A Battle Won

So, it was the summer of 1977. I was in my first home in Florida .
I had been praying and asking the LORD to speak to me as how I could serve HIM.  I was the Mother of two young boys which was a full time job and yet I wanted to do more, If I could.

I had been helping a young mother and her 3 children rehabilitate their lives and finally there was relief after a year, so I felt I was ready for what was next to come.

While speaking that day with Hilary, (the woman I was helping with her children) she shared, she had a sister that was pregnant from a one night stand a few months earlier with a co-worker, and was heading off to an abortion clinic the next day to terminate the baby. Hilary knew I didn't believe in abortions. 

When I heard of this I asked her to please let me speak to her sister before she went for the abortion! She said her sister was the sort of girl who was very head strong and she didn't think she would welcome me or my thoughts. I said OK, but just let me try, Please!

She called her sister, Jennifer, and said she had someone who had been helping her and her kids for the last year, and wondered if she would allow her friend "Teri" to talk to her. Jennifer said,

"no way, I don't need anybody or their pressures on me now at this time"!

She told Hilary she wanted to end the pregnancy and get on with her life. She said this was just a momentary set back, embarrassing and unwanted, it was just unfortunate and she was going to ask the "one night stand guy at work, Brian", to help with the money for the abortion. 

Hilary asked her to "just come and pick me up at Teri's" the next day so she could go with her to get the abortion. Hilary was still staying in my home at that time with her 3 children, so she gave Jennifer my address and said she would see her in the morning.
I was babysitting Hilary's girls for her as they went to the clinic together.

The next day when Jennifer arrived to pick up Hilary, Hilary waited for Jennifer to come to the door. I had asked her to do this so I could meet Jennifer and possibly speak with her.
I was committed to helping her change her mind about the abortion!

The plan worked, and Jennifer made her way to the front door.

I asked her in and told her Hilary was getting ready.

As I spoke to Jennifer alone, I felt the LORD say to me audibly and very clearly, "help her change her mind". With that I knew now what I needed to do. I spoke to Jennifer and told her that I was willing to pay for all hospital and doctor bills for the birth of this baby and also allow her to move into my home so I could help her save money to begin her new life once the baby was born, no strings attached, she could move on with her life, and keep all her money! I also told her I would fully support her, food, clothes and all as well as find a home for her baby if she did not want it.

Jennifer thanked me and said she didn't think so. I could see her tears, but she was determined to abort. She said she didn't want to be a mother! She had spoken to "Brian" and he was going to give her the money for the abortion. He agreed he didn't want anyone to know about the baby at work and he was willing to help her "deal with it".  He was meeting them at the clinic later to pay for the surgery.

With that, Jennifer and Hilary walked out the door and headed to the clinic.

I fell on my face before the LORD as soon as I closed the front door, and cried out to GOD! I said "LORD, hear me now! I did all I could for that child, everything humanly possible to save it, but I ask again to change her mind, just miraculously change her mind"! It was no small prayer"! I was shocked that as I cried out I felt this was a baby boy I was fighting for! Being the Mother of two young boys I could not bear the thought of murdering a baby boy!

I knew Jennifer was desperate, I understood her pain, but still I wanted to change her thinking. I was not judging her, I only wanted to save the life of this child!
 

That night, Jennifer and Hilary ended up back at my home. Jennifer had not had the abortion! She said my offer caused her to rethink the whole thing! She said someone at the clinic showed her what abortion looked like in a pamphlet, and it scared her!  So, she moved into my back bedroom in my small home and we were on! She had some Insurance from work we found she could utilize for a pregnancy. This was a huge blessing for me! I thought I was going to have to put a second mortgage on my home!  She remained with me for three months. Brian, "the one night stand" from work, began changing his mind about Jennifer the longer she was pregnant with his child and they actually started dating! That was a shock! Jennifer and I began praying together every day. He asked her to move into his apartment with him, and she gladly accepted this!

WOW, now she was 6 months pregnant, and there was talk of marriage! I was so blessed I could only shout "Thank GOD" over and over again. This was the MIRACLE I had hoped for!

The rest of the story is so beautiful, three months later Jennifer and Brian welcomed a new baby BOY, they named Bradley, into their lives. I still cry when I think of what might have happened to him!

I am so grateful, I went out on a limb for Bradley and GOD showed me PRAYER works!

There is so many more miraculous things that happened in this story but this is all I will share here.

Truth is stranger than fiction, and believe me,

Prayer does really work! 



Connecting After Death

 

It was 2001, I was at home in my living room and reading the local news paper. The St. Petersburg Times.

I was just paging quickly through and then something strange happened.

Some unseen hands held my face and turned my head to the right. I felt the hands holding my head and I didn't resist them. It was so odd feeling it made me focus on what was transpiring. These gentle hands moved my head into a position and then stopped. I was unable to change the position. But I really didn't want to. I was wondering what was happening. I wasn't afraid, but it was certainly odd. This had never happened before to me.

