Only GOD Can...

By Hildegard Seiler

WHO DID ALL THESE THINGS? ... GOD.

From the author of "Whiter Than Snow" comes her newest offering. While there are some people you will remember, there are many new faces and places to meet in "Only GOD Can ..."

In this book you will be transported to Africa, Alaska, Europe and beyond as you meet people who have experienced God's goodness, care, mercy, grace, and miracles first hand. Join in this adventure and let God speak to your heart in a way that Only GOD Can ...

"The author of these amazing stories is working in her second language. As a naive reader of this book, I very much value the accuracy and vocabulary of this author. You will enjoy it; I found it hard to put it down." --Dr. Laura Mae Gardner, Bible translator, administrator, counselor. Author of "Healthy, Resilient and Effective in Cross-Cultural Ministry"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hildegard Seiler
• Release date: Feb 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393554257

Book preview

Part One

One

The Horse That Wouldn’t Move

But you wanted to leave your horse until September. That was the agreement, said my Dad when the owner came to retrieve his horse. World War II had ended in 1945, earlier than most people had expected, and so my parents had not expected this man to show up already in May.

I was not even five years old, but certain memories are still quite vivid in my mind. A man from town, about eight miles away from us, had asked my parents if he could leave his horse with us in our small village until September of that year. Because he lived in a city, he was concerned about possible damage from bombs. He had hoped the war would be over by then. My parents gladly agreed. A horse would be great to help with the fieldwork on our small farm, especially since my parents didn’t want to use our cow for hard work. The cow was an excellent source of good milk, and therefore also for butter and any other dairy product.

I could understand my dad arguing with the owner about taking his horse back so much earlier than we had expected.

But when the owner returned for him, the horse did NOT want to move. He took very slow steps, and only when necessary. The man gave him sugar cubes, but the horse still didn’t want to move. The man pulled the horse, he sat on the horse and tried to ride him, and he even beat the horse with a riding crop. All to no avail! Pushing, pulling, prodding, and cajoling all were useless! After about two hours, the man and the horse had only managed to move about 300 yards from our house. We could still clearly see the struggle the man was having with his horse. It probably would have taken him all night to travel the eight miles to his home in town at the rate the horse was going.

Then the man gave up and turned the horse back toward our stable. The horse walked quickly and easily back to us. What a shock for the man, but what a joy for us! I will be back in September to take my horse, the man said with emphasis. My dad agreed.

How could all this have happened? I knew my mom had gone to a quiet room while the man worked to find a solution for getting his horse back. My mom was praying for the two hours the man was prodding his horse, as she knew how desperately we needed this horse for the summer months. My mother usually presented the problem to God and asked Him to work it out. And God certainly did.

The biggest surprise came in September. When the owner of the horse came at the appointed time, his horse followed him without hesitation. We watched the happy man for some time as he rode his horse away. What a different departure than what we saw in May!

It is always amazing to me that the God who created the universe is listening to our prayers and cares about our concerns.

Two

A Great Inheritance

An inheritance can come in different ways. When we hear this word we usually think of money or material goods. But there is a much greater inheritance: the love and influence of parents.

My mother was a diligent prayer warrior who brought all her requests and concerns to the Lord. I marveled at the wonderful relationship my mother had with God. I learned I could go to him for anything at any time, to speak with him about my desires and those of others.

It was shortly after WWII; I was about five years old and my sister Elfriede fourteen months older. Our father was in the hospital, and mother desperately needed soap powder to do laundry. Also, I was growing and needed shoes. However, there was no money to buy either of those items.

Come on girls, let’s kneel down and ask the Lord to help us. We have no money to buy soap powder or shoes for you, Hildegard, my mother told us.

So, we knelt with our mother and she prayed as if the Lord was standing right next to us. She knew God would hear us and intervene.

The next day a lady from our village, who worked in town during the day, came to our mom. She said, Sophie, people in town cannot buy any eggs there, and I know you have chickens. Can you spare any eggs? Here is money from these people. Please sell us as many as you can.

I can sell you all the eggs I have now, our mother replied.

My mother rejoiced, and I, as little as I was, was deeply impressed about the quick answer from our heavenly Father. Mother could buy laundry soap and I got a pair of shoes from a second-hand store. That reminded me of another incident, which I mentioned in my book, Whiter Than Snow, and want to share here also.

The bus was overcrowded, as most buses were right after the war. It was almost impossible for my mom and sister to stand up straight. Because I was small, someone offered to take me on his lap. Mother became tired of being bumped and jostled; she decided we should get off the bus and walk home.

From where we exited, it was a six-mile walk to our village. When it started to rain, the three of us crowded under our mother’s umbrella and sang as we walked. We had fun, but as darkness crept in we could no longer see the road. We were able to stay on the road by walking half on and half off, letting one foot feel the asphalt and the other one feel the grass on the side of the road.

Mother grew concerned as it grew later and darker. She knew there was still some distance to walk. Mother asked God to guide us to the beginning of the shortcut that would save us about two miles. As soon as she finished praying, a car drove by and the headlights illuminated the beginning of the shortcut. We were standing right next to it!

