FAITH FOR A SAW

FAITH FOR A SAW


It is so easy for children to believe. A veil seems to come over our minds in adulthood and it become hard for us to have faith.
When our grandson Jesse was about five years old he wanted his own saw. Actually he had wanted his own saw for several years but the children's toy saws we bought him did not satisfy his longing for a real saw. He was too little and saws are dangerous, we all told him repeatedly.
One day he and his mom decided to go for a walk, with his mom pushing Jesse's little sister in her stroller. Jesse commented to his mom that she must look down at the ground on their walk because his saw would be found on the ground when they walked. You can imagine how that computed with his mom. She doubtingly thought sure, of course we'll find a saw on the ground on our walk.
They went on their journey and ended up at a small park pretty far from their house. Jesse looked down at the ground all the way to the park and reminded his mom repeatedly to look for his saw on the ground. After arriving at the park, he busied himself playing, like little boys always do. His mom decided to continue pushing little sister in the stroller while walking around the perimeter of the park to get more exercise. Jesse's reminder to his mom to look for his saw became more insistent.
As his mom reported to me a couple of days later, she was gingerly walking along and happened to glance down on the ground. There in plain sight was a blade to a saw. Jesse had never seen the saw at that park before with his natural eyes, but somehow his spiritual eyes had seen the saw blade or he would not have been so insistent about looking. As adults, we must look for miracles with the same childlike belief that Jesse had, knowing that the desires of our hearts are important to God.

GOD THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES

When our grandson Jesse was about four years old he had to have some reconstructive surgery at a hospital in a neighboring state. It was serious outpatient surgery. The thoughts of his parents were just simply on getting through the surgery and getting home with an active four year old in the car, even though they assumed he would still be groggy from the anesthesia. The afternoon before the operation, Jesse's parents drove him in their car to the big city in the neighboring state since surgery was scheduled for early the next morning. Everything went as planned and the surgery was successful. Jesse was a cooperative patient. After spending a few hours in recovery, he and his parents left the specialty hospital with him swathed in bandages but bright and alert. They had a long trip home which would take over six hours. They went merrily on their long way home, anxious of course, with the four year old in the back seat attached to a catheter, so it was expedient that they get home as quickly as possible. About halfway home, the car sputtered and then stopped. Jesse's dad was able to pull the car over to the shoulder. The gas gage had been sporadically misbehaving and it showed a little gas in the tank, but they had erroneously assumed that there was enough gasoline in the tank to get them further down the road to a gas station. This was an unhappy predicament. They were in the middle of nowhere. What to do, what to do, what to do, was the dilemma. Since this was before cell phones were readily available, they had no means of communicating with anyone while on the highway. Suddenly two men appeared out of nowhere. One man was carrying a gas can filled with gasoline. The men asked the stranded travelers if help was needed. Jesse's parents couldn't believe their eyes and ears. Neither one of them asked the men why it was assumed that they needed gasoline nor did they ask where the men came from, they were just very grateful to be rescued so they could be on their way home. The men helped put the gasoline in the car, and it was enough to get them to the next gas station. Years later five of our grandchildren were talking about God, and one mentioned that no one had ever seen God so nobody knows what he looks like. Jesse remarked, "Oh, I know what He looks like because I've seen Him." His cousins teased him about the remark and asked, "Oh, yeah, when did you ever see God?" A confident answer came from Jesse. He said, "I saw God when Mom and Dad and I ran out of gas one time and God showed up with a gas can with gasoline for us." No one told him that it was God, but he instinctively knew it had to be God because it was a miracle. His mom and dad remarked that the two men were angels, but Jesse says it was God. I think a child always knows God when he sees Him, so I believe Jesse's assessment is more accurate. Praise God that angels or God, whichever, carry gas cans filled with gasoline for stranded motorists who are in dire need of a miracle. We're not going to strain at a gnat in trying to figure out who it was. We just accept God's help anytime we receive it. God and Jesse know who was there. The rest of us are just very, very grateful that a tense situation came to a happy ending with God getting thanks and praise from our family for continuing to be the ultimate Rescuer, no matter what He looks like.

