God Is Alive!: True Stories of God’S Active Presence in Our Lives

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

The Warning

An Encounter with God

In the Wilderness

Feet on the Ground

Just as I Am

Waiting for Friday

Straight Talk

The Warmth of Blankets

My New Name

He Is Merciful

Prayers of a Child

But for the Grace of God

Beyond Me

A Quiet Voice

Not Yet Time

A Hot Cup of Tea

Unexpected Provision

A Simple Loaf of Bread

Provide, Protect, and Comfort

Closed Door, Open Window

The Journey

God Is Always with You

Angels Are Watching

The Miracle Girl

In It

A Walk through the Valley

Lift Up Your Head

New Hope

In His Care

The Strength of My Heart

Hi, My Name Is Mary

In God’s Perfect Time

Answered Prayer

Heartfelt Prayer

Bird of Paradise

Promise

Through a Child’s Eyes

Free to Choose

Lost and Found

Preparing the Way

Dad’s Visit

A Few Moments of Peace

A Gift for My Mother

God’s Peace

River of Life

The Peace That Passes All Understanding

All Is Well

A Life Transformed: Saved from Myself

by a Great Man

His Eye Is on the Sparrow

My Life Saver

Fireworks

A Sign from God

Lucky Clover

A Spiritual Flight

The True Picture

Love Goes On

God’s Promise of a Child

More Precious than Gold

Accepted, Accepted

Forsaken

From Hardship Comes Growth

Spiritual Gifts

A Thin Place

The Best Support Possible

Blessed Breakdowns

Lifelong Leading

In Times of Trouble

God Comes Through

Special Attire for the Groom’s Mother

To See Thee More Clearly

A God Moment

Hope and a Future

Walk in the Truth

Euodia and Syntyche

No Prayer Too Small

God Is Alive …  in the Workplace!

The Last Laugh

Afterword

This book is dedicated to the Sowers of the Seeds.

May your seeds all scatter widely and fall on good ground.

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it and by persevering produce a crop—Luke 8:15, New International Version.

Foreword

One of the abiding truths that endure through the days of our lives is the simple, yet often elusive, reality: God is always up to something. There may be days, weeks, or even months that pass without us becoming aware that God is indeed at work in the ordinary stuff of our lives—in hidden and mysterious ways, as well as in perfectly obvious and unmistakable ways. At times, we experience these sacred moments as if we are waking up from a sound sleep and suddenly become aware of God’s love and grace breaking into our lives and illuminating the deeper meaning of our existence. At other times, these moments come as fleeting awarenesses or noticings of some word, or melody, or glimpse of beauty that turns our hearts briefly toward God. Sometimes they are forgotten—sometimes they become indelibly imprinted in our souls.

The stories that follow are some moments that have been remembered and recollected by individuals who have been given the opportunity to record them as an encouragement for other pilgrims on the journey. They bear witness to one overarching truth—that God, indeed, is very much alive. The risen Lord Jesus is alive and is at work through the powerful movement of his Holy Spirit in the lives of his followers. Grace abounds …  and God’s love becomes real in transformational and personal ways.

The purpose of this book is to awaken the reader to the redemptive presence of God in the experiences of his or her own life. It is to provide an opportunity in our frenzied, stressed-out, anxiety-ridden world for people to stop and reflect …  and then, perhaps, to become aware in a new way of the living presence and providential care of God in their own lives. I think the Apostle Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus is a fitting one for the reading of this book. Receive this as a prayer for you and the life that God has given you.

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from God’s glorious unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep God’s love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God (Ephesians 3:14-19, NLT).

Rev. Dennis V. Anderson

Eastertide 2011

Preface

As a compilation of stories about God’s active presence in our lives today, it should be no surprise that a book such as this one should know God’s guiding hand from the start. It began with a beyond coincidence encounter with God’s grace in the midst of a fairly typical day in one person’s life (read the story titled The Best Support Possible for the details).

Inspired by the incredible nature of her experience, Karen S. reflected that this was not the first time in her life when she had experienced God’s guiding hand so clearly. She had also heard other people relate similar encounters with God’s grace that were otherwise unexplainable.

How many people have experienced God’s active involvement in their lives but keep those stories secret? she wondered. Why keep them secret? Too often God is accused of being dead or an absentee father. Is that because we don’t share the evidence of his active presence in our lives openly with each other?