God is powerful! My five-year-old mind was amazed by such an awesome answer to prayer.

There was much more I learned from my mother which I mentioned in my previous book. I often said and still say, I am so glad I had my mother at least for ten years. I learned more from her than some people learn from theirs through their entire life.

My father was a very gifted storyteller and made Bible stories come alive for everyone. He made them so thrilling that the listeners felt as though they were experiencing the story, not just hearing it. Now, after more than 70 years I still can picture the stories of Daniel in the Lion’s Den and The three men in the fiery furnace as my Dad told them. This skill of storytelling served my father well as a lay pastor.

Dad always excelled in math and had even won some local competitions. I inherited both of those skills from my father, and they have both served me well in ministry and in every-day life.

I only lived with our father as long as our mother was alive. He was often sick and spent time in the hospital, and therefore could not take care of my sister and me after our mother died. Dear relatives took me in as their foster child. However, I was able to visit my dad from time to time, and exchange letters with him when I was older. He died when I was twenty-three.

I know our parents loved us and they tried to instill godly prin9ciples in us. I am thankful for this special inheritance which no one can take away from us. God certainly knew what kind of parents my sister and I needed.

Three

Amazing!

Amazing!

Wonderful!

Beautiful!

That’s what many people say when they come to visit us and see the amazing panorama before they even enter our house. In front of us are the majestic Catalina Mountains, and just beyond that we can see down into the valley. Since Arizona is known for its 300 sunny days in a year, we can enjoy this view nearly every day from our patio as well as from our living room, dining room, and kitchen.

I will never forget how a young repair man stood under the arches on our patio fascinated by this magnificent view. Oh, I wish I could live here! My wife and I are staying with my in-laws in town!

We not only have a beautiful view; we also have wild animals coming into our yard since we don’t have a fence. Guests can watch some of these beautiful creatures while sitting in our living room or at the dining room table. There are Gambel's quail who are especially cute when they take care of their little ones, rabbits playing and jumping early in the morning or at dusk, javelinas, bob cats, deer in all sizes (who at times even lie down in our yard outside and rest), coyotes, and even a young mountain lion walked by one time. Gophers and ground squirrels like the freedom here too. A Gila monster seems to have staked our yard as its territory. Less desirable are the rattlesnakes if they come too close but at least they eat the packrats under the prickly pear cacti. Our surrounding trees and bushes are filled with beautiful birds like hummingbirds, cardinals, doves, sparrows, ravens, hawks, and road runners, just to name a few. It really is like our own little paradise.

How did we get this place? That goes back several years before we even knew that we would eventually live in Tucson, Arizona. At that time, we were living in Kotzebue, Alaska, north of the Arctic Circle. It was very cold with ice and snow about nine months of the year. There are no roads leading into Kotzebue, so one could only fly from Anchorage or Fairbanks, often via Nome. The cost of living was very high there, especially rented housing. We were renting an apartment while working on Bible translation with the Inupiat Eskimos.

On May 15, 1980, we were asked to move out of the apartment by July 15, as the apartment was needed for the Superintendent of the Friends Churches in the area. It was amazing how God worked out the details: two days later we knew we could buy a reasonably-priced house, built by the shop class of the local high school. The details how God provided for this adventure are written in my book Whiter Than Snow.

How could we afford buying our own house?

My sister Elfriede and I had inherited land from our parents, which our mother had inherited from her parents. Both of our parents had died. One of the pieces of land had become a valuable building lot. While already in Alaska we were notified of the following requirement, which I quote from my book:

Because the zoning laws had changed, we were required to pay about $14,000 in fees for developing the property. We did not have the money and we knew we could never afford to build in Germany. Besides that, we also knew we would stay on the mission field as long as God wanted us to.

Slowly we discovered God’s plan. We needed a place to live and had a chance to buy our own house. So, we called my sister and asked her to please sell the land. I told the Lord that I wanted to tithe from the proceeds, even if what we gained might not cover the expenses for the land and house in Kotzebue. Elfriede was surprised, but we explained that we needed the money for a new home. She advertised the lot and soon received a call from an interested bank.

At that time quick communication was not easy, because calling Germany was quite expensive. When I asked Elfriede if she had sold the land to the bank, she said the bank did not want to pay as much as they promised. I am glad my sister did not give in and refused to sell to them. She is much better at doing business than I am. We all kept on praying. My sister put another advertisement in a different paper. A real estate investor, searching for good building lots, called my sister and inquired about the price. Elfriede gave him a much higher price than she had originally wanted. The broker offered $3000 above the new asking price to be sure he got the lot. What a blessing!

Now things were rolling. When we received the money, we paid for the building lot (which was about twice as big as the one we had sold in Germany), the house, and the fee for moving the house to the lot. We also paid for an addition to the house, all the furniture we bought, and most incidentals. In addition, we were able to pay the required large amount of taxes to the U.S. government, and best of all, we could tithe. We were debt free and never had to make a single mortgage payment on our house in Alaska.

In September 1980, only a month after we had sold the lot in Germany, the German government passed a new law prohibiting exorbitant prices on real estate. We had sold our small piece of land just in time! The very same summer the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the German Deutschmark was extremely good and to