Mizpah

December 30

She was preparing to out to a party but her son was fearful.
“Everything will be fine you’ll see,” the mother said lovingly.

“But suppose the world does end,” he insisted, “I won’t ever see you again.”

She assured him, “I’ll see you in Heaven. You will go up from here and your Dad and I from the Civic Center.”

“How will I find you in Heaven? It will be more crowded than the Civic Center.”

She hugged him. “Remember Heaven has pearly gates? Wait for me there. Ok?”
“That’s a deal Mom.”

“Mizpah, because he said, ‘May the Lord watch between me and you when we are absent one from another.” (Genesis 31:49)

First Christmas Away

Week of December 25

It is my first Christmas away from home courtesy of the U.S. Army. I am stationed in the Panama Canal Zone in the tropics. I'm from New England and use to a Curier & Ives type Christmas where the average temperature is around 30 now 80. Where lights are strung in pine tress not palm trees and snow men are not cardboard cutouts.

I'm having a real pitty party and a parked tank with eight jeeps in front of it connected by ammo belts and a stuffed Santa appearing out of the tank hatch doesn't help my mood at all.

That evening I go to a Christmas Eve service at the base chapel. The traditional carols are sung and familiar passages from Luke are read.I don't remember what the Chaplain preached about that bight but the message I heard was lound and strong.

As I stepped outside and looked up at a star filled night sky I was reminded that the first Christmas was celebrated in a desert.

Then the angel said,"behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 1:10&11)

Do Not Be Afraid

Week of December 17

Several years ago I was going through a tough time and feeling a great deal of anxiety. Something happened that has been a source of comfort and courage ever since.

I need to say, right up front, that I have never practiced, nor do I agree with, what has sometimes been called “Bible roulette.” This is the technique
of seeking guidance from God by letting the Bible fall open at random, putting your finger on the page, and trying to interpret as a directive from
God the verse thus identified. On the other hand, in my personal devotions I will often select a passage to read as I feel led, or because I feel a need.

I must also say that the Bible I usually use for my devotional reading was, at the time I am referring to, still fairly new. It was not dog-eared from
use, nor did it naturally fall open to any particular passages.

The event is recorded in my journal. But it need not be, for it stands out in my mind with crystal clarity.

I was alone and feeling agitated. There seemed no end to my anxiety. I cried out, “O God, I am so tired of being afraid!” It wasn’t a formal prayer. It was a cry from the heart.

At that moment I felt an urge, an invitation, a desire to turn to Scripture. As I reached for my Bible, I felt a definite inclination to turn to the Old Testament. But nothing more specific had yet come to mind. I opened the Bible somewhere around the middle. The very first words my eyes fell upon were these: “...do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God...”

I was awestruck. I tried to reproduce the event, but it was soon obvious that my Bible was not automatically opening to Isaiah 41:10.

The skeptic may call it coincidence. But I am convinced that God was in that event, speaking precisely to my anguish through those words of Scripture. Thanks be to God.

Persh Parker
Billings,Montana

Copyright Thanks Be, First Church of Christ, Wethersfield, Connecticut.

Christmas Presents

December 12

Every year this woman has raised funds and donated gifts to needy families. But she was feeling depressed over not selling her house and had no energy for anything.
One weekend her house sold and on Monday her boss informed her that all the sales associates decided not to exchange Christmas presents but buy toys instead and donate them to ‘her project.’

“It was God saying, Ok the house is sold here are the toys, now go distribute them. Isn’t our God awesome?”

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, For He is good, For His mercy endures forever.”
(Psalm 136:1)

Debbie Hears from God

Week of December 11

I love my God. The God who sent Jesus Christ, My Lord and Savior, HE is my everything. So when people would share how God clearly spoke to them and they were going to do something out of clearly hearing God’s word, I would become puzzled and often wonder, “Why isn’t God talking to me?”

Well, in the fall of 2005 a thought came to mind. It was that I should maybe consider moving back to St. Louis (I had been in Florida for 5 years.) When I left St. Louis I had experienced a very painful divorce and a lot of heartache so I never felt it was a place I would return to live. This idea continued to come up in my quiet time and I did not understand.

Pastor Brian’s sermons were jumping out at me. He talked about quiet time, taking time to really spend with God in prayer and adoration. Let me tell you, it is awesome what we can hear from our Lord when we are quiet and consistently seek his word and desire for us.

Two months into this, I was going back home to St. Louis for Christmas. I was clearly hearing from God that He wanted me to return permanently, but I had never experienced this before, so I was wanting to make sure I was getting it right.
I have a dear friend, a woman who truly walks and talks with our God. What Faith she has. She sent me to Florida with much love and blessings and over the past five years never once asked, “When are you coming home?” So I prayed to God to please somehow reveal to me through Mary that this is what He wanted me to do.

Six of us ladies, friends for almost 30 years, meet for lunch while I am in St. Louis. As we are leaving, my friend Mary pulls me aside and says, “Debbie, God has really put you on my heart for the past several months. I think it is time you came home.” (I began to tremble inside because I knew God was letting me know His desire for me.)

I jokingly said to her, “One problem, I need a job”. Then she proceeded to tell me another “God Thing”. Two days earlier a friend of hers, whom she had not talked to in months, just showed up at her door. Mary claims this Nurse Recruiter friend has never done such a thing before. She would normally call and ask to come by and visit. She told Mary she did not know why God led her to the house that morning, but just felt a strong need to visit her friend. During the conversation, she told Mary she was in need of a Nurse Case Manager and did she know of anyone. Oddly enough, Mary tells her that we are having lunch in two days and she would discuss it with me. Mary then tells me to fax my resume to Karen and let God do the rest.
I shared with her what I had been praying for and how she revealed to me this is what God desires for me and I want and must be obedient. We both began to cry and thank God for his goodness.

I came home, put my condo up for sale and had a telephone interview from Florida for a Nurse Case Manager position the very next week.

I have clearly heard God’s word to me and as frightening as a move, new job, etc. seems, I am excited and must be obedient. I don’t know what God has in store for me in St. Louis, but what ever it is, I will be able to get through it because I love my Lord and He is always with me. He is my Rock and my strength and is ever present.

I encourage you to spend quiet time with the Lord. Pray, read scripture and then, most importantly, be still, “listen, and know that I am God.” We MUST listen to God and be obedient to his will in our life.

Debbie Houston
St. Louis, Missouri

Christmas Cards

December 8

I look at Christmas cards differently than I did some years ago. I used to send the religious cards to the minister and a few church friends, the Currier and Ives scenes to most people on my card list and the humorous cards to family and close friends. Now I send cards appropriate to the “ reason for the season.” I don’t write Xmas anymore, to me that is crossing Christ out of Christmas.
One Christmas card I receive stands out. Its message is a timely reminder.

“From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.”
(John 1:16)

Arizona Memorial

December 7

In the motor launch to the sunken battleship Arizona I notice there are as many Japanese tourists as Americans. Pearl Harbor is as much a part of Japanese history as it is of ours. I am surprised by this but not angry. I'm proud that this nation has followed the policy of reconciliation it has with its former enemies. It really is the only way to lasting peace. Jesus must be proud too.

"I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." (Matthew 5:44)

Finding the Right Tree

December 6

Every year when I lived in Connecticut we’d head out to Bob Merriman’s Tree Farm in Burlington to pick out a live tree. The kids and dog loved roaming the woods searching for the perfect tree.
My children and now grandchildren are like those trees. We get them as seedlings with a short time in which to shape them and give them roots. I’ve shared the excitement of searching for a Christmas tree with them. I must share with them the joy of knowing the maker of that tree.

“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)

Christmas Past

December 5

I was a depression baby and grew up in a working neighborhood. Like “The Waltons,” we didn’t have much but we had each other.
Christmas was a special time. We had a cut tree, electric candles in the windows, a fresh wreath on the door. Unlike the Waltons, Bible reading was not central in my family. However, my parents modeled moral values and I know the Lord blessed us. God loves a loving family.

“ And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.
And the hearts of the children to their fathers…” (Malachi 4:6)

Lost Keys

Week of December 4

It was my junior year of college and I was studying abroad in Strasbourg, France. My roommate was another American student. One evening she realized she had misplaced her keys. She began frantically searching the room, growing more frustrated and angry with each place she looked and not finding her keys.

I have a habit (as silly as it may seem) when I lose something to ask the Lord for guidance as to where it may be. My roommate was not a Christian so I left the room and walked down the hallway toward the floor bathroom.

I prayed, “Lord, Elizabeth doesn’t know You as I do, and she doesn’t know to ask You where her keys are. But I know she’s very upset and worked up, so Lord, I am asking You for her that You might help her find her keys.”

When I returned to the room, a calmer Elizabeth said, “You’ll never believe it! Shortly after you left, I looked under my mattress and there’s my keys.”

Why am I not surprised.

Marybeth Henry
Arlington, Virginia

Led by the Spirit

Week of November 27

...being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus- Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

Some people think I'm a stodgy, cranky, Yankee. Well, they are right-but that's how God restored me. I wasn't always so conservative.

I spent the sixties and seventies searching through drugs, radical politics, rebellion and anger. I spent my adolescence as a ski-bum, working on a
riverboat and looking for extremes. I rode motorcycles and did every reckless thing to excess. I believed that life was just an existential malaise of meaningless, random events and if there was no reason to life, I thought I would at least make it
exciting. I fought the system, institutions and all the things my generation rejected. I joined the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and I was tear gassed more than once. I tried a lot of things to fill that God-shaped vacuum at my center, but nothing fit. Atheism was my religion. Nothing meant anything in light of death.

Then things I couldn't explain began to happen. I bought a Bible and actually began reading it. God was laying the groundwork.

