Coincidental Roses for a Jailbird

Joan Wyss of Royal Oak, Michigan brings flowers every week to the jail ministry at the Oakland County Jail.  Often she brings daisies or carnations. This week she was in the florist’s shop and let herself be led by the Holy Spirit, as she likes to do.  She felt led to buy roses this time.  She brought them to the jail for the worship service for incarcerated women.  After the service, one of the prisoners talked to Joan.  She said she had just today completed a nine-day novena (editor’s note: A novena, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a form of devotion consisting of special prayers or services on nine successive days.  The Latin word for Nine is Novem.)  She said the novena in the name of the Little Flower (the nickname of Saint Therese of Lisieux)... 

(Read the rest at Wtness.org)

Thanks to Joe Van Hagen of Royal Oak, Michigan for bringing this story to our attention.  Joe is also a member of the Oakland County Jail Ministry with Joan. 

They kept praying even when things looked bad

Pedro said that at the time his son Victor was in his rebellious 20's, Pedro's wife and he were very worried about how he was acting and behaving.  He was hanging around people who would influence him badly. They didn't know what else to do, so they prayed... 


(Read the rest at Wtness.org)   

Christ motivates single Mom to take in troubled girl

Friday a few weeks ago at work (Ford Motor Company), I had lunch with our Thursday lunchtime Bible Study leader, Carol T (omitting her last name – she’s concerned about revealing the drug problem of the woman in this story).  She had been asking for donations for girls clothing, girls shoes, an extra bed.  So I wanted to find out what the full story was. 

Carol is a regular volunteer at her son's high school in Michigan, and the counselors have known Carol as a caring volunteer for years.  So when the counselors found out that one of their best students, an African American girl, had been thrown out of her house for pointing out to her mother that her mother should give up drugs, they wanted to help the girl find a place to stay.  So they called Carol.

Carol told me that she prayed and prayed about it, and complained to God that she didn't want the additional responsibility, and felt like kicking and screaming no.  But she said in prayer she felt such a peace about it... a firm, grounded, long-lasting peace... that she knew God was telling her to do it.  Carol spends a lot of time praying and listening to what God wants her to do.  So Carol took the girl into her home.

For how long?  Here's what Carol told me:  "God knew when to bring her to me.  God will know when she's ready to leave."  Now THAT'S faith.

The girl's mother is paying for absolutely nothing.  Carol is doing this on her own as a single mother. Yet she said that it's working out well already.  

Only someone like Christ could motivate such selfless acts.

A simple life serving Jesus - is better than a miracle

Yesterday I went to the funeral visitation of Kay Houston, a woman who lived by all accounts with one primary objective:  To serve Jesus as best she could on her limited means.  The result was that she brought the love of Jesus to dozens of people, and now these people have a stronger faith of their own. 

Kay Houston



How?  At the visitation, the hundred or so people in the seats were asked to come to the microphone to talk about Kay.  One after another, they described how they were of the opinion that Kay was their best friend.  (!)  Kay did not have a lot of money.  She worked for the last 20 years of her working life as a librarian for the Detroit News.  What she gave was love, attention, care, and prayers. 

One woman that I know, Holly, said that over the course of several years, Kay was there for her though the ups and downs of life, and whenever there was a rough spot (the death of her brother-in-law, the loss of her husband's job, the death of her mother), Kay was right there to support Holly with love and prayers.  This might not seem like much when you read it.  But to Holly, it was evident it made all the difference.  Holly was crying as she told the story. 

Others said much the same.  When Kay saw someone, she'd remember whatever had been discussed in the last conversation, and asked how everybody was doing with true concern.  Kay did this even when she herself was hospitalized, and losing her eyesight.  It was the other person she asked about.  If there was a need, Kay would say, "OK, let's pray right now!"  Evidently, from the heartfelt tone of the many stories, Kay must have been a quality pray-er.

Michelle Yax, the Executive Director of Mother and Unborn Baby Care,  told a several part story about how Kay wanted only to be helpful and did not complain about her own ailments.  She volunteered when healthy. Then when her eyes started to go bad, she continued to come, and brought a large magnifying glass.  Then when her eyes got so bad she could no longer drive, she continued to come, depending on the senior citizen bus to take her. Then when her stamina started to go bad, she continued to come, and asked that a chair be placed at the stairway landing so that she could rest after taking the stairs, so that after the rest, she could continue her volunteer work.  It was really moving to hear her dedication to serve others as a way of serving Jesus.

You might say, "How does this story give evidence that Jesus is real?  Show us another miracle story instead!"

Miracles are one-time signals that God is able to suspend the natural laws He created.

Seeing dozens of hearts convinced that there is a powerful force in LOVE, through the actions of one simple woman who believes in Jesus so much that she dedicates her life to Him... is to me a larger miracle than a man surviving a plane crash (story below).

Jesus Shows Himself in a Birthday Gift

This story has four actors:  Jim and Joan, a married couple, Father Ed, and Jesus.

It was Jim's birthday, and Joan wanted very badly to make from scratch her husband's favorite dessert:  blueberry pie.  But her eyes were dilated all day and she was unable to accomplish it, and so she cried about the missed opportunity.
Meanwhile, their friend and pastor, Father Ed, was doing what he did very well every day:  praying to Jesus for direction for the day.  It's notable that Father Ed's prayers, as frequent as they are, are more fruitful than most.  He actually gets inspired to know how to spend his time for the benefit of Jesus' kingdom.
He knew that it was Jim's birthday, and so he went to a local bakery with the intent of buying a birthday cake and taking it to Jim and Joan's house.  It being late afternoon, the bakery was out of cakes, and so Father Ed was sad that he had to settle for a simple blueberry pie.
A few minutes later, Father Ed showed up at the door of Jim and Joan with a happy birthday, and apologized that he was unable to find a birthday cake, but had only a blueberry pie.
The reaction from Joan was... well, you can imagine.

Here's what I noticed about this situation:
1.    Jesus did not share with Father Ed the full story.
2.    Despite Father Ed not knowing the full story, he still carried out the task that he believed came from Jesus.
3.    There was a moment that Father Ed must have questioned whether the instructions really did come from Jesus: the moment when the bakery said that no cakes were available.  But, and this is important to note, Father Ed did not lose faith even when the 'facts' contradicted what he thought the instruction was.  By carrying out Jesus' task anyway, the far larger mission was accomplished.  All parties saw Jesus' hand in that gift, and felt Jesus' love for all of them.  Had the Father Prus instead brought a standard birthday cake, that punchline would not have been realized.

Daily Bread - doesn't mean food?

I find that I have been leaning on God/Jesus more since January than in most past years.  I made a New Year’s resolution to spend quality time with God every day.  While I haven’t done that every day, I’ve done that perhaps 2/3 of all days.  That’s only 6 months, and I find that the prayer has changed in nature from something that seems a bit like a routine or chore to something that seems like talking to a friend.  A few times it felt like talking to God was becoming something akin to eating food.  A requirement for daily sustenance.  Something needed to stay healthy.  “My daily bread”.  I had never understood this before.  I got some added meaning from that phrase.  So often, the pressures of the world and dealing with certain people who are hard to deal with can wear down my patience and increase my irritability.  Only spending time with the Lord brings it down.