Pain to Praise

For 25 years Lynn had watched Joe struggle with anger and frustration; his spiritual, mental and physical health declining with each passing year. Lynn found herself living with a constant knot in her stomach wondering what Joe's mood would be each evening as he returned from work. Would he blow up? She could see his job was killing him. She longed to see once again the happy, funny man she had married. Lynn knew that the only hope was the Lord, so everyday found her crying out to God.
When Joe decided they needed to pick up and move, even though he didn't really know what they were heading tino, Lynn was more than willing to go. Whatever it took to have her husband back. She put her trust in God, and off they went.
There were anxious and lean times during the years after their move across country since Joe didn't have a regular paying job. They had already gone through most of their savings and retirement, existing primarily on Lynn's part-time job. But for Lynn, the price was a small one to pay compared to what they had gained as a couple. She had her Joe back. He was once again laughing and joking, and his faith in God had returned and grown strong. The knot in her stomach had also disappeared. Lynn thanked God daily that He had answered her prayers.
A few years after they had moved, they received $10,000 from an unexpected sale. Praise God! There would be enough to live on and for Christmas. (Their family had increased in size since their move.) Around the same time, their church had begun a building program asking for support pledges. Joe and Lynn wanted to participate, so they both prayed about what to pledge. Lynn felt God had told her they were to pledge the entire $10,000 that had come in. God had told Joe a completely different amount, a monthly pledge of $200. When both told the other the amount God impressed on them, they decided to "go big or go home" and pledged BOTH amounts. Neither Joe nor Lynn felt any fear or hesitation because God had proven Himself as a faithful and loving provider many times before. The next Sunday found them joyfully giving their $10,000, both excited to see how God would provide. They didn't have to wait long. The very next day, a family member who had no idea of what Joe and Lynn had just done came over and handed them their Christmas gift - a check for $10,000! After they picked themselves up off the floor, they Praised the Lord as once again, He had shown himself faithful and in a way they would never have guessed.

Ps. 28:7 - The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Ps. 117:2 - For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD [endureth] for ever. Praise ye the LORD.

Howie's Big Adventure

Howie was an adventurous 8 year old who's imagination drove him to dangerous feats of daring, dangerous and daring for an 8 year old that is. One Sunday afternoon Howie's parents (who were pastors in a small Wisconsin community) were entertaining some parishoners at their small parsonage while he was playing the hero rescuing some young girl in distress. Rescuing others had begun dominating both Howie's daytime and night time dreams. He had become obsessed with these imagined rescues since losing his sister to drowning the summer before while they were swimming together at church camp. I don't know if his inability to save her triggered his life-long obsession, but none the less it was there.
As Howie was running, chasing an imagined bad guy, he stepped down on his ankle and heard a crack. Very un-hero like, he starting screaming and crying. His dad came running and picked him up and carried him to the parsonage. In those days, the church didn't provide their pastors with insurance, nor could the pastors afford to get their own. So they had to rely on God. (What a novel idea!) In the living room his parents and their company laid hands on him and prayed a prayer of faith. As soon as they prayed, Howie's ankle stopped hurting so he immediately jumped up and ran off to continue with his interrupted adventures.
Years later, while attending Northwest College, Howie twisted his ankle playing soccer and had to have his ankle x-rayed. The attending Doctor asked him when he had broken his ankle before, and Howie said " I've never broken my ankle." The Doctor pointed to a healed fracture on the X-ray, and said "yes, this is clearly a healed fracture from years ago." Howie then remembered the time when he was 8. He knew that God had performed a miracle of healing those many years ago for a small boy who hadn't even know what was happening. God is so faithful. Even when we don't know what's going on, He does!

James 5:14-15 - Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Desire of my Heart

This is a story from my friend Dana Krouse.

I want to share with everyone something that has just happened in my life. My husband, Larry, and I have been married since Adam and Eve. Just kidding; it only seems that way sometimes. We met when I was 14 and he was 15, dated for four years, then married at the ripe old age of 18… mere babies!!!