When I decided to get married, I chose the church to which my family had belonged for centuries- First Church of Christ, Wethersfield. In order to be
married there my fiancée and I had to join. The church preaches the Word of God in the Spirit.

My fiancée's relatives, who are from a long line of Christian evangelists in China, were praying for me. So were the faithful at First Church. I believe all these prayers prompted God to save me.

The Holy Spirit began to move. It was as though the Bible had been written solely for me. Every time I opened it, the passage I read spoke directly to my needs. Every church bulletin, letter or post card from church seemed to minister to me as though I was the only person for whom it had been written. Sermons seemed prepared just for me as did the worship. And I saw the Holy Spirit in people's faces at every church event. Jesus was everywhere.

One night I even had a dream that one of the pastors at the church told me "you will receive a message from your shoe." My cat awakened me, I got up, and went about dressing quietly. I remembered the dream and looked down at my shoes but there was
no message. I did notice my suit was wrinkled and changed into another, which was a different color than the first one.

Now I had to change my shoes to match my suit. As I was leaving the house I noticed a sticky note stuck to the heel of my shoe. On the sticky note was a Bible verse.
"I am the Vine, you are the branches, abide with me."

I've been to the peaks and struggled with valleys. I've had doubts and downs and faith and ups. God is slowly and I must say, painfully at times, remaking me in His Son’s image.

I know God is at work in me, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. He is crucifying my fleshly ways, as I learn to be led by the Spirit.

I am confident of this, "that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6 NIV)

Jesus Christ saved me from myself. Praise God.

Leigh Standish
Wethersfield, Connecticut.

Copywright Thanks Be, First Church of Christ,
Wethersfield, Connecticut

Jack's Miracle

Week of November 21

Good Friday Jack was working out at the gym, as he often did. Without warning he collapsed on a weight machine and slid to the floor. A cardiac nurse happened to be working out nearby. She normally would not have been at the gym at that hour but a schedule change at work allowed her to be a the gym. She had the presence to remove vomit from Jack’s mouth which cleared his air passage. Jack, unconscious but breathing on his own was rushed to a nearby hospital.

I the emergency room Jack remained unconscious, a couple of times the doctors lost a pulse. He remained in a coma. The doctor told his wife that a cat scan showed no activity…if he regained consciousness he probably would be a vegetable. Jack’s youngest daughter, Colleen, a high school student, told her mom not to believe the doctor.

“Our God is bigger than that,” she said. Later after the rest of the family arrived Colleen found her way to the Chapel. She was alone. She prayed for God’s healing power. She said she clearly her a voice in her head say, “I will restore those (brain) cells Sunday to glorify my son’s resurrection.”

When she reported this revelation to her family she was met with skepticism, heads shaking in disbelief, and eyes rolling. The next day Jack was still in a

comma and on life support. Twice Colleen, in talking to her dad, got such a strong reaction on the monitoring machine that the nurses came in the room. The second time she was asked her to leave the hospital room. She insisted her dad was going to be ok. “You don’t know my God or my dad,” she told the nurses as she left.

The next day, Easter morning, there was a banging at her bedroom door. It was her little brother reporting that “Dad woke up.”

An excited Colleen, while driving to the hospital stopped at every convenience store she passed to exclaim “Behold the Lamb of God, my dad is healed.” She arrived at the hospital to find her dad sitting up and being his old feisty self.

When Colleen returned home that day and turned on her favorite Christian station the first thing she heard was “Behold the Lamb of God.”

Jack Reilly
Tucson, Arizona (as told by his daughter)

A Special Job Reference

Week of November 13

Approximately twenty years ago I was working as a secretary in a steamship company in New Orleans. I had been there a couple of years but because I had studied to be a legal secretary, I was ready to get a job with a law firm. I started to seek God’s guidance to help me find a job where I could utilize my legal training. During lunch hour, I would take my Bible and head behind the office building where there were benches and fountains.

While I was out there I would often see homeless people and panhandlers. There was one man in particular that was there every day. Eventually, he came to me and asked what I was reading and I told him. He asked if I was a Jesus freak and I said yes I am. He said I made him feel uncomfortable when he was trying to ask people for money. I told him I had no condemnation for him, but that I thought he seemed able bodied enough to work. I also shared my desire to get a job with a law firm.

We became speaking friends and one day he said, “Since you know God so well, why don’t you pray that I get a job.” At that moment I put my hand on his shoulder and started praying out loud. “Not here, not now,” he protested. I just kept praying. That was on a Thursday. On Monday he came running up to me at lunch. He was clean and groomed and I hardly recognized him.

An attorney who he had been asking for money had hired him. I was happy for him but I was jealous. I said (silently of course) God, I am the one who wanted a job with a law firm, have you mixed things up here or what? I was sure God knew what he was doing and I thanked him for giving this man a job. About a week later, the man came to me and said, “I have an interview for you at the law firm. The senior partner needs a secretary.” I thought this would take an act of faith for me to go on an interview at the recommendation of this man. Were they just humoring him? Those thoughts vanished immediately because I knew no matter what; I would do nothing to cause him to waiver in his belief in answered prayers. I was not going to let pride prevent me from going and thereby show a lack of faith.

I thanked God for the opportunity, went on the interview and I was hired on the spot. The attorneys still tell people that the best employment recommendation they ever had was from a homeless man. I quickly remind them that God alone was the employment agency.

God will answer your prayer when you step out in faith. God also has a wonderful sense of humor.

Carolyn Bourgeois
New Orleans, Louisiana

Trusting God

Week of November 6

It had been 16 years since I visited any gynecologist. I had no problems up until last year. I had been having irregular bleeding and heavy periods. I had several tests.... and they found that I had fibroids and a cyst on my ovary. My doctor suggested in November a full hysterectomy.

This would be my 5th surgery where they would be cutting my abdomen so I would have to sign a paper that I understand that there is more risk involved. I asked about keeping my ovaries so that I wouldn’t go into full menopause. My doctor said given my age and the cyst (that may require surgery to be removed in the future) she recommended taking everything. So she told me to let her know what I wanted to do.

I struggled with this until the day before she had scheduled my surgery. I had asked the Lord over and over again if I am doing the right thing. To be honest with you I was afraid. It was a pride issue also.I didn’t want anyone to know, because it could look as though I was weak or defeated. I chose not to tell anyone but my family.

I had these thoughts that were not of God that were telling me that things would not go right and I would die on the operating table. I was upset and I was up late at night worrying. I picked up the Bible looking for an answer. I went to several church services seeking solace but the negative thoughts just continued worse than ever. It was like the more positive I received the more negative I became. This whole thing was overwhelming. Pastor always says that the battle is in the mind. Let me tell you what was going on in my head was a war.

I had decided that I would go to women's group and afterwards I would call the doctor to tell her I decided to delay the surgery. But when I went to women's group Sandy who has always been such a comfort to me and my family, praying for us etc., came up to me and told me she was happy to see me there and asked me if I would be now able to come on Tuesdays. I told her what was going on and she began to talk and I knew the Lord was speaking to me through her because a peace and comfort came on me. The attacks immediately stopped. Sharon prayed for me and I was relaxed and knew what I had to do and it was right. I would have the operation.

Everything went extremely well in surgery and I was up walking in 8 hours, I went home two days later. When I was in the hospital I had such comfort knowing that Jesus was there with me. The nursing staff commented on how fast I was up and walking and I knew that it was the Lord giving me the ability to get up so quickly.

When I returned a week later to have the staples removed my doctor shared what she didn’t want to tell me on the telephone. She said they tested everything that was taken out and found that I had cancerous cells in the body of my uterus. This is an extremely fast growing cancer. Every time the uterus sheds, the cancer grows and starts spreading into the blood. The recommended procedure for this is a full hysterectomy. What they found was that the cancerous cells were still intact and were concentrated in one area of the uterus

My doctor told me that I was a lucky woman that someone was watching over me. I said I know God is. She said you are cured. She kept saying that over and over. We cried and held one another.

My doctor had no idea that the cancer cells were there. I asked her why it wasn't seen on all the tests. She said that where it was located no test would have detected it. I cried even more. If I had not had this operation I would be looking at 5-6 months, that’s all.

If my doctor had not taken my ovaries she would have had to go back in and get them. When cancer is present the best operation is actually cutting your abdomen (what I had) because when they do the other surgery there is a risk of dropping cells.

What an awesome God we have. Not only did He heal me of something that would have killed me but also He didn't even let me know that I had it and my family never had to go through that worry and anguish. I do not have to know everything. I just have to trust Him. No glory can be given to any test or doctor but only to God because He knew and no one else did. I am so grateful words can’t describe.

Jackie Harmon
Richmond ,Virginia

John's Miracle

Week of October 30

In mid July 2009 on the island of Kauai, Hawaii I became very sick. I had been healthy all my 63 years and this was a new experience for me. After a week of high fever, aches and waking up with the sweats I called my doctor friend in Montana. After hearing my symptoms Dan said I needed to see a local doctor.

I did and he thought it was a sinus infection. After a few days I started getting vertigo, and seeing double. I decided if I didn’t feel better in the morning I would go to the emergency room.
In the morning, still feeling lousy, I took a cab from where I lived outside of Koloa to the hospital on Kauai where I was admitted with what was originally thought to be double pneumonia. It was not.

While my lungs sounded clear x-rays revealed two white clouds. I was transferred by air taxi to the Staub Medical Center in Honolulu. Here I tested positive for Wegener’s granulomatosis, a rare autoimmune disease that attacks the organs of the body. I my case it was the lungs.

I do not remember of lot of the initial weeks in intensive care as I was drugged and in an induced coma. I was not expected to live very long and my wife and three daughters were called. They came from Montana to visit me for the last time. I did not know they were even there.

