To view the entire Month Year Edition, please click here to view the PDF.

The Encourager

April, 2016       Vol. 288A

The Faith Chronicles

Recently while checking Facebook, I came across some pictures a friend had posted of a house that had burned. I immediately recognized it as the house we had lived in when the Lord found me. Memories came rushing back with every picture, memories of miracles I had witnessed in that house, as well as happy times with my children there. They were little then. I was overcome with emotion. It was, after all, a sudden trip back in time. As I thought of all those memories, I decided perhaps they might bless someone else to read, as well as being something to save for my children. As a result of that, I am creating the The Faith Chronicles, the stories of miracles and answered prayers that I have witnessed in my life, not only in that house, but in the forty eight years that I have known Him. I want to leave behind a legacy for others to be encouraged. I hope they bless you as you read.

The First Miracle

It was a Saturday night in the spring of 1969 and finally everything was quiet. The children and my husband were in bed and I had stayed up to mop and wax the kitchen floor as well as iron the clothes for Sunday School tomorrow morning. It was a new thing, this going to church. Our home had never known such peace and tranquility, and I was still amazed at the changes in my family, but most of all in myself. All the loneliness and longing for something I could not understand, had been replaced with a joy I had never known. At last I felt loved, really loved unconditionally, and it thrilled me beyond words. I had found that which my soul longed for, and I was in love with the Savior of my soul. I found myself reading the Bible for hours, and playing music that praised the Lord. I was finally truly happy.

This night as I ironed creases in those little pants for my son I sang along with the music on the radio and I anticipated the service we would attend in the morning. Suddenly I heard little footsteps behind me, and turning found my youngest son Alan, just a toddler, standing there. I turned off the iron and picked him up.

“Potty Mommy !” he said. I carried him to the bathroom and unzipped his blanket sleeper. With it being cold in his room, I had dressed him warmly in case he kicked the covers off (which he usually did). As I pulled it off him, I heard him scream. I was horrified to see a huge angry blister on the back of his right hand. Apparently he had laid it across the top of the little white gas heater that we kept lit in the bathroom beside the toilet. He was screaming and shaking and twisting in my arms from the pain. As we all know, nothing hurts like a burn, and my heart broke for his suffering. I grabbed him up and took him to the kitchen and sat down on a kitchen chair. We had no phone so the only thing I knew to do, was pray. After all, the pastor, Brother Frank Goble, preached that all that we asked in His Name that would He do, so I just took him at his word.

[quote center=”true” float=”right” size=”one-third” name=”Sis. Betsy”]

I prayed “Lord, I know You are a healer, because the pastor and the Bible say so, so I am asking you to touch my baby…

[/quote]

I laid my hand over that blister, and started to pray. I prayed “Lord, I know You are a healer, because the pastor and the Bible say so, so I am asking you to touch my baby. He’s just little and He doesn’t understand this pain, please take it away. Make this blister go down and take away any trace of this burn, heal it completely , in Jesus’ Name.”

I started to cry, and I spent several minutes thanking the Lord for healing, and for changing my life and my family, and most of all for loving me. After some time had passed, I noticed that Alan had stopped squirming in my arms, and the crying was silent. I looked and he had fallen asleep as I prayed. Slowly I took my hand off his, and was amazed to find that the blister was gone, no redness or any sign of any kind of injury!! I had just witnessed my first miracle as a saved child of God! Better than that, my son had just experienced his first touch of God, in that miracle!

The next day at service I told everyone, and my faith soared. If God could do that, what else could He do? I made up my mind that day that I would trust Him. Its been many years since that blessed night, and I have had cause to call on Him for other miracles, and He never fails. No, they are not always instantaneous, but He always comes through. So, if you are in need, just take Him at His Word and watch Him work. He will do you good. He always does!

[quote center=”true” float=”Left” size=”one-third” name=”Sis. Betsy”]

…take Him at His Word and watch Him work. He will do you good. He always does!

[/quote]

To view the entire Month Year Edition, please click here to view the PDF.