Living by prayer has become a lifestyle for me since childhood. My parents were great believers in prayer. We saw God so many times provide and heal for us in our family. We always had prayer together in the morning after breakfast. Then at noontime, we prayed for the countries and peoples of the world after lunch: Monday - India, Tuesday - Africa, Wednesday - Southeast Asia, Thursday - South America, and so on through the weekend. We kids all took turns praying and so knew the names of countries and people we had never seen. Then each evening we had bedtime prayers together.
Dad and I also have always prayed together in our marriage and family life - and we still do. Through the years we have been comforted, helped, healed and amazed to see how our Heavenly Father has answered those prayers and the prayers of so many people who have prayed for us! We are rich in praying family and friends.... I have been thinking of the many times in our life when we had major needs, and prayer was our salvation to get us through difficult times.
When we had to send our first daughter off to boarding school - three days trip away from where we lived - I thought sometimes I just could not stand that separation. Maybe it prepared us for many more separations from you, Cheryl: off to college in the States, then off to Beirut as a missionary. I will never forget the terrible war in Beirut when we were waiting news of the birth of your first baby, Nathan. We could hear the gunfire when we talked to you on the phone. And then the phone lines were cut....this happened so often. The time you escaped in a boat with Rachel - we got the news at Council, the night I was giving the missions message. All communication was going through us by phone to Dave Moore...and finally I had to go to another hotel and concentrate on prayer and also my message while Dad took over the Lebanon message service.
I will never forget the morning you were so horribly burned, Debbi, falling into a pot of hot yogo. Or the time we got word that you had been sick for some time at ICA and we had not heard about it. Or the time we had to bring Elin home from ICA as she was so sick. In all of those boarding school situations, we had to depend on prayer to get us through. No one ever understands the anguish of a parent sending a child so far away unless you have gone through it! And pray we did - always.
Remember the rabies shots?? The night before you kids took off for ICA, Cheryl was bitten by our new little puppy, nd the very night that you had left, the little dog went rabid and had to be killed. That meant rabies shots for everyone who had been near the dog. We had to call the school and have you all have shots down there. John was pre-school and he hated going to the doctor each morning for those shots! I wonder who was praying for us when we went through that experience??!
Many people prayed me through my bad bout with hepatitis. When Dad took in my blood sample, the doctors wanted to know who this lady ws - the count was so high! Again many people were praying for me, and through prayer and obeying the nurses, I was able to stay right there and finally got back to normal again after almost two months!
When we got word, Cheryl, that you were being suspended from school in eighth grade, we were devastated, and all we could do was cry ad pray. And it was a good time for you, being home with us. Mark was born then and you were there - and he was always your baby.
Towards the end of our time in Burkina, we made that famous trip to Abidjan when I was driving along the paved highway, still in Burkina, and a child ran right out in front of me and hit the car and fell by the side of the road. I was terrified and just cried out to God. The child lay there lifeless but then started to move and to cry. It took us a long time to take care of the details of that accident and meant taking more time for the journey. We were headed for Abidjan to make corrections in our Bible manuscript and this seemed like one more trial in keeping that Bible from getting published! What an experience! Many people prayed for us in the translation of that Bible for the Bobos, and how thankful we are for them.
I think also of the months and years we prayed for our dear Jennie when she started her cancer. We prayed personally and with her and our friends and all of you prayed. And finally we had to submit to God's will for our dear daughter-in-law, and she went to live in heaven with Jesus. Prayer sustained us all during those times and especially you, John.
All of these incidents and expeienced remind us that our family has been bathed in prayer all of our lives. We continue to pray each day - praying together for each of you our children and grandchildren, and now great grands in the morning - and then many times during the day as you come to mind.
It is certainly true as the old saying goes - "More things are wrought through prayer than this world dreams of"! We are fortunate to be a praying family.
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