My body weight went from 167 to 132. Massive doses of steroids were given me as part of my treatment. When I awoke from the coma I was on a ventilator and had all sorts of tubes in my body. I was literally a rag doll and could only move the muscles in my neck. An emergency button to call for help was draped over my shoulder so I could press it with my neck.

I remember thinking. How am I going to possibly come back from this. I believed I couldn’t and became totally depressed.

The bed I was in was a special physical therapy bed which could be set to do a wave like motion under the body. It wasn’t suppose to be on for me but it was. The motion caused me to move sideways and my body became lodged between the mattress and the sideboard. I was being squeezed with my arms dangling helplessly over the side of the bed. I could not move my head to press the call button. I was crying out “nurse help…nurse help!”

Then a strange thing happened. It was as if my spirit had left my body. I was sitting on the edge of a small stream with tall wet grass along the banks. A mist was rising from the water. I knew if I lay down in the wet grass it would be over. No more struggles. There would be peace. My spirit was ready to totally give up.

A hand gripped my shoulder. I “sprung back.”
A voice said, “Can I help you?”

After getting me help I found out that the man who touched my shoulder was the pastor at the hospital. He told me that he received a call 30 minutes earlier from my friend Jim in White Fish, Montana who asked that the Chaplain to look me up.

From that moment on I never had depression again. In fact, during the rest of my hospital stay I was even joyful. My spirit was strong and I made dramatice progress physically. Within two weeks I was completely off the ventilator and oxygen.
I still could not move a muscle but my physical therapist thought my muscles were ‘firing’ and I believed him. He began by massaging my muscles and moving my limbs.

I was moved from Intensive Care to the sixth floor of the hospital where they put patients who are close to being released. I worked hard and talked and joked with almost every aide and nurse on that floor.

One day the doctors looked at me and my progress and said “John you are a living miracle.” They suggested I be transferred to a nursing home in Montana where I would be near friends and my support system.Flying Nurses International flew with me from Honolulu to Salt Lake City and onto Glacier International Airport in Kalispell, Mt.

It wasn’t until I was back in Montana that I learned that my doctor friend Dan and Jim, who I knew from my appraisal business, had been meeting and praying for me daily throughout my ordeal.You see, the doctors were right, I am a living miracle. And I was right, I could not come back on my own. I have no doubt that God through His grace spared my life and used my friends and that Chaplain to help me back.

John Woods
Kauai, Hawaii

Turtle over Miami

Week of October 23
It was a great year for me and my two boys. I was a single mother of an “all state- all area” 325 pound offensive lineman for Sarasota High School. The season ended at10-2. It had been a long time since SHS had seen that kind of record. It was his senior year. I was in charge of the “Pre-game meals”, so I was able to spend more time with Brian before the games. It was a great season for him and our family to see my son, the center of attention for 4 years, and now he would be moving to a college in the fall on a full scholarship!

January 2005 arrived, and Brian was preparing for “recruiting” and I was really getting nervous. He was going to possibly be moving out of state. How will I visit him or take care ofhim?How can I watch over him or protect him? All these things racing through my mind and crying out to God, “Please Lord, don’t take my son so far away”. As the days went on calls were coming in from all over the U.S. and Brian very quickly decided he wanted to stay in Florida! Whew! Relief for me, he can’t go to far…”God please let him be close”. I kept giving it to God and then I would take it back.
One morning I woke and remembered a dream I had during the night, which was very strange for me as I do not ever remember my dreams. It was about a big turtle crawling up the side walk. And that was it…so I said God “What does this mean?” Well he revealed to me that when Brian was very small a large turtle had wandered to our front door. My husband at the time picked it up and put it in our bath tub. He thought Brian would get a kick out of seeing it when he got home from kindergarten. I remember the look on his face. He was so excited, watched it for hours and fed it. It made me happy to see him get excited over this turtle. Then we decided we had to release it and took it to the pond by our house and let the turtle go…So I thought okay this was a happy moment for us and it reminded me how happy Brian was, so I took that from the dream.

A weeks went by. Within that time Brian and I had been traveling from university to university, looking to accept the best deal. He finally made a decision to move to Florida International University in Miami, a Division I school. I thought, Oh No, there’s too much crime and drugs and how will I protect him and watch over him? I became very anxious again and began praying and asking God to help me through this time. “As such a time as this”….

It was May 2005 and my little boy was graduating. I was planning a big graduation party at my home. Of course praying everyday for protection, and trying very hard to give it to God. I was still feeling a bit anxious. “God help me please, I know you will protect him, Help me to trust you better”.

Graduation day came. I was doing the last minute house check, as a dear friend of mine Debbie was preparing food in the kitchen. I decided that I needed to sweep the front porch and ran to get the broom. As I opened the front door my eye caught an object to the left and as I turned and saw the object I looked up into the sky laughing and said “Thank you God, Thank you God”….it was a large turtle at my front door. And as the Holy Spirit spoke to me, he revealed to me that a turtle carry’s his home on him, he also has a shell that protects him. The spirit was telling me that Brian would be protected and safe. That day was a day of peace for me. The last time we saw a turtle on our front door had been 12 years ago, when Brain was six. I knew this was from God and tears of joy and peace were within me. I knew that God was telling me to TRUST Him. “As such a time as this”……

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the rock eternal. Isaiah 26:4

Thank you God, I love you…

Linda Kelleher
Sarasota,Fl.

Help from Strangers

October 22

Everything seems fine until I distinctly smell gasoline. I pull off the road, open the hood and find gas seeping out of the fuel line. It is a miracle that the engine hasn’t caught fire. Now what do I do?

A car pulls in behind me. The driver sees the leak and proceeds to tape the split hose. What a Godsend he is. Come to think of it, I have had a lifetime of Good Samaritans who have come by and bailed me out of trouble. on the roadways and byways of life. Many of them were strangers but as the parable says, they were my real neighbors.

"Then Jesus said to him, 'Go and do likewise." (From the parable of the Good Samaritan.(Luke 10: 36-37)

Out of Gas

Week of October 16

I had gone to the mall for a job interview. I spotted a man pushing a broom when I entered and I figured he must know where the main office is located. He was very pleasant and appeared to know a lot about this mall.

During my interview for a management position I mentioned the nice man I encountered pushing the broom. Guess I thought I would put in a good word for him since he showed kindness to me. After I described him they smiled and said, “ Oh that’s Jeff, he owns this mall. That is one of the ways he gets to talk with the customers.”

I was hired as a manager of that mall.

After that Jeff and I kept bumping in to each other. He was always cordial and we would have friendly albeit brief conversations. Several months went by and then I learned that Jeff had sold this mall for something around $29,000,000. Shortly after this the new owners gave me an envelope to deliver to Jeff’s home.

I wasn’t surprised to find that his home was a mansion right on the water but I was surprised when I pressed the front door bell and it was Jeff who opened the door. He greeted me warmly and invited me into his home. He opened the envelope and

told me that it was a sizeable check representing his part of the commission of the sale of the mall. He or someone in his family was a licensed real estate broker. Then he shared with me that his family foundation was inundated by requests for money. He said he was really looking “to find something to give to that is making a difference.” Since I didn’t immediately respond he said, “If you run into any, let me know.” I said I would.

A couple of years went by and I was going down a back road near the coast when I see a guy standing by his car on the side of the road. It is Jeff. He has run out of gas and I offer to take him to the nearest filling station. It turns out to be some distance before we reach a station. We chat.

I ask him if he is still looking for an organization to give to that is making a difference. He asks what I have in mind? I tell him about a new organization called Gifts From God, which is feeding the hungry and helping families needing furniture or providing a car free to struggling single moms. By the time we are back to his car with a can of gasoline he has agreed to come to my office and meet with Mike Butterfield, the president of Gifts from God. From that meeting came a much needed seed grant from Jeff’s family foundation.



A year later I am driving on Laurel Road in Venice and I am rounding a curve and there is Jeff standing by his car on the side of the road. Yep! He was out of gas again. .

“You have come to my rescue again, it must be time for another grant to Gifts From God,” he grins.

It was. Mike had called me a few days ago with a bleak financial report and said we need another grant from Jeff’s foundation. And here God puts Jeff and I together again. Who else could orchestrate such timely chance meetings like this?

We received the second grant which I call truly a gift from God.

Lloyd Keith
Osprey, Florida

Moment of Faith

Week of October 2

In 1946, I was stationed in the Aleutian Islands as a chaplain for the United States Air Force. Our particular island , Shemya, was shaped like an oyster and was just large enough to have one important airstrip.

One night a tremendous earthquake broke open the deep water of the Bay of Alaska and sent tons of surge water ( a tsunami) toward our island. The high flood water, much higher than our island, was to hit us at about 3 a.m.

We had 3,600 men on the island, but only one surface craft for about 200. The idea of evacuation was abandoned.

Hundreds of men and officers gathered in the chapel on the high side of the island. Our highest elevation was about 18 feet and we were warned to expect about forty feet. Every light was on in the chapel. We had both large and small prayer services and the men periodically sang songs of all faiths and wrote letters. Many men sat alone thinking of their families and what the impending death by drowning would be like.

At about 4 a.m. the wave came. There was a strong gush of wind and high water, but nothing like the predicted 40 feet. The island of Adak, lying 400
miles to the east broke the wave in two, with one half going into the Bearing Sea and the other toward Hawaii.

We were spared. Lots of water (ranging from15 to 18 feet) and a lot of mopping up, but there were no casualties. Not a single life was lost. The water came as far as the Chapel steps. Our faith had been lifted by total trust and dependence on God, and he came to our rescue.

Lionel W. Nelson, USAF retired
Sunny Side Village, Sarasota

“Copyright©2003, Sarasota Herald-Tribune.Reprinted with express permission of the Sarasota-Herald Tribune.”