For me, all I can say is I watched way too many romance movies and thought that was how our life would be. I soon had a rude awakening!!! However, I thought, “I know, all I need to do is change him, then all will be right with the world!” I don’t have to tell you that it took only about two days into my plan to figure out that was not a happening deal!

Over the course of the past 37 years, 8 months and 4 days (but who’s counting) I had decided I would take responsibility for my actions and leave the rest up to God. I would just settle for mediocrity! (Hmm, was I serving a mediocre God?) We’d been the whole counseling route with me totally believe that God could change him. (You see, I didn’t have a problem!) So, once again, since God wasn’t working on my timetable, I decided to settle. Thankfully God hadn’t decided to settle, He had much bigger plans…

After years of mediocrity, very few joys and plenty of pain, we decided to do something about it. We headed off to Discovery, a weekend retreat that asks, “What do you want out of life, and why aren’t you getting it?” I went into the weekend thinking that Larry needed about 80 percent of the work and me, Dana, only 20 percent. I also went into it with the determination that there were several things that I would never, in a million years, share with anyone! To make a long story short, 30 minutes into the first session, they were asking people why they were there and what they wanted out of the weekend (by the way, Larry and I were in separate classes). Well, blow my socks off if I wasn’t the second person to stand! I started singing like a bird, telling ALL ABOUT WHAT I WAS NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT! There were times that I had an out-of –body experience wondering who all of this was coming from and how that came out of my mouth!

Larry and I did not see each other for much of the weekend, so I had no idea how he was responding to it all. (To say that Larry is not the most talkative or expressive person alive would be an extreme understatement. As I always say, I do enough talking and have enough drama for the both of us.) On the last evening, everyone came together, and we were asked to share what was on our heart. Larry shot up out of his chair as soon as the first person had finished… he jumped up like the Holy Spirit has poked him in the butt with a pin! Larry confessed to the entire room that he had been angry and unforgiving for the entire 37 years that we had been married. He turned to me in front of about 200+ people and said how sorry he was, asking my forgiveness. Now picture if you will the commercial of the man and woman running to each other out in the field… that was us; both of us crying like big babies! It was the most precious thing ever! It wasn’t what he said that got to me but how he shot out of that chair with such urgency and such a sincere heart. A true Romantic movie moment!

There is now peace and joy in our home that neither of us have ever felt before. There is understanding and teamwork like never before. Only God performs those kinds of miracles, and I am thankful for my life everyday.

Dana Krouse

Psalms 37:4 - Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Different Plans