FOGGY MIND

Valentines Day is special to everyone, a time of giving and a time of showing love. Valentine week of 2008 will always be memorable to me. My husband and I joined four close relatives on an early February cruise to the Mexican Caribbean. It started off badly but ended up with a miracle. At the appointed time for boarding ship in the Galveston shipyards we heard some bad news, that our ship was six hours late in getting into port because of fog; therefore, we would be four hours late boarding ship and then leaving port. Not one of our party seemed to care because we were all glad to get away from the North Texas and Southeastern Oklahoma cold, cold February weather. We were headed for sunshine and had already had our cold bones relieved by the warmer South Texas weather. Yes, there was heavy fog at the port, what seemed to us an unusual occurrence in Texas, but we trusted that we would be getting on our way in a few hours. After we boarded ship four hours late, we busied ourselves unpacking. Then we sampled some of the wonderful food offered 24 hours a day on all cruises. Shortly after we unpacked, the captain announced via the on ship communication system that the fog was still so thick that we were not allowed to leave port. His prediction was that we would be able to leave at about ten o'clock that night, six hours later than the originally anticipated time. No one seemed to care, we just enjoyed our relaxing atmosphere. Another later announcement alerted us to the fact that the Port Authority had decided that if the fog had not lifted by ten o'clock that night, that we would have to wait until the next morning to leave if the fog finally lifted then. The "IF" seemed to be very emphasized in the announcement. When ten o'clock that night came around, there was no sign of the huge ship making any gesture toward the high seas. It seemed secure in its berth at the Galveston port. It had been a long, busy day so I decided to go to bed around ten O'clock. Even though I was exhausted I couldn't go to sleep, which is unusual for me. I tossed and turned and tossed and turned until about three o'clock the next morning, all the time listening for the revving up of the motors of the ship. I continued to pray for everyone I knew, since that's how I spend sleepless nights at home. Suddenly, at around three o'clock the fog in my mind lifted and I began to think about some accounts in the Bible that tell about Jesus talking to the winds and the winds obeying Him. Then the thought also came to my mind that God makes His angels winds and His ministering spirits flames of fire. I had read that many times in the Bible and had researched the ministry of God's angels. Faith began to be solid and unshaken in me when the realization came to me that God's angels could blow the fog away and allow us to be on our way to the Caribbean. So that's what I asked, that the angels blow away the fog. Sleep came very easily after that. Early the next morning I was awakened by the familiar sounds of the motors of the ship. They were humming and purring and clinking and clanking as we began to move out to sea. Yes! We were on our way. Later in the morning as we moved along at great speed the captain's voice came on the intercom and informed us that we were very fortunate to get out of port. He announced that after the fog lifted and we were merrily on our way, the heavy fog descended again and socked in the port. His word for it was that we were "fortunate" because we were the only sailing vessel that was able to leave port that morning. An often quoted word among our family and friends is the word blessed, which in the original language means to be fortunate, necessary to be desired. Yes, we were fortunate or blessed, whichever you choose to say, because we experienced a miracle that day. The angels had very strong lungs to accomplish that feat, and we are grateful to them. I am so thankful to God for His lifting the fog from my mind and reminding me that He is still in the business of helping his children every day in ways that might seem small to other people. He's that kind of a Father, meeting every need. Lifting the fog was a loving gesture to everyone on board the ship, His special Valentine gift to us.