Led by the Spirit

Week of September 25


...being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus- Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

Some people think I'm a stodgy, cranky, Yankee. Well, they are right-but that's how God restored me. I wasn't always so conservative.

I spent the sixties and seventies searching through drugs, radical politics, rebellion and anger. I spent my adolescence as a ski-bum, working on a
riverboat and looking for extremes. I rode motorcycles and did every reckless thing to excess. I believed that life was just an existential malaise of meaningless, random events and if there was no reason to life, I thought I would at least make it
exciting. I fought the system, institutions and all the things my generation rejected. I joined the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and I was tear gassed more than once. I tried a lot of things to fill that God-shaped vacuum at my center, but nothing fit. Atheism was my religion. Nothing meant anything in light of death.

Then things I couldn't explain began to happen. I bought a Bible and actually began reading it. God was laying the groundwork.

When I decided to get married, I chose the church to which my family had belonged for centuries- First Church of Christ, Wethersfield. In order to be
married there my fiancée and I had to join. The church preaches the Word of God in the Spirit.

My fiancée's relatives, who are from a long line of Christian evangelists in China, were praying for me. So were the faithful at First Church. I believe all these prayers prompted God to save me.

The Holy Spirit began to move. It was as though the Bible had been written solely for me. Every time I opened it, the passage I read spoke directly to my needs. Every church bulletin, letter or post card from church seemed to minister to me as though I was the only person for whom it had been written. Sermons seemed prepared just for me as did the worship. And I saw the Holy Spirit in people's faces at every church event. Jesus was everywhere.

One night I even had a dream that one of the pastors at the church told me "you will receive a message from your shoe." My cat awakened me, I got up, and went about dressing quietly. I remembered the dream and looked down at my shoes but there was
no message. I did notice my suit was wrinkled and changed into another, which was a different color than the first one. Now I had to change my shoe to match my suit.

As I was leaving the house I noticed a sticky note stuck to the heel of my shoe. On the sticky note was a Bible verse. "I am the Vine, you are the branches, abide with me."

I've been to the peaks and struggled with valleys. I've had doubts and downs and faith and ups. God is slowly and I must say, painfully at times, remaking me in His Son’s image.

I know God is at work in me, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. He is crucifying my fleshly ways, as I learn to be led by the Spirit.

I am confident of this, "that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6 NIV)

Jesus Christ saved me from myself. Praise God.

Leigh Standish
Wethersfield, Connecticut

Masters Quartet

Week of September 18

We were on our way back to Fayetteville NC from Augusta, Georgia where we sang to about 700 people in the First Baptist Church when our old bus broke down along I-95 somewhere in South Carolina. We thought at first we had blown a tire but then we realized the engine was still running but it wouldn’t go in gear.

Our piano player Earl Britt said,” the only thing I know to do is to start praying.”
We are on our knees when there is a knock on the side of the bus. I get up and go to the door and here is an elderly gentleman with a straw hat, white shirt and bib overalls and a sports jacket. He says you boys a quartet? Now we’ve got letters on the side of the bus that are three feet high that say Masters Quartet. I chuckled and said Yes Sir. He says would you boys be able to sing tonight? I was just getting ready to tell him no, when my younger brother Tommy jerked me out of the way and says. “Yes sir we will but we can’t go, our bus broke down.”

He says, “That’s no problem, I can be back in about 15 minutes. with some trucks to take you and your equipment to my house. In about twenty minutes he came back with two Ford Stake trucks a station wagon and a wrecker.

I told the wrecker driver that we didn’t have any money and to leave the bus be. The love offering we received from the Baptist church was only $50 and between us we didn’t have $200.

We all pile in the trucks and station wagon and go to the preacher’s house which is out n the country about 30 miles from the interstate. When we arrive his wife has dinner ready for us. The food was set up on two long tables. We finish eating and watch a little TV. What we didn’t know was that this preacher, his wife and two children all had separate telephone lines and were calling people and telling them to be at the church at 6:30.

We learn that Pastor Reed had been a preacher for an Assembly of God church in Indiana. When his parents died he had come to South Carolina to live on their farm. When the pastor of the local Presbyterian church died he was asked if he would fill in. He’s been filling in for several years now.

When we get to this old wooden church in the middle of a tobacco field it is packed. After singing about five songs the preacher tells us to go back to where the refreshments are as he is going to take up a love offering for us. After what happened at the First Baptist church I’m kind of leery and I stand by the door.
When the ushers come forward with the plates he looks over the podium and says ,“that ain’t goner work…these boys sang at a big Baptist church in Augusta and they got $50…that ain’t happenin here. Now I’m gonna send these ushers back out and when they come back if these plates aren’t full I’m gonna tell what I know and who I know it on.”

They finish the collection and call us back out and we sing a little more and the last song we did was Sinner Saved by Grace. We use that at our altar call.
As the preacher is praying this little blonde haired girl comes running down the aisle to ask God to save her. She had run away from home and had been gone for sometime and had returned home and asked her mommy and daddy to forgive her and they said if God has forgiven you we will. And that is why she was running to the altar to ask God to forgive her and become her Savior.

After all was said and done our piano player says to me, “Is that our bus I hear running outside?” I look out the door and there is the wrecker driver standing by our bus in greasy overalls with his hat in his hand.
I say, “you fixed it.”
He says, “Yep.”
“How much do we owe you?”
“You owe us nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
He says, “that little girl who just went to the altar is my daughter. She wouldn’t have come if y’all hadn’t been here tonight.”
I asked him what was wrong with our bus and he says all the bolts on the fly wheel had fallen out and were laying in the dust pan.
“ Wait a minute. I’m mechanic enough to know that bolts don’t fall out of a flywheel, especially on a bus. They have locking caps on them and they don’t fall out, you have to drill them out.”
He says, “Every one of them was laying in the pan and not a thread on anyone of them was torn off. God backed the bolts out of that flywheel so you would be here so my daughter would hear the singing and your testimony that you brought here tonight.”

As we drove home I opened the envelope containing our love offering. We counted out coins and small bills totaling $ 1200. .

About four months later we got a phone call from Preacher Reed who said they were trying to raise money to build a new church. He wanted a gospel sing and would we help. We got three and four other groups we knew and we drove to South Carolina to sing in the middle of a football field standing on a flatbed trailer. That night they raised over $100,000.

They built the church and invited us back to sing at their first service. When we pulled up in front of the church there was a big piece of marble block on the Northeast corner of the building. Inscribed on that block was Masters Quartet and they listed all ten names in our group, the four singers, the five musicians, and our bus driver.
We kept in touch over the years and we went back and sang at Preacher Reed’s funeral. He had filled in for 15 years.

Lee Bissette
Sarasota Fl.

America Under Attack

Week of September 11

This is the day there was a deliberate attack on America. We were all shocked. We are outraged. We are angry.
That evening, ten year ago, I join others in church. The first prayer isn’t for the victims or their families (although that would come later) it is for repentance.This catches me off guard.


The officiating pastor asks Is this a wake up call for America to stop worshipping idols such as our affluence and our military might?

I wondered about all the people killed? That night when I returned home I read what Jesus said in Luke.

“Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem. I tell you, no: but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:4-5)

Now its ten years later and I'm glad our nation is reflecting on 9/11 again. What has really changed in this nation since then.

Are we "one nation under God?"

Have we repented?

Are we still worshiping Idols?

We are facing an enemy far worse than terrorist.

The enemy is ourselves.

Mal Salter 9/11/11

Facing the Past

Week of September 4

THE APPROACH OF THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF MY SON STEVEN'S DEATH , I HAD BOOKED A TRIP TO TAHITI WITH A FELLOW CO-WORKER. I WANTED TO BE FAR AWAY FROM EVERYTHING . THE MORNING OF THE DATE 09/01, I LET MY FRIEND KNOW THAT I NEEDED TO BE ALONE FOR A WHILE AND DECIDED TO GO DOWN TO THE BEACH. AS AN AFTER-THOUGHT I REACHED FOR MY CAMERA.

AS I SAT VERY PEACEFUL LOOKING OUT TOWARD THE WATER,OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY EYE I SAW A FIGURE ON HORSEBACK,IN THE WATER, AS THE HORSE DREW NEARER, THERE WAS A YOUNG MAN,BARE TO THE WAIST, WITH LONGISH BLOND HAIR. I FELT MY SELF SUDDENLY ALERT AND AS HE WAS JUST IN FRONT OF ME HE TURNED HIS HEAD AND SMILED, NODDING HIS HEAD...I THOUGHT MY MIND WAS PLAYING TRICKS ON ME AS HE WAS THE IMAGE OF STEVEN. I SLOWLY REACHED FOR MY CAMERA AND TOOK A PICTURE...THE CALMNESS THAT CAME OVER ME WAS BEAUTIFUL.. I REMEMBER THINKING , NO MATTER HOW FAR YOU TRY TO AVOID THE REALITY, IT WILL FOLLOW YOU.

WHEN I WENT BACK TO THE HUT,MY FRIEND ASKED IF I WAS OK AND I REMEMBER TELLING WHAT OCCURED AND STATING THAT I WAS FINE AND COMFORTED, BUT IF WHEN I WENT BACK HOME AND DEVELOPED THE PHOTO AND THERE WAS NOTHING THERE...I WOULD REALLY FREAK OUT.

THE PICTURE WAS REAL AND ANYONE I SHOWED IT TO SAID , "THAT'S STEVEN"

A FEW YEARS AFTER THAT EPISODE, I FELT IT WAS TIME FOR ME TO GO TO VERMONT WHERE STEVEN DIED. I ONLY KNEW THE NAME OF THE TOWN AND THE NAME TERRIBLE MT. A FRIEND INSISTED THEY DRIVE ME THERE. WE APPROACHED THE TOWN AND AS WE CAME AROUND A CURVE IN THE ROAD, I ASKED MY FRIEND TO STOP AND ASK A MAN RAKING LEAVES IF HE KNEW WHERE THIS PLACE WAS. HE POINTED TO THE ROAD WE WERE JUST PARKED BY AND WE WENT.

