"WE NEED TO PRAY"
                                                        T. Wieland Allen
     "Praise God," "Glory to God," "Thank you, God" and "You are the greatest Father, ever," are exclamations of thanksgiving and joy that fell from the mouths of six ladies who had gathered together for our weekly prayer and study session.  We are used to having reasons to praise Him from the heart and we had just experienced another miracle that almost left us speechless.
      We always meet at noon on Tuesdays and are often referred to as the Tuesday Girls and at other times as the Prayer Posse, having been named the Posse by a friend in Wisconsin who knows about our penchants for going after healing and other solutions until we get the answers.  We rarely miss meeting together and, come hell or high water, we do manage to meet together, even if it's only one or two in attendance.   We know that Jesus told us that where two or three are gathered together, He is in our midst.  We regularly have six ladies with varying ages, from 55 to 85.  It makes no difference how many are able to come, we are called to eat lunch, pray and then study, laugh and occasionally cry when we marvel at His wonderful orchestrations in our lives.
    Such was the case when an unusal miracle happened.  It started with a mistake on my part.  The past Tuesday I had misunderstood that we were meeting at Marcia's house instead of Jane's house.   On Monday before the next meeting I called Jane and found that we had decided last week to meet at Marcia's house.  Even though it was Monday morning, I knew that Marcia would be amenable to meeting at her house.   I called her and she said what I knew she would say, "We will meet at my house.  We need to pray."  It was so gracious of her to offer, but that meant that she would have to fix a full meal for eight ladies who like to eat. 
    I suggested that she order pizzas and get a pizza dessert also. She was delighted with the suggestion and said that she had an engagement on the east side of town the next morning and it would be easy for her to swing by the pizza place and pick up the pizzas before going home.  The plan was for her to collect the pizzas at 11:30 in order to get across town in time to welcome the prayer partners into her house.  As they say, everything was copacetic. 
    You also know that good plans can fall through.  Well, suffice it to say that God knows all solutions to all problems.
     Early Monday evening I felt compelled to make an entire meal to take to Cathi, whose daughter had had hip surgery.  I knew that they would appreciate a meal and I had time to cook, so late in the afternoon I went into the kitchen and saw that I had spaghetti, two bottles of spaghetti sauce and a large package of meatballs in the freezer.  I had eight large cheese and garlic buns in the freezer also left over from last Tuesday's meeting at my house.  I remembered that I also had some tangerines in the fridge, too.  I had two packages of peanutbutter cookie mix and also had some icing I could put between two cookies and make special cookies out of by layering them.  There was the full meal and I didn't even have to go to the market.   In thirty minutes I had the full meal put into gallon ziplock bags, and placed into a large decorative basket to be taken to Cathi's home the next day after Bible study.  Yes, copacetic again!
       On Tuesday I had a busy morning so I had loaded the basket of food for Cathi's family into the car to be delivered later.  At 11:45 I had finished loading my Bible and the teaching material that I was teaching that day and I was on my way to Marcia's house for our Tuesday ritual.  My cell phone rang and it was Marcia who very calmly said, "Some man took our pizzas." 
      She had arrived at the pizza place at the appointed time only to find out that a man had picked up our pizzas.  She asked me if I could stop by the market and get some shaved ham and turkey and a loaf of bread and we would just have sandwiches.
      I had just passed the market so I said to Marcia, "I have spaghetti and meatballs in the back of my van to take to Cathi's family.  We will have it for lunch."  I must say, she uttered a sigh of relief. 
      When I arrived at her house, I saw that another Posse member named Kathy had arrived early and she was able to help with hostess duties, warming up the spaghetti, meatball and the bread while waiting on the other ladies to arrive. I needed to bring into the house my teaching material and Bible.
      It had all been orchestrated by God, who knew that the pizza would be gone when Marcia went to get it, so he compelled me the night before to fix a meal for Cathi's family so that we would have a new main dish delivered right to the door with no trouble.  It had been so easy on everyone, except maybe Marcia, who did have to handle the inconvenience at the last minute of not having a main course to feed six hungry women.  She had already fixed a salad, hot tea and cake for us.  She was so gracious to offer to be hostess at such a late time and she knew the importance of our gathering together to pray, so God just obliged her by sending her a main course to serve.
    He is such a wonderful Father. He sends answers to our [rayers to us from no where.  Dorothy said she thought maybe ravens from heaven had brought it.
When we expect the unexpected, it will show up.  It's called faith.
     Cathi's family did not miss out.  Marcia called the pizza place and had two large pizzas delivered to Cathi's house.  God meets the needs of everyone.   He's a great Dad! 
     And speaking of God being a great Dad, I am so glad that He is not the kind of dad who just waits until you mess up and then pounces with judgment and condemnation on you.  If He was, I would have been dead long ago.  In fact, human beings would have vanished from the earth by now if he was the judge.  The opposite is true.  He is the Father who helps people who make mistakes,   He helps people who miss the mark,  He is the rescuer, not the judge.  He is the problem solver, not the condemner.  He is the Blesser, not the judge.
     I messed up by thinking that Jane was having the Tuesday meeting.  Instead it was supposed to be Marcia.  My mistake caused a problem for Marcia, who had to rearrange a few things in her life to be able to host our meeting.  It also caused some confusion for her, having the center piece of her meal bought by the wrong person. BUT, never fear, God supplied the spaghetti and meatballs before the confusion set in by compelling me the night before to fix them for the family of another Posse member. Cathi. 
    That's the rest that he calls us into, knowing that He solves our problems and fixes our mistakes.  That is what it means when the scripture says that He knows what our needs are before we ask.  When we are in unity with Him with no strife, the problem is solved before it's apparent to you that there is a problem.
    Isn't that the most wonderful, loving, kind, generous, problem solving, solution providing Father!  I am so glad that we have that kind of a Heavenly Father, one who is completely involved in our daily lives.  That knowledge just takes your breath away.  Well, not really.  If we had no breath we could not praise Him.  His miracles are enough to praise Him continually.  That's what the songwriter David said, to let His praises be continually in your mouth.  The Posse has no problem doing that because His goodness to His children is everlasting.
    I thank him forever for fixing this problem before it began!