Raphael, the Messenger

God is always on duty. He's always on the ball to meet our needs and desires.
One day I had taken a basket of food and a plant to the family of my good friend and prayer partner Cathi whose step father had died. It really was a cute basket and I knew it would please Cathi and her family and add my love to the sad occasion.
During the next week I was a little concerned about my youngest son who was traveling in Europe and the Middle East on business. For some reason I had a gnawing feeling in my gut about his trip, not fearful, just concern. I had prayed regularly about his safe return to his family many times a day during the week, just like I always do when someone in the family is traveling.
When I got Cathi's grateful note in the mail thanking me for the basket of goodies I had taken to her, I immediately noticed that it was written on note paper which had a familiar picture of two angels on the front. After I read her gracious note of thanks, I turned the note over to see if the name of the artist of the familiar painting was written on the back.
"Hallelujah," I immediately exclaimed, being flooded with peace about my son when I looked at the name of the artist. The name was Raphael, a name that meant a great deal to me. Twenty-eight years ago when my son entered the Navy I was distressed about his safety in the military. God had directed me to an unusual book called Tobit, found in the Apocrapha, which I had found in an old Roman Catholic translation of the Bible. Raphael was the name of the angel God had sent to protect the son of Tobit when his son was traveling to foreign lands. When I read the book I became confident that God was going to also protect my son while he was in the Navy, which he did.
In the incident involving the card I was again infused with peace about my son's trip to Europe and the Middle East, another reminder that the angel Raphael was still on duty to protect my son on his journeys, just like He always had. My son called that night from Israel, relating that he was safe and was being treated like a dignitary. Of course Raphael would arrange that, too.
In relaying this story to Cathi about the faith and peace I had received from the note, I heard her side of the story. She said that she was writing many thank you notes on other note paper but had a desire to search to see if she still had the paper with the picture of angels when she wrote to me. Sure enough, she had one note left, so she wrote her note of gratitude to me on the anointed paper. She certainly didn't know that she was participating with God in giving me peace relating to the safe return of my son.
Now I'm the one sending words of gratitude, both to God for His gift of peace and to Cathi for obeying the urge to use the special paper for a special message to me from God.
Journeying with God is a ball!

THANKS TO GOD AND BEVERLY

Beverly Sills was never one of my favorite singers, but God used her in a dream as an example to me of how I was to triumph over breast cancer. Many years ago I woke from a good night’s sleep and immediately remembered a dream I had had that night. The dream was very vivid, not like many hazy dreams that we have. I wrote the dream in my journal and put it away for future reference. In the dream I saw a picture of Beverly Sills in which she was completely surrounded by yellow gladiolas and yellow roses. There was no dialogue in the dream, just the picture. Several day later I received one of my health magazines in the mail. I casually flipped through the pages of the magazine. To my shock and unbelief my eyes landed on the same picture of Beverly Sills that I saw in my dream. The only difference in the two pictures was the fact that in the magazine picture she was only surrounded by yellow gladiolas. Roses were not present in the magazine picture like they were in my dream. I hurriedly scanned the article and saw that she had overcome breast cancer. I put the article in my journal also. Several month later I discovered a lump in my right breast. The dream about Beverly Sills immediately popped into my mind. I previously had not completely read the article about her that accompanied the picture, but I now felt compelled to read the article in its entirety. I read in the article that her courage during her battle with breast cancer came from Rose Kennedy, who told Beverly that she had overcome many obstacles in life by putting her fist in the air and declaring, “I will not be defeated.” Rose Kennedy’s wisdom was an extra bonus for me. I felt that the roses were in the picture in my dream because God was personalizing the picture for me so that I would learn how to overcome the dreaded disease. My husband has always called me his Yellow Rose of Texas because yellow roses are my favorite flower. During the following weeks I regularly went to my journal to reread the article and look at the picture of Beverly, as well as read the description of my dream. I needed the extra boosts of faith because a tumor in my right lung had also been discovered. My friends were all praying for me and calling me to offer words of encouragement. On the appointed day of the surgery to remove the tumor from my lung, my husband and I arrived at the hospital a couple of hours earlier than we were scheduled to arrive. We couldn’t sleep, anyway, so we decided to arrive early. I was sent to a private hospital room to rest because we were too early. Almost immediately an attendant came with a gurney, informing me that that my surgery had been moved up to the first one of the day because two other surgeries had been cancelled. This was a strange happening, but it was good news to us. I was wheeled on the gurney into the pre-op room, and there was only one nurse in the room. When the gurney attendant left the room, the nurse immediately said to me, “Do you like roses?” I energetically replied, “ Yes,“ starting to cry at the awesomeness of the event, recalling my dream and the article about Beverly Sills and Rose Kennedy. The nurse left the pre-op room for a few minutes, then returned with the biggest yellow rose I had ever seen. She handed it to me, telling me that she had picked the bloom that morning, the first bloom from her bush. The bloom was the size of a salad plate, the most beautiful yellow rose I had ever seen. By this time I was sobbing with joy, but I managed to tell the nurse about the occurrences of the past few months. She immediately looked toward heaven and expressed thanksgiving to God for my healing. Words of praise and thanksgiving flooded the entire room from the two of us. After the lung operation, my joy rose to new heights when the pathologist returned with the report that the tumor in my lung was benign. The ensuring operation for the breast lumpectomy and months of radiation were a breeze because of the dream, the magazine article about Beverly and Rose, and the beautiful yellow rose from God that was handed to me by the nurse. Beverly has left this life and is now in heaven. She is walking among more beautiful flowers than we will ever see in the earth. I want to publicly thank her for the role she played in my miracle. I know she will relay my thanks to Rose Kennedy. They were used by God to infuse faith and courage into me at a time when it was necessary for me to have an overabundance of them. After sixteen years I continue to be cancer free, thanks to God and Beverly.
photo from richardnix@flickr.com