I WALKED AROUND THE PLACE WHERE THE HOUSE BURNED BY MYSELF AND LOOKED AT THE MAGNIFICENT VIEW MY SON HAD SEEN AND FELT AT PEACE. AS I GOT BACK IN THE CAR, I ASKED MY FRIEND TO PLEASE TURN ON THE RADIO AS WE DROVE DOWN THE MOUNTAIN.

tHE FIRST SONG WAS THE BEATLES "LET IT BE" AND THE VERY NEXT THE GRATEFUL DEADS, "RIPPLES IN STILL WATERS". BOTH OF THESE SONGS WE SUNG AT MY SON'S FUNERAL....AGAIN A SENSE OF CONTACT THAT HAS NEVER BEEN BROKEN WITH STEVEN HAS HELPED ME FACE MANY OF LIFES STRUGGLES. I AM TRULY GRATEFUL TO HAVE EXPERIENCED THESE MIRACLES IN MY LIFE.

MARGARET SALTER
AVON COMMECTICUT

Free Lunch

August 30

The preacher held up a paper bag asking, “There is a gift in here who wants it?” John, who has cerebral palsy, is the first to respond. In the bag is a gift certificate to a restaurant. The preacher makes the point that salvation is like this gift; you have to receive it. The next day John is eating his free lunch with such joy that a couple tell the waitress they want to pay for his meal.

Later another couple does the same. Who said there is no free lunch? John had three.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Sign Fall is Coming

August 29

"What do you mean, the change in green. Isn't green, ah--green?" I protest.
Joy explains that as the chlorophyll production slows the greens become muted, a sure sign fall is coming. I hadn't noticed the "change of greens " before but then I’m the last to notice a pregnancy, or that the living room carpet has changed. But I do notice the change of green now.

Change is all part of God's plan. We should embrace it and live each moment fully.

"To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1)

A Special Moment

Week of August 28

It is September 1, 2006. It is twenty years to the day that Steven perished in a house fire while staying with friends in Vermont. He was 18. His older brother by 15 months is unusually restless on this day. “I think I should go to Steve’s grave,” he says.

“I’ll go with you.”

We bring our son Tommy with us. He is a towhead like Steve was and looks a lot like his uncle did growing up, so much so that Tommy’s grandparents will have a senior moment and call him Steven.

At the simple gravesite in the Village Cemetery behind First Church in Wethersfield Ct. we kneel or squat before the in-ground marker. Being there gives me a chance to talk to Tommy, who at age 12 has expressed fears about death. I share we are a family of faith and believe that death does not have to be final.
I tell him Uncle Steve’s human remains are buried here but that his being, his spirit if you will has moved on to Heaven. Tommy is quiet and nods.

At the precise moment we all rise to leave, the church bell rings out. We are all energized by this serendipitous moment.

We walk the short distance to the car. Rob starts the engine and the radio immediately blares out:
“It was twenty years ago today-” from the Beatles “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band.”

Go Figure! Rob and I take it as a Sign, a la the movie with the same name.

It could also have been a special message to give peace of mind to a worrying nephew.

Melissa Connors
Wethersfield, Connecticut

Retreat Center

Week of August 22

Bill and Cindy are a wonderful Christian couple. For years Bill has taught Latin in the Manchester Public School System. Cindy was a youth counselor when she first met Bill. They are married, have six children and are running a retreat center in Hebron, Connecticut called Mary's Field.
.
The Pfeiffers have a modest home for themselves and their children. Despite having a large family they opened their home to unwed pregnant girls who had nowhere to go and wanted to deliver their unborn babies. The family agreed on the need to find a separate place for Mary's Field and expand its reach to anyone seeking deeper spiritual meaning.

Bill said the whole family discussed what an ideal center would look like. Each of the children had things they wanted. The younger children wanted an indoor pool to swim in year round and not have to worry about leaves or cold weather. The youngest boy wanted "a neat robot thing that cleans the pool." One teenager wanted a tennis court and another a jute box. Bill wished for a room large enough to house a small chapel and Cindy visualized a spacious kitchen suitable for volunteers to prepare meals for groups.




Bill, an ordained priest, lead the family in prayer and presented these requests to the Lord. Bill then suggested to the children that they give up something they like, to show their seriousness in making these prayer requests. The children decide to give up watching television.

Almost a year goes by. No television. No retreat center. “Then came God's answer,” Bill said. He receives a call from a Mary’s Field board member who reports a local bank had foreclosed on an estate. A developer had built the mansion as his personal residence during the real estate boom of the early 1980’s.The housing bubble burst, the developer had committed suicide and the bank was left with the property. It had remained vacant for more than a year and the bank “is anxious to unload this white elephant.”

The Pfeiffer family went to take a look. A long secluded driveway leads into the property that includes 23 acres, mostly wooded. A large two-story house sits on a hill overlooking woods and a pond. In front of the house there is a paved area for parking and a lawn with a flagpole. Adjacent to the house is a hard surface tennis court and down the hill is a carriage house large enough to serve as a chapel.



The sprawling contemporary house has a rustic interior with four bedrooms, three baths, and a spacious dining room off of a large kitchen that is suitable for cooking for groups.

There is an indoor pool and yes, it is equipped with a self-cleaning robot. One thing the Pfeiffers hadn't requested was a party room with a built in wet bar. However, in one corner of this room stands a shiny jute box.

"And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (Matthew 21:22)

Bill Pfeiffer
Hebron Connecticut

A Lump in my Throat

Week of August 14, 2011

During a routine physical examination my family doctor found a growth in my throat. He sent me to a specialist who determined it was a five cm tumor that was in such a difficult area of the throat that he recommended another specialist to do the operation. The encouraging news was that the doctor felt it was likely benign.
My position on a local hospital board lead me to see another qualified surgeon but he would not do the surgery but referred me to a surgeon in Texas who he said was considered the best in the nation for this type of operation.

I became very nervous by these developments and my 23 years of working in hospital administration did nothing but increase my anxiety. In short, I became a nervous wreck. This heightened the concern of my adult children who had not seen their dad in such a state.
My online research revealed the potential after effects could be permanent numbness of the tongue, paralyzed facial muscles, speech impediments and vocal cord damage. Now I was a babbling fool worrying about all these possibilities over which I had no control. My research about the hospital and the surgeon gave me some peace of mind but they were both in Texas and I was in Florida. My adult children wanted me to have to operation closer to them so they could be with me.

For the next five months I delayed the inevitable and this was taking a toll on me. I was waking up in the middle of the night in fear of dying. I even rationalized not having the operation if the rate of growth of the tumor was slow enough I could avoid having to remove it. However, reality set in when it became clear that the tumor was blocking my nasal passages and affecting my breathing when I was in certain positions. I was my own worst enemy.

I could see the Lord was trying to help me though other people but I was trying to stay in control. One night I woke up struggling to breath. I got out of bed and fell on my knees and cried out; "Lord I can't do this on my own. I am lost without you. Lord please take control."

During the next week my son David who is a pastor of a church in Massachusetts and who was not expected to make the trip to Texas was able to rearrange his schedule and said he would be able to fly to Houston and be with me. Shortly after this my other son Robert told me he would be with me when David had to leave. I knew this was the Lord showing me that he was in control and working things out.

I flew to Texas for pre-op testing. My confidence in the surgeon was very high. However, he said from the Cat Scan he could see no clear method of removal without the need to split my jaw to gain access to the tumor. He further stated that a group of other surgeons he meets with for pre-op review were all in agreement. The operation was scheduled in two weeks. I was devastated.

I returned home mad about his findings and determined to find another surgeon who would do it my way and remove the tumor without breaking my jaw. I was playing doctor again and trying to take control.

This time being a little more aware of the negative effect of my taking control, I called my Pastor Brian and asked for another prayer session with the church elders.
We arranged the meeting and I tried intensely to convince everyone that I needed their support to find another way. One of the elders, responding with love and compassion sent me to yet another ENT specialist. He refused to do the operation but did offer to pursue other surgeons at Moffit Hospital (in Florida) and Massachusetts General (near my sons).

After making those appointments I woke up one night with and even worst breathing attack. Once again I was back on my knees.I had tried to take control again and I failed again.

I arose the next day in obedience to the Lord and called my son and asked him to meet me in Houston for the operation. The morning I left, my daughter gave me some helpful scriptures for reassurance. (Psalm 34:11-18 and Psalm 55:22)(1Peter 5:6-7) and (Colossians 3:15).
I returned to the surgeon who had scared me out of my wit but I was confident the Lord would answer my prayers and guide this surgeon to remove the tumor without breaking my jaw.
The night before the operation I met the surgeon for the final briefing. He again emphasized that I should be prepared for the jaw splitting. He did not want me to wake up in recovery and be shocked by my condition. Knowing the Lord was in control and would answer my prayers, I looked the doctor in the eye and said; "I know you must do what you think you must do but I believe God will show you another way!" He smiled but said nothing.
I prayed that night along with my son. There were hundreds of people praying for me in three different churches. The operation was performed the next day and I woke up hours later in Intensive Cara... without having a split jaw. The operation was successfully completed by the Great Physician guiding the hands of my Texas surgeon.
What I didn't know was that my surgeon was also a believer and he was willing to be guided by our Lord. When he went to operate he noticed a slight opening and he was able to massage the tumor with a finger into a position where he could remove it.
When I was discharged the surgeon said to me, "prayer does get answered."
I can testify to that. Praise the Lord

Robert Polimeni
Sarasota

Reprinted from the book Go Figure Sarasota/Manatee
available @ Amazon.Com access by typing in Mal Salter

The Miracle Healings

Week of August 1

While in San Francisco I was ministering in a multi-ethnic church downtown. There were two deaf mute women who arrived late and I realized that God was going to touch them that day. When I prayed for them they both began speaking and each wept as she heard her own words for the first time.

