God in Control / Do You Have Deep Concerns and Heavy Burdens? / Prayer to Jesus

GOD IS ALWAYS IN CONTROL

A Very Touching Story! - 2003 - Contributed by Annamarie Kresge, Virginia

A man from Norfolk, VA called a local radio station to share this on Sept 11th, 2003. His Name was Robert Matthews. These are his words:

"A few weeks before Sept 11th, my wife and I found out we were going to have our first child.  She planned a trip out to California to visit her sister.  On our way to the airport, we prayed that God would grant my wife a safe trip and be with her.  Shortly after I said 'Amen' we both heard a loud pop and the car shook violently.  We had blown out a tire. I replaced the tire as quickly as I could, but we still missed her flight. 

Both very upset, we drove home. I received a call from my father who was retired  FDNY. He asked what my wife's flight number was, but I explained that we missed the flight. My father informed me that her flight was the one that crashed into the southern tower.  I was too shocked to speak.  My father also had more news for me;  he was going to help. 'This is not something I can just sit by for, I have to do something.'  I was concerned for his safety, of course, but more because he had never given his life to Christ.  After a brief debate, I knew his mind was made up.  Before he got off the phone, he said, 'take good care of my grandchild.' 

Those were the last words I ever heard my father say; he died while helping in the rescue effort.  My joy that my prayer of safety for my wife had been answered quickly became anger.  Anger at God, at my father, and at myself.  I went for nearly 2 years blaming God for taking my father away.  My son would never know his grandfather, my father had never accepted Christ, and I never got to say goodbye. 

Then something happened.  About 2 months ago, I was sitting at home with my wife and my son, when there was a knock on the door.  I looked at my wife, but I could tell she wasn't expecting anyone.  I opened the door to a couple with a small child.  The man looked at me and asked if my father's name was Jake Matthews.  I told him it was.  He quickly grabbed my hand and said, 'I never got the chance to meet your father, but it is an honor to meet his son.' 

He explained to me that his wife had worked in the World Trade Center and had been caught inside after the attack.  She was pregnant and had been caught under debris.  He then explained that my father had been the one to find his wife and free her.  My eyes welled up with tears as I thought of my father giving his life for people like this.  He then said, 'There is something else you need to know.'  His wife then told me that as my father worked to free her, she talked to him and led him to Christ. I began sobbing at the news.  Now I know that when I get to heaven, my father will be standing beside Jesus to welcome me, and that this family would be able to thank him themselves."

When their baby boy was born, they named him Jacob Matthew in honor of the man who gave his life so a mother and baby could live.

This story should help us to realize two things: First, that though it has been two years since the attacks, we should never let it become a mere tragic memory. And second, but most important, God is always in control.  We may not see the reason behind things, and we may never know this side of heaven, but God is ALWAYS in control.

DO YOU HAVE DEEP CONCERNS AND HEAVY BURDENS?

TRY WRITING A PRAYER TO JESUS, THEN ADD HIS ANSWERS!

From an anonomous “Heart to Heart” friend ~ Used with permission

I was reading an article in my devotional book by Florence Littauer.  She said that at their seminars they very often have people write a letter to Jesus.  They have them state on paper what their specific requests are -- not in general terms -- but specific.  Once they have done that, they are given an appropriate period of time to just sit quietly in their seats, asking God to answer them in a still, small voice.  As the Lord speaks to them, they are to write those answers beside the appropriate request.  She says that people actually get excited as they see what the Lord would have them do regarding certain situations.  So -- I did that.  Here is my list and the answers beside them.

Dear Jesus,

Would you please tell me what to do about the bag of burdens I am carrying just now?
I can't seem to figure out where to start and where to go on these various subjects:

WOMEN'S MINISTRY - Take the break and get refreshed.

PHYSICALLY - eat better and exercise.
HOUSE in a MESS - Do 5 -15 minutes of cleaning and straightening at a time; you'll get it all done eventually.
FINANCES - Save as much as you can.  Shop a little more wisely.  Eat out once or twice less per week and send that amount directly to your money market account.  Add to that 10% of all income; pour directly into same account. It will add up faster than you think.
FRIENDS - Keep in touch with those you have; if they don't call, call them.  Pray for a new Christian best friend not connected with ministry.  Do not dwell on or repeat your problems to them for it will drive them away.
FAMILY and the HOLIDAYS - Be sweet; don't insist on anything; be very flexible.
TRAVEL - Take short trips like last Saturday.  Enjoy the scenery and each other.
HUSBAND - Keep loving him; be sweet and gentle toward him; be very patient.  Remember, it's a rough road for him, too. 

Smell the Rain

Author unknown ~ Thanks to Jalisa Wenger in Pennsylvania for sending this inspirational true story!

        A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the Doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still groggy from surgery, her husband David held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. 

        That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24 weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver the couple's new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.

        "I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could. "There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one."

        Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Danae would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.

        "No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away. Through the dark hours of morning as Danae held onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep, growing more and more determined that their tiny daughter would live - and live to be a healthy, happy young girl.

        But David, fully awake and listening to additional dire details of their daughter's chances of ever leaving the hospital alive, much less healthy, knew he must confront his wife with the inevitable. David walked in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral arrangements. Diana remembers, 'I felt so bad for him because he was doing everything, trying to include me in what was going on, but I just wouldn't listen, I couldn't listen.' I said, "No, that is not going to happen, no way! I don't care what the doctors say; Danae is not going to die! One day she will be just fine, and she will be coming home with us!"

        As if willed to live by Diana's determination, Danae clung to life hour after hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her miniature body could endure. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Danae's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw,' the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Danae struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl.

        There was never a moment when Danae suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Danae turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Danae went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

        Five years later, Danae was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs, whatsoever, of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she is everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

        One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Danae was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ballpark where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always, Danae was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her chest, Danae asked, "Do you smell that?" Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."

        Danae closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?" Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet, it smells like rain. Still caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."

        Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Danae then happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of the first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Danae on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.