Life's Challenges - Stories - Prayer

Angels In The Alley

Diane, a young Christian university student, was home for the summer.
She had gone to visit some friends one evening & the time passed quickly
as each shared their various experiences of the past year. She ended
up staying longer than she had planned. Evening came & Diane had to walk
home alone. But she wasn't afraid because it was a small town and she
lived only a few blocks away. As she walked along under the tall elm
trees, Diane asked "God" to keep her safe from harm & danger.

When she reached the alley, which was a short cut to her house, she
decided to take it. However, halfway down the alley, she noticed a man
standing at the end, as though he were waiting for her. She became uneasy
& began to pray, asking for "God's" protection. Instantly a comforting
feeling of quietness & security wrapped around her; she felt as though
someone was walking with her. When she reached the end of the alley, she
walked right past the man & arrived home safely.

The following day, she read in the paper that a young girl had been
raped in the same alley, just twenty minutes after she had been there.
Feeling overwhelmed by this tragedy & the fact that it could of been
her, she began to weep.

Thanking the Lord for her safety & to help this young woman, she
decided to go to the police station. She felt she could recognize the
man, so she told them her story. The police asked her if she would be
willing to look at a lineup to see if she could identify him. She
agreed & immediately pointed out the man she had seen in the alley
the night before.

When the man was told he had been identified, he immediately broke
down & confessed. The officer thanked Diane for her bravery & asked if
there was anything they could do for her, she asked if they would ask
the man one question. Diane was curious as to why he had not attacked her.
When the policeman asked him, he answered, "Because she wasn't alone.
She had two tall men walking on either side of her."

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PRAYER

Unknown

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God Always Answers

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do she died leaving us with a tiny
premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator. (We had no electricity to run an incubator.) We also had no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had
for such babies and the cotton wool the baby would be wrapped in.  Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle.
She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates.
"And it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed.

As in the West it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst
water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

"All right," I said, "put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from
drafts. "Your job is to keep the baby warm."

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I
gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby.

I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily die if
it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please,
God," she prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it
this afternoon."

While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added by way of a corollary, "And while You are about it, would You
please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?"

As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, "Amen?" I just did not believe that God could do
this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything. The Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could
answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at
that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home.

Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the verandah, was a large twenty-two pound parcel. l
felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the
string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting.

Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted
jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children
looked a little bored. 

Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas-that would make a batch of buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the.....could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out-yes, a brand-new, rubber hot water bottle; I cried.

I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of, the children. She rushed
forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!" Rummaging down to the bottom of the box,
she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly.

Her eyes shone! She had never doubted. Looking up at me, she asked: "Can I go over with you Mummy, and give this dolly to
that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months. Packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African
child-five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "That Afternoon."

"Before they call, I will answer!" Isaiah 65:24

Unknown

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If We Listen

A young man had been to Wednesday night Bible Study. The Pastor had shared about listening to God. The young man couldn't help but wonder, "Does God still speak to people?"

After service he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the idea. Several different people talked about how God had led them to do things in different ways.

It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, "God.. If you still speak to people, speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to serve your wishes."

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought, to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, "God is that you?" He didn't get a reply and started on toward home.

But again, the thought was there, "Buy a gallon of milk."

The young man thought about how he'd heard that not all those spoken to recognized God's quiet voice inside of one's mind. Then he said, "Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk."

It didn't seem like too hard a request to fulfill. He could always use the milk himself if nothing else. So he stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home.

As he passed Seventh street, he again felt the urge, "Turn down that street." "This is crazy," he thought and drove on pass the intersection.

Again, he felt that he should turn down seventh street. At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, "Okay, God, I will."

He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi-commercial area of town. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either.

The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed. Again, he sensed something, "Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street." The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep.

He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat. "God, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid."

Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk. Finally, he opened the car door, "Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to do as I wish. I guess that will count for something, but if they don't answer right away, I am out of here."

He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, "Who is it? What do you want?"

Then the door opened before the young man could get away. The man was standing there in his jeans and t-shirt. He looked like he'd just gotten out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep.

"What is it?"

The young man thrust out the gallon of milk. "Here, I brought this to you," he said nervously.

The man took the milk and rushed down a hall way speaking loudly in Spanish. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face.

The man began speaking and half crying, "We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk."

His wife in the kitchen yelled out, "I ask Him to send an Angel with some milk. Are you an Angel?"

In response to hearing this, the young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car as the tears were streaming down his face. He knew that God still answers prayers and that God still speaks to people.

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A Miracle of War

During the Korean war, one man was hurt badly on the battlefield of Heartbreak Ridge. His buddies were in a foxhole about 50 yards away when the man was hit by sniper fire in an ambush.

As the fire continued, the other men discussed amongst themselves what to do. But since the sniper fire was too intense, to crawl out and bring back their wounded buddy would mean almost certain death.

For a while no one would move. The men in the foxhole could hear their wounded friend yelling for help.

Then one of the men in the foxhole began to look intensely at his own watch. He could not keep his eyes off it. All others in the foxhole noticed this, and began to ask questions. But the soldier with the watch remained silent.

All of a sudden, the man with the watch jumped out of the foxhole, and crawled over to his wounded buddy. He then grabbed him by the nape of the collar, and very slowly made his way back to the foxhole, all the while sniper fire whizzing around. Both amazingly did make it back to the foxhole without another bullet penetration.

After the sniper fire had died down, the man who saved his wounded buddy was asked why he waited so long to crawl after his wounded friend. To which he responded: "My mom said every day at the exact same time she would be praying for me. And according to my watch, I left the foxhole exactly when she started praying."

Author Unknown

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The Power of Prayer

A missionary on furlough told this true story while visiting his home church in Michigan... "While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital. Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident. Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known that I carried money and medicines. He said, "Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.'" At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said, 'No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them." It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone. At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story:

"On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?" The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were, he was too busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26."

Author Unknown

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Prayer

Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store. She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries. She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed food.
John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her a requested that she leave his store. Visualizing the family needs, she said: ''Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can.'' John told her he could not give her credit, as she did not have a charge account at his store.

Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two. The customer walked forward and told the grocer-man that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family. The grocer-man said in a very reluctant voice, ''Do you have a grocery list?'' Louise replied, ''Yes sir!'' ''O.K.'' he said, ''Put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your gocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries.''

Louise, hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed. The eyes of the grocer-man and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed down. The grocer-man, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, ''I can't believe it.''

The customer smiled and the grocer-man started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more. The grocer-man stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement. It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer, which said: Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your hands.'' The grocer-man gave her the groceries that he had gathered and placed on the scales and stood in stunned silence. Louise thanked him and left the store.

The customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to John as he said, ''It was worth every penny of it.'' It was sometime later that John Longhouse discovered the scales were broken, therefore only God knows how much a prayer weighs.

Author Unknown

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