"I can hear, I can hear!"

One woman was also blind. She had no optic nerve in her right eye. When I prayed for her, she received her sight.

During a previous meeting in Washington State I walked up to a woman and prophesied to her (without knowing her condition) that the Lord was going to heal her hips and knees. She laughed and said, "That's going to be hard, I have steel plates in my knees!" She ended up falling to the floor, laughing hysterically, and remained in that intermittent state for several hours. Five days later I received a phone call from the apostolic/pastoral leader of that region who indicated that the woman was completely healed!

Danny Steyne, apostolic leader, Mountain of Worship, Columbia, South Carolina

Letter to an Unknown Soldier

Week of July 24


The song ends and there is a moment of dead air on the radio. The silence is broken by a boy’s voice.

“My teacher gave us a class assignment to write an unknown soldier serving in Iraq. I think this is a cool project. My dad is already over there serving in the army. I decide to write the unknown soldier as I would write my dad.

‘Dear Unknown Soldier:

I miss you. I am praying for you and I love you.’

I hand my letter in with the rest of my classmates. My teacher was taking care of mailing the letters.

I didn’t expect anyone would get a response but three weeks later a letter came to the school addressed to me. I couldn’t believe it. My letter had found my very own dad.”

Heard on Northwest Radio, Twin Cities
Minnesota

Make Plans, Take Steps

I began preaching when I was twenty years old in a little church in Neapolis, Ohio. I was married that same year. Marilyn and I thought we would stay in that town all of our lives.

It was our hometown, our children were born there and our parents lived nearby. I said, “ I will never live in the city.” Be careful with the “never’s.”

In 1964 the Elders from North Highlands Church of Christ on Archer Avenue in Fort Wayne were determined that we were to come to this church. We prayed over it and felt God’s call, so we moved to Fort Wayne.

The Church flourished and grew and helped spawned Christ Church in Georgetown. We soon had outgrown our building so we made plans to build a million dollar building in the suburbs of Fort Wayne: North Highlands Community.

We went to a bank that promised financing, we had plans drawn and we held a groundbreaking ceremony with the mayor there. There was even a picture in the newspaper and a contractor on the site. That year, 1973, was a severe downturn of the economy. When we went to the bank to obtain our loan for 800 thousand dollars we were told the money is no longer available. What do you do?

We had made plans and promises. What was God thinking? What did God want us to do?

I said, “We are going to prayer.” I had heard about early morning praying in Korea. I said, “we're going to go to prayer at 5:30 in the morning. and we're going to pray until we get an answer.”

That went on for six weeks. You know how early 5:30 in the morning is when you start praying at that hour for six weeks, seven mornings a week? I'm a morning person but I was never consistently up that many mornings, going to bed later every night.

One morning following prayer, I was with a group of pastors who heard the mayor of our city, Ivan Lebamoff , speak and challenge each of us to look at the downtown area of Fort Wayne, where everyone was leaving at that time in 1973. The mayor urged us to look at the downtown as a place of potential, of opportunity. God laid it on my heart to remember the empty church building at the corner of Broadway and Wayne, which had been the old Wayne Street Methodist Church.

That morning I went to that building, opened the door, went in, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There before me was the floor plan that we were going to build and still intact since1871. It was constructed of sturdy oak, had stained glass, a pipe organ, a wood floor gymnasium, and a commercial kitchen. Altogether it was 48,00 square feet of usable building. For two hours I walked around in there with unbelief, arguing with God, saying, this can't be, how can we do this? I went home and I couldn't talk. Marilyn thought I had been in an some sort of accident.

That night as Marilyn and I walked I said, “Honey, I've dreamed a dream or seen a vision.”

After I shared with her my amazing discovery she said, “Bob I told you two weeks ago we should buy that building when we went past it.”

I hadn’t heard her but God did and the Broadway Christian Church was born.

About eighty families, approximately 300 people came with us from the suburbs to the city. The people who came interestingly enough were mostly the ones who came to Christ during my nine years at North Highlands. Our first service at Broadway Christian was held on January 6, 1974.

I began preaching on discipleship and what it means to seriously follow Jesus. I preached two and a half years on that theme. I preached for seven consecutive Sundays on repentance. I had never done that before in my life.

On one of those Sunday mornings our Church School superintendent came with his wife at his side weeping and he confessed he was a closet alcoholic. His Sunday School class with an elder leading them surrounded that man and vowed to stay with him until he was sober. That morning was a high water mark spiritually for the people knew then it was a safe place to confess sins.

I am retired from Broadway Christian now but we still live in Fort Wayne most of the year. I look back over 28 years at not only the growth in numbers (2,000 people and five services in two locations) but the organizations and churches that grew out of that one as we tried to be good disciples to our neighborhood and beyond.

It is obvious now what happened back in 1973 when the bank failed to give us a promised loan. God saved us from ourselves.

“A man’s heart devises his way; but the Lord directs his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

Pastor Bob Yawberg
Fort Wayne, Indiana

"Pull Over"

Week of July 11

When I was little, my parents, brother and I made yearly trips to Maine, my mother's home state. Our trip was a long one from North Carolina to this northern destination, but we always looked forward to it.

The year was 1966 and we were on our yearly trek. I was about eight years old. My brother, who is older than me by 17 months, was sitting in the back with me and we were both trying to spot unusual landmarks. We were on the Massachusetts's Turnpike and it was a bright and beautiful sunny day, about 2.00 in the afternoon. My father was driving and mother was talking to him about how excited she was to be going home to Maine.

Out of nowhere a booming voice filled the entire car, "Pull over!" We all looked at each other and then my father looked in his rear view mirror. We couldn't locate the source of the "voice". Again, more emphatically we heard, "Pull Over!” I recall the surprised look on all our faces. Our heads were turning in all directions trying to spot where this "voice" was coming from. Mother and father were saying that maybe it was a state police helicopter with a megaphone. My brother and I were saying, "What was that? What was that?" Because we expected our parent's to know.


Once again the "voice" came, "Pull Over!" So, we did. Father and mother both got out of the car and were anxiously waiting to see if a police car was going to stop behind them. Had we been speeding? Was there something wrong with the car that the authorities may have spotted? I heard the nervousness in my parents’ voices as they questioned each other about what it could be and continued to look all around.

We had pulled over to the emergency lane and there they stood, just outside the car, craning their necks and heads in all directions, behind them, up in the air, looking and searching everywhere for the source of the voice.

Other cars whizzed past. The travelers were going to their destination like there wasn't anything wrong, other than thinking perhaps, "Why are those crazy people from North Carolina standing on the side of the road looking around"?

Eventually, my mother and father got back into the car. My brother and I were quiet and waited to see if they were going to be able to explain this to us. My father just started the car and we eased back onto the turnpike.

That was it. Nothing happened. No one showed up with blue flashing lights. It was just a voice coming out of nowhere beseeching us to "pull over.” We continued on our trip to Maine and as always we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves once there.

We have discussed this event many times as a family. We all know we heard the "voice" and we each clearly heard the command three times. We experienced something that none of us, to this day, have ever been able to rationally explain. We believe an accident was avoided and God had his hand directly on us.

Donna Everhardt
North Carolina

Do Not Be Afraid

Week of July 3


Several years ago I was going through a tough time and feeling a great deal of anxiety. Something happened that has been a source of comfort and courage ever since.

I need to say, right up front, that I have never practiced, nor do I agree with, what has sometimes been called “Bible roulette.” This is the technique
of seeking guidance from God by letting the Bible fall open at random, putting your finger on the page, and trying to interpret as a directive from
God the verse thus identified. On the other hand, in my personal devotions I will often select a passage to read as I feel led, or because I feel a need.

I must also say that the Bible I usually use for my devotional reading was, at the time I am referring to, still fairly new. It was not dog-eared from
use, nor did it naturally fall open to any particular passages.

The event is recorded in my journal. But it need not be, for it stands out in my mind with crystal clarity.

I was alone and feeling agitated. There seemed no end to my anxiety. I cried out, “O God, I am so tired

of being afraid!” It wasn’t a formal prayer. It was a cry from the heart.

At that moment I felt an urge, an invitation, a desire to turn to Scripture. As I reached for my Bible, I felt a definite inclination to turn to the Old Testament. But nothing more specific had yet come to mind. I opened the Bible somewhere around the middle. The very first words my eyes fell upon were these: “...do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God...”

I was awestruck. I tried to reproduce the event, but it was soon obvious that my Bible was not automatically opening to Isaiah 41:10.

The skeptic may call it coincidence. But I am convinced that God was in that event, speaking precisely to my anguish through those words of Scripture. Thanks be to God.

Persh Parker
Billings, Montana

Jana

June 28

She fled to Florida by bus with one suitcase. Jana didn’t give her last name still fearing reprisals from her abuser.
“I needed a car and prayed specifically for a clean four-dour Camry, so I could take people to church with me. And God, I prefer a brown or beige one.” Gifts from God, which receives donated cars, called her. When she arrived she saw truly a gift from God waiting. It was a Camry, four-door, beige and fresh from the car wash.

“And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
(Matthew 21:22)

In a Bad Place

June 27

“I’m in a bad place,” After listening to his story Joy kneeled before him and began praying. He sat stiffly, his wife cried.
At communion a month later our pastor invited all. “I want you to feel welcomed with a hug from the Lord himself.” Our friend came down the isle tears streaming down his face and wrapped his arms around the elder at the communion table and bawled. He was with his God again.

