Hometown Hero Credit

I was thirteen years old when my mother told me Mammaw was in the hospital.

She was standing in the kitchen. Or maybe I was sitting at the table. I remember the moment more clearly than I remember the furniture, which is probably how memory works when it decides something matters.

My mother did not have many details.

That was enough.

I loved my grandmother, Mammaw, in a way that is hard to explain without sounding like I am insulting everybody else in the family. She held a place in my heart that was ahead of my own parents. That is simply the truth of it.

So when I heard she was in the hospital, I cried.

Then I prayed.

I did not have a polished prayer. I was not trying to sound spiritual. I was thirteen, and I was scared. I asked God to let Mammaw live until I was twenty-five.

Twenty-five seemed far away. By then, I thought I would be older, stronger, and better prepared to handle losing her.

A kid did the math on how much grief he thought he could carry.

That was my number.

The broken leg

Mammaw recovered.

The injury was a broken leg.

That detail still makes me smile a little. My thirteen-year-old mind had taken the situation somewhere much darker, and the actual news was that she had broken her leg.

She went on living.

She lived long enough to see me get married. That was a wonderful day, and I am grateful she was there to see it.

Shortly after that, she died of cancer.

I was exactly twenty-five years old.

I have replayed that timing many times.

I cannot prove the existence of God from a child’s prayer. I know that. A skeptic can look at the story and call it a coincidence. That is a fair conclusion for someone who does not share my faith.

I am not interested in pretending I have a mathematical formula that settles the matter.

I just know what happened.

When prayer becomes part of life

Throughout my life as a Christian, I have noticed something.

When I actively engage in prayer, coincidences seem to unfold. When I neglect prayer, they become scarce.

That does not mean prayer is a vending machine. It is not a way to push the right buttons and get the outcome we requested. Answered prayer is not a mechanism we control, and plenty of faithful people have prayed sincerely and not received what they asked for.

I have prayed for things that did not happen.

I have also prayed for things that did.

Sometimes the answer was obvious. Sometimes it took years before I recognized it. Sometimes I only noticed it after looking back and realizing that the timing, the person, or the unexpected turn in the road had been more helpful than I understood at the time.

I call some of those moments coincidences.

I also wonder if they are something more.

That is as far as I can go with it. I cannot prove it to someone else. I can only tell you what I have seen in my own life.

The part I do not like admitting

Looking back, I am in awe of the ways I believe God has answered my prayers.

I am also embarrassed by how easily I forget them.

I can pray hard when I need help. Then, once the trouble passes, I can return to normal life as if I handled everything myself.

That is not my finest quality.

It is easy to overlook the blessings that arrive quietly. We notice the crisis because it interrupts dinner, sleep, work, and everything else. Blessings often show up without making any noise. They do not knock over a lamp. They do not send a calendar invitation.

They are simply there.

A safe trip.

A needed conversation.

A door that opened at the right time.

A door that stayed closed, even though I was sure I wanted it open.

A person who showed up.

A little more time with someone I loved.

Then I forget.

Talking to my own soul

Psalm 103 begins with David talking to himself.

That is how it reads to me. David is speaking to his own soul because his soul needs reminding.

“O my soul, bless God, from head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name! O my soul, bless God, don’t forget a single blessing!” (Psalm 103:1-2)

He is not writing from a life with no problems. David knew sin. He knew illness. He knew fear and despair. He knew what it felt like to be surrounded by trouble and still have to decide what he believed about God.

So he tells his own soul to remember.

Not because his soul naturally does that.

Because it does not.

Mine does not either.

Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that God has been faithful before. I have to remember the prayers I thought were unanswered, only to see later that something was happening beyond what I could see. I have to remember the comfort that came when circumstances did not change.

That is one reason I appreciate Psalm 103. It does not sound like David is delivering a speech to impress anybody. It sounds like a man looking in the mirror and telling himself to pay attention.

Do not forget.

The apostle Paul begins 2 Corinthians 1:3 in a similar place, praising God as the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He knew hardship too, but he did not let hardship erase the record of God’s comfort.

I need that reminder.

Maybe you do too.

A practical kind of gratitude

Operation T.A.G. exists to put gratitude into action. That mission matters to me because gratitude should eventually become more than words. It should affect how we treat people, how we show up, and how seriously we take the needs in front of us.

There’s a difference between SERVING military families…and just MARKETING to them.

That principle belongs in our work, but it also belongs in our faith. If I say I am grateful for God’s blessings, then I should become more attentive to the people around me. I should be less careless with kindness. I should remember that somebody else may be carrying a burden I cannot see.

The devotional ends here, but I want to keep one practical resource separate from it.

The Hometown Hero Credit is a non-profit program of Operation T.A.G. and a partnership between Operation T.A.G. and PRMG. Operation T.A.G. provides the 2% credit up to $21,000. PRMG handles loan approval.

For eligible military families buying or refinancing a home, the 2% credit up to $21,000 may be applied to closing fees, buying down the interest rate, paying real estate agent fees, or, in some cases, paying down debt to help with VA loan qualification. It cannot be used for a down payment or for non-loan purposes. The 2% credit up to $21,000 is calculated on the loan amount, not the sales price. VA loans generally do not require a down payment.

Families should compare loan options, ask questions, and review the details for their own situation. This program is not a claims service, emergency-assistance program, or guarantee of loan approval.

There is no need to force an answer to every question today.

I can be honest about what I cannot prove. I can still be grateful for what I have witnessed. I can admit that I forget. Then I can remember again.

Today, know that God hears your prayers.

Brett Stacy
National Director & Founder of the Hometown Hero Credit, a program of Operation T.A.G. (Tangible Act of Gratitude), and 501(c)(3) non-profit project of HDCF.

Websites: www.OperationTAG.org and www.HometownHeroCredit.com
Phone: 760-456-8748 (24-hour Information Line)

Disclaimer: Operation T.A.G. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a project of the High Desert Community Foundation. Operation T.A.G. is not a lender and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Nothing in this piece is medical, legal, or financial advice.

Separate educational resource

Scan the QR code to access the free Mission Homeownership PDF e-book.