Then as if to reach inside my head, the hands took hold of my eyes and caused me to move them to the center of the page and then to the inside column. It was completely bizarre.

I had been manipulated to look at a vey specific point on the page I was now looking at.

I started to focus on the notice I found myself reading that I had been directed to, and to my surprise and utter amazement, I began to absorb what it was I was reading.

These hands that held my head and directed me to this particular point on the page had led me to an obituary. It was more than surreal. It was miraculous!

I gasped as I read the name of one of my dearest and oldest friends who  had just passed away. I read that she had been killed on 49th Street not far from where I lived. I read that she was the victim of a careless driver that was on her laptop in her car while driving. The woman who killed my friend was a real estate person speeding through a red light while on her computer and T-boned my friends van, causing it to roll several times and in the process my friend broke her neck.

My friend was on her way back home from picking up food from a "Hope Kitchen" to serve unfortunate families with children and also bring them gifts.

 She had just picked up the food for the children and was on her way back home to get things ready.

 

I was shocked. I was in disbelief, and then I heard her voice speak to me as if she were standing right there in the room. I heard her say in the most reassuring tone, "It's O.K. Teri, don't worry for me. I'm fine, I'm happy, I'm home".

She said it so softly and I could feel her right there with me.

The bond of deep friendship we had in this life has carried over to the next.

 

My friend and I went to the same church 25 years earlier and were close and special friends. She was different. We had a certain connection. We were like family instantly when we met and respected one another deeply.

 

I was at her house one year in the 90's during a horrible storm to check on her while she was pregnant and alone. I was getting ready to leave after a day of visiting and something told me to stay a bit longer, so I did. She began to go into labor right after I had decided to stay. I will never forget it. She was so grateful I stayed.

 It was I who delivered her baby that night. Just she and I in the house. The storm that came that night was so strong it prevented the mid wife getting to her from over the bridge in Tampa. I had been sent there that day to visit and to be with her to help her deliver her daughter that night.

I had never delivered a baby before. But it all came to me as I assisted her and it was all so natural.

 

 I believe she wanted me to know she had passed on.

It occurred to me that I was led to sit down and read the paper that day. I never really read the newspaper much back then. I was always a "Live News at 6:00 pm", with dinner kind of girl so I didn't bother reading the paper that much.

 

This was special and she wanted me to know she was now gone.

 

I called her husband and confirmed all I had read. I shared with him how this all happened and what I had heard. He said she had been saying she wanted to get in touch with me just a week before the accident.

She kept that promise.

I believe the true friends we make here will be our friends throughout eternity.

See you again sweet Jay!

The Miracle

 

So, it was the Autumn of 1998.  I was on the beach with a bunch of friends. We had all decided this would be a day of hanging out at a majestic old resort, The Don CeSar, on one of America's finest beaches on the West coast of Florida and enjoy a spectacular sunset. We had had a early dinner at the "Don" and headed out on the beach. The Sunsets are always so colorful and majestic out over the Gulf of Mexico. It's always a beautiful sight!

 

There were about 8 of us in all.

We were all running around all over the place just laughing playing tag and being silly. It had been an awesome day. My youngest son was one of the people with us in the group. We were all having a really wonderful time, but it was starting to get late and I was wondering when we should all pack up and get ready to head back home. Just then one of the girls that was there with us, all of a sudden screamed out and said "OH NO, I've lost my car key"!

 She had driven about 4 people to the beach for the outing that day. I asked her if it was on a key chain or a fob? She said no, it was just the single key she had put in her pocket and now it was gone.

We all were thinking "Oh no, this won't end well". We had covered an entire city block wide area while playing tag and running all over the beach. I decided the only thing

we could do is to all hold hands and

PRAY for divine intervention! 

 We needed this key to get people home so we needed to find this lost key before the sun set. We all knew we needed a miracle.  It was completely dark now on the beach and only the lights from the street gave us any hope of seeing anything, and they were not as close as we needed them to be.

 

We all gathered in a circle grabbed the hand next to us and  I prayed, "Please LORD, help us find this lost key, we thank you for hearing this prayer, we need a miracle, Amen"!

 

It was no grand prayer full of elegant words and promises, just a simple begging from my heart! We all said Amen, and then after about 2 minutes, my son Joshua said, is this it? He held up a single key with a square end to it, and sure enough, there it was! We all started screaming, jumping up and down and laughing and crying! It was a miracle and it only took two minutes to reach us!

 

I have always wondered just how Joshua found that key! He claims he literally stepped on it. Have you ever been to the beach? Have you ever seen how thick the sand can be and how anything you stand on can get buried in the sand in an instant? And in the dark no less? Well, I have! I was just in amazement of this recovery. It was a blessing for sure, but then again I prefer to call it a

miracle. GOD heard our prayer and HE delivered!

You can't make these things up! This was a blessing beyond blessings. I am so grateful! GOD does answer prayer.