“He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet on a rock, and established my steps.”
(Psalm 40:2)

Lost Wallett

Week of June 26

Jim lost his wallet and that affected the whole family. It happened sometime Sunday although he didn’t realize he had misplaced his wallet until he was getting his things ready Sunday night for the morning commute.

He had washed two cars and detailed them Sunday afternoon so that was the first place he looked. The rest of us started the search inside the house, starting with the obvious places like the nightstand by the bed and the buffet in the dining room. We progressed to feeling in the crevasses of the cushions on the couch and inside the levels of the Lazy Boy chair. Soon we were trashing the house. All was for naught.

Monday morning Jim drove off to work without his wallet and of course without his license, I prayed the wallet would be found. Monday night we resumed the search perhaps more frantically than the day before. Jim and the kids went out and checked the cars again and I looked around inside revisiting many of the same places I had searched before. No wallet. I prayed some more

Tuesday Jim was obviously still upset and began grumbling about the prospect of having to apply for a duplicate license and call the credit card companies to close the accounts. As he stood by the door he said he was going to take my car this morning because the SUV was low on gas. I suggested we pray together, something we hadn’t done for awhile. So we did.

We didn’t ask that the wallet be found but we praised the Lord for all that we did have and confessing that we didn’t have to worry about these things but just give it all over to Him. I felt better after praying.

I walked him out to the car. As he opened the door he shouted, “There’s my wallet!”

I took a step forward and then I saw it too. It was on the floor in front of the back seat right in plain sight. He and the kids had searched both vehicles twice, most recently as last night. That wallet could not have been out in the open like that.

We looked at each other in disbelief. How did it get there? What if he hadn’t decided to take my car instead of his today?

Cathy Pansa
Shorewood, Illinois

Yard Sale

Week of June 20

It wasn’t your typical yard sale. For me it was a desperation move.

I was down to my last six dollars. I needed gas to get to work, the electric bill was overdue and my water would be shut off if I didn’t pay it by Monday. It would be another week before I received another paycheck and I was already one month behind in my rent as well as my other bills.

My wife and I were separated and I had recently been diagnosed with Hepatitis C. I really was at the end of my rope. I needed this sale to survive one more day.

A friend arrived for moral support and I asked him if he would pray with me. We stood together in the empty living room. He prayed, “Lord bless my friend and help him though this situation. Without you we are nothing but with your blessing we know we can get through anything. You said Lord, ‘Come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.’ We are here Lord and we need your help, Amen.”

Everything I owned was out on the lawn except my mattress, clothes and the computer on which I couldn’t make the payments.

During the first hour I sold $80 worth of furniture including my couch, end table and some lamps.
The flow of potential buyers slowed considerably during the second hour and I took in just $20 more.
During a lull the phone rang and I dashed into the house to answer it.

The lady on the phone said, “You gave me a quote to paint my house several months ago. Does your offer still stand?”

“It sure does.”

“How soon can you start?”

“Lady I’ll be there this afternoon for the one third
down payment so I can buy your paint.”

I rushed outside to retrieve my kitchen table and chairs from the lawn. Then I told my friend.

“I made a bid to paint a lady’s house six months ago and she calls me today of all days. Go figure.”

My friend looked at me with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes and said, “That call was prompted by the Lord.”

Patrick Lavilla
Beaumont Tx

Jump Start

Week of June 12

My goal is to get around Washington DC before dark. I am heading south to deliver furniture to the kid in college. I notice the car is running a little hot towing the U Haul so I stop at a rest area in Maryland between Baltimore and DC.

I go to the bathroom, walk around some to stretch my legs and return to the car. I turn the key in the ignition-nothing. Try again. Dead. Now what?
These high tech cars stump me (mine is a ten-year old 1989 Cadillac DeVille). I have no idea what to do next. I call my road service plan and they locate a towing service near the interstate.

“We’ll have to send two trucks,” he says, “One for your car and one for the trailer.” Looks like I will be spending the night nearby.

As I return dejectedly to my car. I say Lord I need help here. A voice in my head says try your spare key. I try the key and the car starts right up. I call my road guy, cancel the tow service and head south.
I have no further problems. I should call those “Car Talk” brothers on PBS about this one.

Walter Holloway
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Are You in Ministry?

June 8

"I think I know you," the man at the next table stated, "are you in ministry?"

"I'm not ordained," and wondered immediately why I said that. It sounded so awkward. He didn't ask me if I was a minister. He asked if I was in ministry. Aren't all believers expected to be in ministry?" I should have said yes.

"But be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." (2 Timothy 4:5)

"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us;
(2 Corinthians 5:20)

An Apology to my Teachers

June 7

I am sorry for:
-causing my firth grade teacher to hit me with a pitch pipe that squeaked afterwards;
-putting a cat in my teacher’s desk draw and kudos for how he handled it;
-breaking the glass in the door when I backed into it during horseplay in English;
-my part in the food fight that splattered an ice cream bar on the Principle's suit.
-waiting so long before taking my ultimate teacher seriously? Thanks for Your patience. This student is ready and now I see the Teacher appearing everywhere.

“If we confess our sins he is faithful…”
(1 John 1:9)

Mr. Clarke

Week of June 5

There are some things that just defy logical explanations. This is one of those things for me. I was a mother with a small boy at home. About once a month a Mr. Clarke would stop by, usually late morning, with a suitcase full of small household items for sale. Mr. Clarke, I never knew his first name and always addressed me as Mrs.Marr. He was an older gentleman of retirement age who was trying to augment his income by going door-to-door selling whatever he could. I felt sorry for him and would always buy something, even if only a pair of shoe strings, so he wouldn’t leave without having sold something.

Mainly we would just chat about the weather or something in the news that week while my little boy played with blocks or some other toy on the living room floor. After several minutes of friendly conversation he would open his suitcase and point out some new item. I would listen to whatever he was promoting and politely say I didn’t think I needed that right now but what we really needed was a box of bandages. I would purchase an item and he was always most gracious,packed his wares and left.


This went on for about a year and then one month passed and he hadn’t stopped by. Several months passed and no Mr. Clarke. There was a knock at the door one morning and I opened it to find a thin pleasant looking woman.

“Are you Mrs. Marr,” she asked? I nodded.

“I’m Mrs. Clarke, You were a customer of my husband. He passed on you know.”

“I’m sorry, I wondered what happened to him.”

“I’ve been talking with him and last night he gave me a message for you,” she said.

Before I could collect myself to say anything sensible she must have read the expression of bewilderment and shock on my face and she continued talking.

“Oh yes. I talk with him frequently and last night he was very clear that I bring a message to you. He said, ‘tell Mrs. Marr there is going to be an explosion.’ That’s it, that’s all he said. I can’t tell you what it means, just what he said.”

She wouldn’t come in, apologized for upsetting me in any way and thanked me for being kind to her husband and she walked away. I was dumbfounded.

I thought of a hundred questions I wanted to ask her but she had gone. I didn’t know how to get in touch with her, or where she lived and I still didn’t know Mr. Clarke’s first name.

An explosion! What to do? My husband worked at an oil refinery and I impulsively called his office. As the call was going through I thought what on earth will I say to him, that a woman I’ve never met before told me her dead husband gave her a message last night to warn me that there was going to be an explosion…

“Hello.”

“Hi Dear, how are you?”

“I’m fine, what’s up?”

I couldn’t tell him at least not now over the phone while he was at work. I would tell him when he got home tonight, besides he would be asking me a ton of questions to which I had no answers. The rest of our conversation was strained and awkward especially on my end. I tried to determine what the rest of his day was like without tipping my hand. I was trying to ascertain that he was going to be right at his desk and not out by the fuel storage tanks or down on the docks where the tankers unloaded. I sensed he was getting curious about my new-found

interest in his day. Then he asked the question I was dreading.

“ Tell me is there something on your mind that prompted this call?”

“Oh,” I laughed nervously, “ Could you pick up a dozen eggs on your way home?”

When he came home with the eggs I came clean. I was relieved that he was home and we both had a laugh over our cat and mouse phone conversation. He didn’t know what to make of Mrs. Clarke’s message anymore than I did. So we returned to our routine and switched on the evening news.

The lead story was “A Northwest Airliner Exploded Over Lake Michigan Today Killing All On Board.”

I fainted. Our daughter was a flight attendant for Northwest. Bob, after assisting me, called the airline. They wouldn’t give out any information at this time. Our next call was to the Providence Journal. After talking to a few people an editor said he would make inquiries. He did and called us back with the information that our daughter was not on that flight.

We found out later that she was scheduled for that flight but took sick and her roommate had taken her place. It was a sad day for our family and many others.

What about Mrs. Clarke’s message and its source? Was it just coincidence? I wonder? As I said, I have no logical explanation for this.

Caroline Marr
East Providence, Rhode Island

Lead by the Spirit

Week of May 29
...being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus- Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

Some people think I'm a stodgy, cranky, Yankee. Well, they are right-but that's how God restored me. I wasn't always so conservative.

I spent the sixties and seventies searching through drugs, radical politics, rebellion and anger. I spent my adolescence as a ski-bum, working on a
riverboat and looking for extremes. I rode motorcycles and did every reckless thing to excess. I believed that life was just an existential malaise of meaningless, random events and if there was no reason to life, I thought I would at least make it
exciting.

I fought the system, institutions and all the things my generation rejected. I joined the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and I was tear gassed more than once. I tried a lot of things to fill that God-shaped vacuum at my center, but nothing fit. Atheism was my religion. Nothing meant anything in light of death.

Then things I couldn't explain began to happen. I bought a Bible and actually began reading it. God was laying the groundwork.