Martha was born in Ogden, Utah, to a conservative Mormon family. Her mother died when she was thirteen, the very time a young girl needs her mother to direct her towards womanhood. After her Mother's death, the family (which consisted of Martha's father, 3 older sisters, one older brother, Martha and one younger brother) fell apart.
After a few hard, lonely years went by, Martha found herself pregnant. This was 1926 and these things, especially in her community and in her family, weren't met with any grace. Not knowing what to do, where to go or who to turn to, and feeling she had no other choice, Martha decided to kill herself. She was alone, unmarried and she couldn't live or have her family live through the shame of an illegitimate pregnancy and birth. Martha didn't know Jesus' love yet, but He knew her, and His plans were very different than hers.
At the darkest point, Martha shared with a friend her plans for ending her life. When her friend's older brother Jack, who was in the Navy at the time, heard about Martha's plans of suicide, he said " tell Martha not to kill herself, I'll marry her." And that's just what he did.
Jack had been raised in the same closed Mormon community and knew what the response would be to Martha's pregnancy. In spite of his rough ways, he was a good-hearted man, always fighting for the underdog. Jack told Martha he would marry her and give the baby a name, then they would divorce. That was his plan, but God had other plans. Jack didn't believe in Jesus' love yet , but Jesus believed in him.
Martha and Jack married in April of 1926, and moved to a small town in California. In spite of having been raised in a conservative area, they were both hard-drinking, hard-living people. The plans Jack had of divorcing right away didn't materialize. Not only did they stay together after the first baby, a girl, was born, but 2 years later, they added another baby girl to their family.
Being of Irish descent, fighting and drinking were in Martha and Jack's blood. Arguments filled their life and marriage for the first 5 years. Then something miraculous happened. They both met Jesus, and the course of their lives and the lives of their descendants were changed forever. Gone were the nights of raised voices, and broken dreams. A peace they had never known before filled their home. The oldest girl even went around staring at her mother, hardly understanding what she was saying since the cursing that had been such a part of everyday language in her home, was now gone.
Instead of the death that Satan wanted to bring to Martha and her unborn child, Christ brought life and a heritage of holiness. From the 34 year union of Martha and Jack, came 5 children, 4 of whom are serving God and have raised their families to serve or know of Him. There are over 5 ministers or ministers wives that have come from their union and many community and church leaders.
God knew that Jack and Martha were His, even before they did. He knew the plans He had for them, plans for hope and a future. A future with Him.
In the years that followed Martha's conversion, she responded, when asked about the stigma of those early times "It's under Christ's blood." meaning, God has forgotten and forgiven, why should I do less?
If you have a past that continues to haunt you, be thankful for it. Just like Martha and Jack, you have no idea what will come from your mistakes. I know that if you leave it in God's hands, it will work for good. You have His word on it!

Genesis 50:20 - "As for you, you meant evil against me, {but} God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive." (NASB)

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (NIV)

The List

They met at Bible school in 1947. Dad was attending school on a GI bill from World War II where he had been a POW in a German prison camp. My mom was a pretty, vivacious young woman, who wanted to do something for God, and figured Bible school would be a good place to start (not to mention meet a handsome Godly man!)
Mom had seen my Dad's light blonde head across the campus and told her friend, "I'll probably marry that boy." Dad, equally attracted, fought off mom's other suitors (of which she had many), and claimed his place beside her at chapel and other school functions. They didn't date all year because, in those days at that school, you could only date on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons. As they both travelled in singing groups that used up their Wednesdays and Sundays, Dad had to wait for 6 months before asking Mom on a date. After that, it didn't take them long to fall in love. They married in August 1949 and moved into a small attic apartment. They're lives were full with school, weekend preaching and singing engagements. Dad also had a job laying sewer pipe to keep his now growing family fed, since Mom had quickly become pregnant with my sister Cheri (THAT activity, obviously, was not kept to only Wednesdays and Sundays!) They were happy, fulfilled, and broke.
Dad's payday was a ways off and he'd become a bit worried since my Mom was pregnant and, like Old Mother Hubbard, their cupboard was practically bare. So one morning, Mom made a list of the things they needed in anticipation of payday. That same day, a man from the church they attended came up to Mom and asked how she and Dad were making it. Being Mom, she wouldn't let him know that they were broke , she said "We are making it fine!" He said " What I mean is, can you use some home-canned beans and such that my wife put up?" My mom thankfully accepted his kind offer and hid her excitement over the possibility of having food other than the meager rations they were getting along with. That afternoon, the man knocked on their door and in his arms were bags of groceries. Not only his wife's canned goods, but EVERYTHING MOM HAD WRITTEN ON THE LIST! She had told neither him nor anyone else what she had written down plus they hadn't even prayed specifically for food. They trusted God to meet their needs, and without even asking He answered. Our God is Faithful!

Is. 65:24
I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking to me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!

Sometimes I Forget

This is a testimony from my son, Tyler, written at the end of September 2008:

I sometimes forget how much God has brought me through in this last year, so I will write it down to go back to and to bless anyone who reads it. Feel free to give this to whomever you wish.