HEALING KISSES FROM GOD

God uses a variety of distributors to deliver His blessings. When our grandson Stephen was born, we were amazed at His choice of distributors.
Stephen was born six to eight weeks prematurely. Soon after the delivery it was discovered that he had had a stroke and there was a pool of blood in his brain. The prognosis of the doctors was that he might be palsied and that his motor skills would be grossly affected. Their comment was that the effects might not be evident until he began to walk. All of the family was distressed at the sad news, of course.
At this time my husband and I had seen many miracles in our lives in the prior twenty years. We knew that prayer changes things, so we began intercessory prayer for this tiny baby who didn't deserve what had happened to him, just as no baby deserves defects caused by birth.
We were confident in God's healing ability and were eagerly anticipating how He would choose to heal in this instance.
When we arrived at the Catholic church for his infant baptism ceremony we noticed that this was not a traditional church, but one with contemporary music and lots of rejoicing in praise and thanksgiving to God. This was just the kind of church my husband and I liked to attend, one based on love and joy.
There were about fifteen small children waiting to be baptized. When time for the multiple baptisms came, the priest made a starting statement, one that is rarely heard in a traditional church. He said, "We believe in this church that when we baptize a child that there is healing available for that child if the child is in need of it. "
Our ears perked up! We were elated because Stephen was certainly in need of a healing from the effects of the stroke and the premature birth. We quietly rejoiced throughout the entire baptism ceremony that God had provided just the right church and just the right priest to provide healing for Stephen.
Stephen is now 14 years old, a wonderful athlete with sharp mental acuity. He plays soccer and baseball and has no signs of ever having had a stroke as an infant.
We live our lives in awe of God and his orchestration of events which enable His servants to perform His miracles for people who are in need of them. It's a wonderful adventurous life when you know that God wants to meet every need that we have.
Stephen always has a smile on his face, even as a teenager. I think it's because of the God kisses he received at baptism.

