Have You Sometimes Wondered?

This is a true story from my life that showed me, proved to me if you want to look at it that way, that God does hear our prayers and he answers them! The choice is up to us whether you listen is up to you. I thank God that I listened. Add this to Ripley's Believe it or Not if you like but this is the truth.

I have been involved with the Internet for over a year now. During that time I've had several web sites, business related, and have seen tons of "cool" banners of other people advertising their sites. I've always wanted one but never knew just how to make them and wanted something special.

One night while on line emailing back and forth with one of my sisters in Christ. Sue offered to make a banner for me. She loves working with her graphics program, the next day she sent me a couple "samples" I was drawn to one but it wasn't exactly what I wanted. It needed to have some part of "me". I had a particular picture that has been very special to me and mailed it to her asking if there was any way she could use that for a background instead of the one she had used. A few days later I received my banner and fell in love with it.

In my excitement of having a banner of my own that I was proud of I headed off to one of my business advertising sites and started spreading my banner around. If you have visited some other pages of my site you most likely know that one of my main goals is to help people. If my banner could help just one person in some way then it would all be worth it.

Then the day came, in less than a weeks time I received an email from a lady who had seen that banner. She visited my site and wrote that she felt like I was someone who cared and that she could talk to. She had been praying for someone to talk to as she felt she was all alone in the world. She was asking for friendship!

I wrote back with what encouraging words I could and it began. We exchanged emails back and forth for days. With each letter I didn't know if I would hear from her again. Her letters were of not wanting to go on, of ending her pain, of not being a good person. She was terrified of something but just as terrified of telling me what - she didn't want me to think badly of her. I'm not a trained councilor, only new to Christian living myself (I don't know scripture well at all), and as time went on I started getting more and more concerned. What if I said the wrong thing, what if I made things worse rather than better. I wanted so badly to help!

With each letter I prayed for her, for her safety, for her strength, for her trust. I also prayed for myself - Lord please give me the strength and knowledge to do the right thing, give me the words to help this women in need.

During this time I continued to receive mail from others on the Internet, sharing sites, stories, and verses. Normally I try to respond to these in a timely fashion but it seemed that the time I was devoting to my "New Friend" along with my other commitments didn't allow me time. I would quickly visit a site or read over the letter and then file it away to respond to later. I am so glad now that I did because that is really what this page is about. Included here are the majority of "help" I received. Note, none of these people knew what was going on, she had asked me not to tell anyone so I had kept her my secret for the time.

Please take the time to read these cuttings from letters I received, visit the sites listed that were all sent during this time of being alone with this task and then answer the questions above.

(my comments are in parentheses)

ON THE WINGS OF A BUTTERFLY

Your friendship is special
Like the flowers that bloom
Or when a butterfly emerges
From within it's cocoon...
You remind me of that butterfly
Loving and free
Bright and colorful
For the world to see.
We will share sunshine and rainbows
Sometimes the rain and the snow
We'll stand together thru it
While the cold winds blow...
When the time is right
We won't stop to ask ''why"
Our friendship will take flight
On the wings of a butterfly.

( I didn't push her for information, I shared information about myself, my family, my life on hopes that she would do the same and tell me what was going on in her life.)

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD, I SHALL NOT WANT;
PSALMS: 23

I Asked the Lord to Bless You
As you read this, BELIEVE that God has a blessing in
store for you.
I asked the Lord to bless you, as I prayed for you
today
To guide you and protect you, as you go along your
way
His love is always with you, His promises are true,
And when we give Him all our cares, You know He will
see us through.
So when the road you're traveling on seems
difficult at best, just remember I'm here praying
And God will do the rest.

(this needs no comment, I needed prayer for us both)

A young, new preacher was walking with an older, more seasoned preacher in the garden one day and feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do, he was inquiring of the older preacher. The older preacher walked up to a rosebush and handed the young preacher a rosebud and told him to open it without tearing off any petals.
The young preacher looked in disbelief at the older preacher and was trying to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his wanting to know the WILL OF GOD for his life and for his ministry. Because of his high respect for the older preacher, he proceeded to TRY to unfold the rose, while keeping every petal intact...It wasn't long before he realized how impossible it was to do so.
Noticing the younger preacher's inability to unfold the rosebud while keeping it intact, the older preacher began to recite the following poem...

UNFOLDING THE ROSE

It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God's design;
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I.
GOD opens this flower so sweetly,
When in my hands they fade and die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God's design,
Then how can I think I have wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?

So I'll trust in Him for His leading
Each moment of every day.
I will look to him for His guidance
Each step of the pilgrim way.

The pathway that lies before me,
Only my Heavenly Father knows.
I'll trust Him to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose.

(This made me remember that as long as I trusted in Him I would find the words. I must thank the sister who sent me the above story for several of the roses on this page also)

After several days of "going it alone" with only God's help I sent out a Prayer Request. I asked for prayer for both my new friend who I had learned was/is being abused and for myself to be God's hands to help her. I received back a letter from a sister who hadn't been mailing much lately but for some reason felt God was telling her to do it that day - I received several of the above links from her. I also received the following:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we maybe able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." 2 Cor. 1:3-4.

We ourselves are more able to minister when we can say,
"Been there. Done that. God helped me through."

Not only was I abused by a family member while growing up but also am a survivor of abuse from a "husband". I knew exactly what she was going threw, relived my own pain with each letter from her, and leaned on my own experience to know how far I could go in questioning her.

My feelings on the "matter" YES, he does hear our prayers and answeres them. He was using many different people when he sent help and I thank HIM for sending that help when I needed it.