Last year (2007) around the end of June I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Talk about bad news; not only was I in pain, but one of my 'boys' was going bye-bye! Of course, this was devastating to my wife, Wendy, but like the strong woman of God she is, she took it and prayed.
We also learned that it would be nearly impossible to have children for 2 - 7 years. This, of course, was also a shock to Wendy and I, so we kept praying for a miracle.

The surgery was a relatively short one...I think. Actually, I have no idea! I woke up a couple hours later, high as a kite and thankful that one pain had stopped (a 1" x 1 1/2" tumor down there can ruin your day - trust me) and the glass was 1/2 full, if you know what I mean.

I would start chemo the next day, so Wendy took me out to our favorite restaurant to give us one last hurrah before the chemo pain really set in. At this point I was outwardly okay, but inside I was more afraid then I had ever been before. Wendy wrapped some "pre-chemo" gifts for me, and I opened them after we ordered our appetizers. To tell you the truth, I was very under-impressed with the gifts...gum, mints...ummm are you trying to tell me something? The last gift was a small rectangular object that I opened thinking, "Oh great, more gum." My mouth opened with disbelief as I stared at the most beautiful thing a man could ever see. My wife had been keeping this to herself for a week because she wanted to get checked out by her doctor. She was pregnant! I was so excited I could not eat, so we left the restaurant and headed to spread the word. The fear drained out of my heart and was replaced with hope and faith. God had given me what I needed to fight this battle!

The first day of chemo (and for the next couple of months) I was hooked up to a bag of poison that was intended to kill the cancer but almost killed me. I went from a hairy, tan 195 pounder to a sick, bald 140 pounder. Towards the end of the treatment, I could not walk more than a couple of steps before passing out. My beautiful 5'2" pregnant wife carried me to the bathroom and took care of me as only an angel could.

I was supposed to have another surgery (it was scheduled, and I was mentally prepared) that reminded me of some of the medieval tortures I had seen on movies like Braveheart. You see, the cancer had spread into my lymph nodes and would be at risk for future growth if I did not get this surgery. After LOTS of praying by my family, friends and church, another miracle happened. The affected lymph nodes had shrunk to the point that they were no longer a concern to the Oncologist. Praise the Lord!

So after my last chemo treatment in October 2007, I got healthy and could now take better care of my wife who was by now EXTREMELY pregnant. Since then, it has been a struggle to get back to some semblance of stability, but our daughter, Delaney Jenna Flaherty, was born on April 1, 2008. She is a miracle, and so is the fact that I am still alive and healthy.

When you are going through a tough time, remember this - God's faithfulness is absolute. He loves us and knows what we need and when we need it. To those who prayed us through this trial, God will bless you.

Tyler Flaherty

A Prayer Closet Experience

Mom and Dad were pastors of a church in Sparks, Nevada, when I was 10. Church camp was coming up the next day, and I decided I needed to go. I told my mom that I wanted to go, but she reluctantly told me they had no money. (In those days, keeping the pastor poor meant he would be closer to God somehow!)

Dad had recently preached a moving sermon on going into your prayer closet from Matthew 6:6

When you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your

Father secretly. Then your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you. Mt. 6:6 NLT

So, undaunted by the news, I told my mom I would ask God. Going into my closet, I pushed shoes and various garments aside, knelt and asked the Lord to supply the needed money. Then, in my childlike faith, I got up and started packing.

Mom was frantically trying to think of how she could get the money so that my faith would not be damaged (how often we mothers done that!). As she was worrying, the phone rang. It was my Grandpa wanting to drop by. He usually only dropped by after his wife had beat up on him - but that's a whole other story! When Grandpa arrived, he handed my Mom money, the exact amount needed for me to go to camp and have spending money. Understand, no one told him. Grandpa never gave my parents money, plus my parents would never have asked. God moved on a most unlikely source to meet my prayer of faith.

This Stone of Remembrance is one of the bedrocks of my faith. God has always met my needs in so many different ways, but this one set the course for my belief in God's goodness.