The Lazarus Rose Bush

THE LAZARUS ROSE BUSH

Several years ago my husband and I were in a frustrating business dilemma. A trusted, long time employee had advised us that she was going to leave our employ and go to work for an associate of ours in another city. That was a shock, but one that could be easily solved because we could hire someone else.She also advised us that she was going to take a major part of our business with her to her new employer, leaving us with only a third of the businesses that we had serviced for years. This was a devastating blow. We were disappointed in her as well as our long time associate, with whom we had always been on very congenial terms business-wise as well as socially. Our dilemma was two fold: number one, we would be operating temporarily with one less employee; and, number two, we would certainly miss the huge chunk of business that she was taking with her. We stewed and stewed with our emotions ranging from anger to resentment to sadness and rejection, because the employee had been like a daughter to us and had worked for us for many years. We wanted the best for her but we were emotionally wounded by her actions. My husband and I both prayed and prayed about what to do. We didn't want to contact the clients she was taking with her and defame her character by telling them the whole story. That was not a valid choice for us. An idea come to my husband, that he should meet with her to see if we could work out some kind of compromise. We knew that we did not want there to be any strife or contention lingering between any of the involved parties: her, the associate and us. We knew the spiritual truth about keeping peace with all men. We knew the spiritual truth about forgiveness. This situation was hard, like being hit from two sides at once.It came to me that if she would not agree to negotiate with my husband about taking a large chunk of our business with her, that we should tell her that we would give it to her because we did not want any ill feelings to fester and corrupt the rest of our business. My husband had checked with an attorney and he had advised that we had a legitimate lawsuit, but that we should think long about pursuing legal action. The attorney said that our clients would have to get involved, having to choose sides, and would have to testify. He advised that it could ruin our business as well as the business of our associate. Certainly we didn�ft want that.My husband went to the meeting with our employee and came back with the knowledge that there was nothing we could do, that she was now an employee of our associate and was taking some of our business with her. My husband told her that because we are Christians that we were giving that portion of the business to her so as to avoid strife and contention. The next evening we took a long walk and prayed fervently for the ability to forgive her. We decided to forgive her and the associate as an act of our will, although there was no feeling of forgiveness that came along with that choice. Before we left for our walk that evening I had noticed that one of the ten rose bushes that we had planted six weeks prior to this time was still bare of leaves and the stalk and branches were black. I had asked my husband to please dig it up several times in the past two weeks because it was dead and the deadness of it was ruining the beauty of that rose bed. On this occasion of our walk, I again asked my husband to dig up the dead rose bush tomorrow. He assured me that yes, he would dig it up and put it on the pile of dead limbs destined for the city dump. We proceeded on our walk, praying about the business situation.The next morning I rose early and took another long walk, praying the entire time for a congenial solution to this problem in our business. As I prayed I continued to speak forgiveness to everyone involved in the situation as an act of my will because I certainly didn�ft feel forgiving. Coming back from my morning walk, as I rounded the entrance to our driveway the thought came to me to look at the dead rose bush. I reluctantly did it because I really didn't want to fix my gaze upon something dead in the beautiful rose garden. I was in no mood for it. As my gaze landed upon the subject rose bush, I couldn't believe my eyes. Overnight the rose bush had sprouted several green leaves on the dead stalks. Then the Voice that I had come to rely upon and knew to be the Voice of God said in my mind, "If I can bring life to that rose bush overnight, then I can bring new life to your business. Forgive her and never say anything negative about her or the associate again." I ran into the house and told my husband about the rose bush. He ran out the door, looked at the miracle, and he was just as amazed as I was that the dead bush was not only alive but it had sprouted leaves overnight. Neither one of us could believe our eyes. We decided on the spot to name the bush Lazarus. The Lazarus rose bush has been an inspiration to many people who have heard the story. One neighbor would often come to look at it when she needed faith for good outcomes to certain situations in her family. God was right. It seems foolish to say that because God is always right. Within just a few months we had new clients to replace the clients that she had taken with her to our former associate. In just a few years we had to employ three new people to help us handle the abundance of clients that God had replaced. God's principles of forgiveness and refusing to enter into strife are always true. God's proof of His love for us and His love for everyone involved in the situation is a huge lesson. I heard one woman say that when we pray and bring God into a situation that everyone wins. How true those words are. Everyone won in what could have been a disastrous situation if we had not brought God into it through prayer. We had to have His help and guidance in using two of the most important principles that He teaches, forgiveness and refusing to enter into strife and contention. God has never failed us. He never fails to provide solutions to every situation we encounter. He is the Great Problem Solver. The blooms on the Lazarus rose bush are a constant reminder of God's power to resurrect and restore situations and circumstances for His children. He loves doing it!