 

 

Animals See The Spiritual

 

So, it was 1987. I had an airplane ticket to fly to Texas to visit friends who owned a world wide ministry. Tyler Texas to be exact, a real Bible belt of the worlds largest ministries.  I was being interviewed in a round about way to come join the team and leave the heat from Florida to experience the heat and dust of Texas!

I had just gone through a very complicated divorce and I needed to make some decisions.

 

I flew out to Tyler and spent the week going through interviews and meeting new amazing people that later became some life long friends. Every day was busy and pleasantly exhausting.

I woke up the day before I was getting ready to head back home to Florida. I still didn't have any clear direction, so I took a long walk out in the peach orchard on the massive property of the Ministry.

I walked for about 15 minutes and all of a sudden I just burst into tears. I could not make  up my mind as what to do.  I had so many options before me but I was just wrung out emotionally. I had gotten the job but wasn't sure if I wanted to move.

All of a sudden, from I don't even know where was this huge, white horse. He was so big, and stood so high off the ground. I was actually petrified for a moment. I didn't realize horses could get that big! He came walking towards me slowly, kind of swaying as he walked my way. I had no idea what he was going to do. I was now crying tears of fear. I believe he could see my broken spirit. This gentle giant then put his nose right up to my hand which I had out in front of me. Mostly to protect myself, I was hoping he would stop! He put his head near my shoulder and just stopped moving. He could sense my fear, I was sure! He was offering me peace. He could understand some how. I felt it. He just stood there. We bonded somehow. If I took one step, he took one step. So now my tears switched back to my emotional tears. I looked him in the eyes and started talking to him. He made strange nose noises and I was stunned how I could feel him listening to me. His neck was too high to put my arm around so I just petted his mane and neck for the longest time. We walked and I talked. He walked me back down to the fence gate as I didn't remember how to get there.  I hated saying good bye to this amazing horse. I gave him a kiss on the nose, it was so soft. He just stood perfectly still. I then walked away looking back at him standing there.

 

Of all my wonderful memories there in Tyler, which were many, I must say, the few moments spent with that horse has revisited my mind many times over the years with warm thoughts.

I know he understood my broken spirit and was there to

encourage me.
When I mentioned to my friends, how this wonderful horse met me in the Orchard, they all said "Yes", he has a sweet, loving spirit that animal. He could comfort like no other, They all had experienced the strong, sensitive presence of that amazing horse.

Named By GOD

So, It was early 1975 and  I had just laid down to go to bed. I was 5 months pregnant at that time and very worn out from a full day of running after my two year old son Jason. I went to bed that night and fell into a very deep sleep. Some time in the middle of the night I heard a male voice call my name. I woke up immediately and saw standing in front of me a bright light that encircled an Angel and I heard the voice from the light say to me, "you will have a son, name him Joshua". I was amazed at what I beheld. That was all he said to me.  I didn't bother talking back to the angel in the light. I stared at him and somehow knew I was not to respond.  The voice was sure and steady, strong and kind. It wasn't asking me for my input. The decree spoken to me was not up for discussion. The voice was convincing. It was beyond wonderful seeing this amazing sight before me. I was thinking to myself, "O.K. he will be named Joshua". And that was the end of the conversation.

With that the Angel simply disappeared right before my eyes.

I felt wonderfully comforted, loved and safe.

I laid back down and somehow fell fast asleep again.

 

I woke up the next day and proclaimed to my husband, we're having a boy, his name will be Joshua! My husband gave me a strange look and said, really. I wanted to call him Benjamin and I said well, he already has a name, his name is Joshua. My husband just shook his head and said "why can't we name Allen after my middle name and I said alright, he will be Joshua Allen". 

You see, my husband wasn't going to argue much with me as this was the second time this voice and shimmering Angel had come to me this way. 

Just two years earlier at exactly the same time in my first pregnancy, the same Angel with the same voice made this proclamation to me.

The only difference was that the first time the Angel spoke to me, he said to me "you will have a son, name him Jason" Which is exactly what I did after arm wrestling my husband about naming him Jason. It was hard to convince my husband to do this, but ultimately Jason was accepted.

 

Funny thing is after the fact and many years later actually, it occurred to me that I never had to choose the names for my son's. The names were predestined and chosen for me and them. 

 

In the 70's there were no sonograms that I knew of. You got pregnant and you waited nine months to find out what you were going to have. There was no way to know the sex of your baby. All women were encouraged to be "knocked out" for the arrival or have a C-section for delivery ease and planning.  The moment the Angels decree was spoken to me I had decided I would have a natural child birth so I could watch this miracle child be born. I wanted to be the first to see if the Angel spoke the truth or not. So I travelled to hospitals that would allow this type of delivery. I had told the Doctors with each child I was having a son and his name Jason or his name was Joshua. I really spooked the Doctors with my story, but after all. It was true.

 

The picture above is Joshua. Today is his Birthday. He was born just as the Angel said he would be, as was his brother Jason. You know, we never know what GOD will do. But this is for sure. I love my son's with all my heart and I am so grateful for their

preordained names and announcements to this day.

They are my gift from GOD!

 

~Happy Birthday Joshua~