Plugged into God's Blessing

The year was 1952. Rueben and Eunice Ellingson were young, in love, and ready to build their lives together. They soon had three beautiful daughters, and baby Julie made four.

Although they were happy, Eunice remembers the struggle to make it.

"At the end of the week, we would have a dime and we would go for an iced tea. That was our recreation. That was our treat," she says.

Rueben made little money driving a laundry truck after serving in the Army. He wanted more for his family. About that time he learned of a man who had also served in the armed forces, with a wife and four children, exactly Ruebens age, making some pretty good business decisions. That man was Pat Robertson!

Says Rueben, "He had a frugal approach to business, and we got a lot of that from him. He appeared to us as an honest man, a man that was serving the Lord."

The Ellingsons decided to go into business for themselves and bought a furniture store.

Then in the '70s, Rueben ventured into a brand new industry getting a lot of attention: cable television. He owned cable networks in 21 towns but was barely breaking even.

"Some small voice said dont sell," Rueben recalls. "I put on CBN, which was the Family Channel at that point, the Christian Broadcasting Network. We just said we wanted to put on CBN, and we did put on CBN."

Rueben eventually sold the stations at a profit, but Eunice says things just werent quite right.

"Grind and struggle, yes, because we were so busy. It was way too much. We were budgeting our money much better than we were budgeting our time," she says.

After years of business investments, Rueben finally understood what God was trying to tell him.

Rueben learned he needed to give to their church and to CBN the first of every month.

The need to be faithful with their tithes and offerings was exactly what they were learning on The 700 Club.

The Lord began to bless the Ellingsons beyond what they ever thought possible. Every investment prospered. Every venture succeeded. With every increase in their income came an increase in their giving. They are now members of CBN's Chairmans Circle.

The girls are grown and gone and life is a little slower, but Rueben still has his hands in several business investments. Eunice is forever grateful to God and to the ministry that helped keep them on track.

"Pats teachings have been such a blessing," says Eunice. "Ive learned things from Pat I havent heard before. Weve learned so many things about Gods promises. We have it deep in our hearts that we know God is in control."