When I decided to get married, I chose the church to which my family had belonged for centuries- First Church of Christ, Wethersfield. In order to be
married there my fiancée and I had to join. The church preaches the Word of God in the Spirit.

My fiancée's relatives, who are from a long line of Christian evangelists in China, were praying for me. So were the faithful at First Church. I believe all these prayers prompted God to save me.

The Holy Spirit began to move. It was as though the Bible had been written solely for me. Every time I opened it, the passage I read spoke directly to my needs. Every church bulletin, letter or post card from church seemed to minister to me as though I was the only person for whom it had been written. Sermons seemed prepared just for me as did the worship. And I saw the Holy Spirit in people's faces at every church event. Jesus was everywhere.

One night I even had a dream that one of the pastors at the church told me "you will receive a message from your shoe." My cat awakened me, I got up, and went about dressing quietly. I remembered the dream and looked down at my shoes but there was
no message. I did notice my suit was wrinkled and changed into another, which was a different color than the first one.

Now I had to change my shoe to match my suit. As I was leaving the house I noticed a sticky note stuck to the heel of my shoe. On the sticky note was a Bible verse. " I am the Vine, you are the branches, abide with me."

I've been to the peaks and struggled with valleys. I've had doubts and downs and faith and ups. God is slowly and I must say, painfully at times, remaking me in His Son’s image.

I know God is at work in me, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. He is crucifying my fleshly ways, as I learn to be led by the Spirit.

I am confident of this, "that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6 NIV)

Jesus Christ saved me from myself. Praise God.

Leigh Standish
Wethersfield, Connecticut.

Copywright Thanks Be, First Church of Christ,
Wethersfield, Connecticut.

My Special Reference

Week of May 22

Approximately twenty years ago I was working as a secretary in a steamship company in New Orleans. I had been there a couple of years but because I had studied to be a legal secretary, I was ready to get a job with a law firm. I started to seek God’s guidance to help me find a job where I could utilize my legal training. During lunch hour, I would take my Bible and head behind the office building where there were benches and fountains.

While I was out there I would often see homeless people and panhandlers. There was one man in particular that was there every day. Eventually, he came to me and asked what I was reading and I told him. He asked if I was a Jesus freak and I said yes I am. He said I made him feel uncomfortable when he was trying to ask people for money. I told him I had no condemnation for him, but that I thought he seemed able bodied enough to work. I also shared my desire to get a job with a law firm.

We became speaking friends and one day he said, “Since you know God so well, why don’t you pray that I get a job.” At that moment I put my hand on his shoulder and started praying out loud. “Not here, not now,” he protested. I just kept praying. That was on a Thursday. On Monday he came running up to me at lunch. He was clean and groomed and I

hardly recognized him. An attorney who he had been asking for money had hired him. I was happy for him but I was jealous. I said (silently of course) God, I am the one who wanted a job with a law firm, have you mixed things up here or what? I was sure God knew what he was doing and I thanked him for giving this man a job. About a week later, the man came to me and said, “I have an interview for you at the law firm. The senior partner needs a secretary.” I thought this would take an act of faith for me to go on an interview at the recommendation of this man. Were they just humoring him? Those thoughts vanished immediately because I knew no matter what; I would do nothing to cause him to waiver in his belief in answered prayers. I was not going to let pride prevent me from going and thereby show a lack of faith.

I thanked God for the opportunity, went on the interview and I was hired on the spot. The attorneys still tell people that the best employment recommendation they ever had was from a homeless man. I quickly remind them that God alone was the employment agency. God will answer your prayer when you step out in faith. God also has a wonderful sense of humor.

Carolyn Bourgeois
New Orleans, Louisiana

Trusting God

Week of May 15

It had been 16 years since I visited any gynecologist. I had no problems up until last year. I had been having irregular bleeding and heavy periods. I had several tests.... and they found that I had fibroids and a cyst on my ovary. My doctor suggested in November a full hysterectomy.

This would be my 5th surgery where they would be cutting my abdomen so I would have to sign a paper that I understand that there is more risk involved. I asked about keeping my ovaries so that I wouldn’t go into full menopause. My doctor said given my age and the cyst (that may require surgery to be removed in the future) she recommended taking everything. So she told me to let her know what I wanted to do.

I struggled with this until the day before she had scheduled my surgery, January 30. I had asked the Lord over and over again if I am doing the right thing. To be honest with you I was afraid. It was a pride issue also. I didn’t want anyone to know, because it could look as though I was weak or defeated. I chose not to tell anyone but my family.

I had these thoughts that were not of God that were telling me that things would not go right and I would die on the operating table. I was upset and I was up late at night worrying. I picked up the Bible looking for an answer. I went to several church services seeking solace but the negative thoughts just continued worse than ever.

It was like the more positive I received the more negative I became. This whole thing was overwhelming. Pastor always says that the battle is in the mind. Let me tell you what was going on in my head was a war.

I had decided that I would go to women's group and afterwards I would call the doctor to tell her I decided to delay the surgery. But when I went to women's group Sandy who has always been such a comfort to me and my family, praying for us etc., came up to me and told me she was happy to see me there and asked me if I would be now able to come on Tuesdays. I told her what was going on and she began to talk and I knew the Lord was speaking to me through her because a peace and comfort came on me. The attacks immediately stopped. Sharon prayed for me and I was relaxed and knew what I had to do and it was right. I would have the operation.

Everything went extremely well in surgery and I was up walking in 8 hours, I went home two days later. When I was in the hospital I had such comfort knowing that Jesus was there with me. The nursing staff commented on how fast I was up and walking and I knew that it was the Lord giving me the ability to get around so quickly.

When I returned a week later to have the staples removed my doctor shared what she didn’t want to tell me on the telephone. She said they tested everything that was taken out and found that I had cancerous cells in the body of my uterus. This is an extremely fast growing cancer. Every time the uterus sheds, the cancer grows and starts spreading into the blood. The recommended procedure for this is a full hysterectomy. What they found was that the cancerous cells were still intact and were concentrated in one area of the uterus.

My doctor told me that I was a lucky woman that someone was watching over me. I said I know God is. She said you are cured. She kept saying that over and over. We cried and held one another.

My doctor had no idea that the cancer cells were there. I asked her why it wasn't seen on all the tests. She said that where it was located no test would have detected it. I cried even more. If I had not had this operation I would be looking at 5-6 months, that’s all.

If my doctor had not taken my ovaries she would have had to go back in and get them. When cancer is present the best operation is actually cutting your abdomen (what I had) because when they do the other surgery there is a risk of dropping cells.

What an awesome God we have. Not only did He heal me of something that would have killed me but also He didn't even let me know that I had it and my family never had to go through that worry and anguish. I do not have to know everything. I just have to trust Him. No glory can be given to any test or doctor but only to God because He knew and no one else did. I am so grateful words can’t describe.

Jackie Harmon
Richmond ,Virginia

A Mother's Vision

Week of May 8
My Mother, Mary, was diagnosed with lung cancer in February 1989. In May she professed her faith in Jesus Christ. We all celebrated this decision.
On a subsequent visit to my parents home on Eugene street in Sarasota, my wife Linda had a conversation with my Mom that we will never forget.
I was in the living room with my dad and Linda when in the bedroom to see Mary. She was sitting up in bed crocheting with her back against the wall.
As Linda entered the room mom looked up and said, “Hi Linda, I saw your kids today.”
My wife found this a peculiar greeting since we had been married for 13 years and had no children although we both wanted them.
My youngest sister, also named Linda, had three children, two girls and a boy. My wife said, “Don’t you mean your daughter, Linda’s children Mary?”
My Mom looked up and said emphatically, “I know who I am talking too. You are Mark’s wife. Linda I saw your children today, a boy and a girl.” My Mom returned to her crocheting.

Linda told me about this odd conversation on the drive back to our home in Sarasota Springs. Mom’s cancer matastized and she succumbed to the disease a few weeks later.
Less than two years later my wife became pregnant. Many of our friends said, since she had been married so long (15 years) without a child she was probably going to have a girl. Linda told them no, it is going to be a boy. In October 1991 our son Joseph was born.
In August 1993, after more than 17 years of marriage, Linda gave birth to our daughter Lauren.
Mark Walker
Sarasota

A Toddler and a Stranger

Week of May 1

My husband and I had been attending the Church of the Way, in Van Nuys California for sometime.

This particular Sunday was baby dedication day but our 15 month old stayed in the nursery because we had had her dedicated earlier. Following the brief ceremony the parents returned their babies to the nursery.

Looking back, we think that was when a door must have been left open and our little Andrea slipped out of the nursery unnoticed. She apparently made her way outside to the sidewalk and walked between two parked cars and was about to enter busy Van Nuys Boulevard when a man picked her up and brought her into the church foyer.

He presented her to an elder saying simply he found this little girl getting ready to cross Van Nuys Blvd. The elder recognized Andrea and sent someone into the church to get me.

When I saw Andrea she was lying quietly in the arms of the elder. It wasn’t until she saw me that she began to scream and cry.

Together, the three of us went back to the nursery. Everyone there was upset that Andrea had gotten out and relieved that she was safe.

The man that had brought her in was gone and the elder said he hadn’t seen him before. The odd thing was that Andrea didn’t go to men, not even to her father. Her tendency would be to run from a man especially a stranger. But the elder said she looked very peaceful in the man’s arm and she didn’t fuss when he took her from him and cradled her.

Some may call this luck but after people had calmed down the sentiment at the nursery was that someone was looking out for Andrea and sent an angel to rescue my little girl. I would not argue otherwise.

Barbara Koukl
Van Nuys, California
(Editors Note: Andrea, now a mother of four, runs a day care business in Florida near her parents.