“Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.” Words of wisdom from Solomon, inspired by the Holy Spirit and written in Ecclesiastes 11:1. Words that came to me in a vision in October of 2007 as I saw manna being tossed from heaven and raining over the earth. Words that would prove to be prophetic in my life and in many others.
Dr. Woodrow Kroll shares the story of a man crossing a desert, nearly dead from thirst, when he stumbled across an empty shack that just happened to have a hand pump. At its base was a sealed water jug with a note reading, “Don’t drink this water. Use it to prime the pump. Refill it for the next person.” The man hesitated, realizing that if the well was dry, he would be pouring out his last chance for survival. But he decided to risk it and watched the life-giving water disappear down the pipe. As he manipulated the handle, suddenly a plentiful supply of fresh water gushed up. Drinking to the fullest, he received what he needed to survive. And when he departed, he left a full jug of water with the original note and a few additional words, “Try it. It worked for me.”
When I experienced the truth of God’s word in Ecc. 11:1, I was struggling with a call from God to teach to the nations but not seeing the means by which this would happen. Over the next several months, in the midst of a season of great physical pain and infirmity, God birthed a new purpose in me: to “prime the pump” for the upcoming generations. He allowed me to write a book, Glimpses: Two Stories of Hope and Healing, which shares the testimonies of the work of Jesus in my life and in that of my dear friend, Carrie Oliver, through our journeys with cancer. And He led my husband Philippe and me to ILI, a means by which we would teach to the nations.
After two years of praying and planning, History Makers USA was launched in Giddings, TX, March 18-23, 2012. With young representatives from several states and nations, upcoming leaders were steeped in the Eight Core Values of our Christian faith. From this initial conference, seven more were immediately conceived. On graduation day after the diplomas had been awarded, Kyle Phillips beckoned me to come forward and said, “Jan, take the floor. The last words are yours.”
My response, choked with tears, was:
“This is for me perhaps like giving birth, although I have never had that experience. I just see…so much potential! To God be the glory!”
The pump has been primed. God has given each of us an opportunity to cast our bread, the very Bread of Life, over the waters. And out of you will flow rivers of Living Water. As the once-thirsty man wrote, “Try it. It worked for me.”
