is included in His plan designed 
specifically for them (and He has plans for everyone who claims to be His followers).