This planted a seed, an idea for a book that resonated with the Evangelism and Invitation Ministry at her place of worship, Pilgrim Covenant Church. The church had just completed a Visioning initiative, which called for an increased focus on reaching out to the community. At first, it was assumed that our goal was to create a pamphlet or booklet for local distribution; the idea of actually publishing a real book caused some chuckles of amusement. But from the start, we agreed that God was in control; we would let him lead us.

The idea of compiling a book of true personal encounters with God was presented to the congregation during a Sunday service, along with some inspirational examples from the Evangelism and Invitation Ministry members. The congregation was asked for their support, and the response was beyond expectations.

A new story began to unfold: when specific skills were needed, just the right person stepped forward; when a deadline needed to be met, the pieces all seemed to fall into place; when asked to contribute their own true beyond coincidence stories, the congregation gave of themselves generously. The idea of publishing a real book began to seem less far-fetched. Yet we remained clear in our determination to let God lead us—and it has been an exciting journey! It has been compared to a fast game of crack the whip where we are at the tail, holding on tightly.

The true stories that we received are revelations of personal trials, private journeys, and uncanny experiences. In some cases, God’s guiding hand was immediately clear to the author; at other times, it only became evident through reflection over a span of time. Collectively, these stories represent a powerful testament to God’s active presence in our daily lives.

The evidence of God’s guiding hand in the shaping and progression of this book has been a wonder to us. We acknowledge and praise God for his inspiration, and for the joy of this undertaking.

Acknowledgments

This book is the result of the contributions by many individuals working toward a common goal of sharing our true personal stories as evidence of God’s active presence in our daily lives.

We want to thank all of the people who contributed their stories and to acknowledge their courage. Many of these stories were difficult for our authors to write; they evoked memories of events that were private and often painful. For this reason, and at their request, their identity is acknowledged only by first name and last initial, or in some cases, only by their initials. However, these are real people, and their stories are true accounts of their experiences. They are truly the Sowers of the Seed.

We also want to acknowledge the people who helped pull these stories together and perform the myriad tasks necessary to produce a book. It was a wonder how the needs of this book were filled by people within our congregation with just the right skills. We would like to particularly thank Gretchen Treitz Brown for her artistic guidance; Rev. Dennis Anderson for writing our foreword; Janine Anderson for helping spread the word through the church bulletin and our Pilgrim’s Progress newsletter, as well as for her photograph of our church; Diana Davin for her help with our cover text; Rodney Lee, Maurice Brandon Sr., and Buddy Brandon for author communications; Pat Davis for helping us with e-mail communications; and the congregation of Pilgrim Covenant Church for their support and encouragement.

Finally, it should be recognized that this book was sponsored by the Evangelism and Invitation Ministry team. Evangelism and Invitation is actively involved in spreading God’s love through service to the community. As you read these stories, it is our sincere hope that God will touch you and come alive in your heart.

The Warning

My home in Florida was a semitropical haven near the Indian River. Located on an old Native American footpath that weaves along the shore (now a narrow paved road), my 3.8 acres had previously been a plant nursery. As a result, it was graced by established purple fig trees, ferns, tall palms, laurel trees, banana trees, wild ginger, and a few huge oaks covered with hanging Spanish moss. It was a historic place up the hill from a rustic store that hung over the river on Sabal palmetto palm tree trunks (on Palm Sunday parts of these fronds are used by local churches). On my deed, my house was called Casa Loma Springs, which in Spanish means house on a hill. And it was that: my house was on a hill on the east coast of Florida north of Cocoa.

A natural spring produced a freshwater running stream on the south property line. My children and I often watched the small minnows in the pond at the bottom of the hill where it widened some before it went into the salt water of the river through a pipe under the road. Our pond had an occasional large alligator looking for turtles or freshwater fish. We stocked it from the St. Johns River.

The spring that fed the stream was also the source of the water we used in our home. Our well was a shallow well, the point down into the spring perhaps seventeen feet. I could not get my riding Gravely tractor mower near the area around the well because it was very wet, and the skids would get stuck in the wet sand. As a result, the grass around the well grew tall, and I had to periodically cut it the old-fashioned way—by hand.

One sunny day I put on my flip-flops (rubber sandals), grabbed my slinging blade (a handheld grass cutter), and went down to cut the very tall grasses away from the well. On the way, I reflected ruefully that flip-flops are probably not the best footwear when slashing down grass.

I got started clearing the area around the well’s pipe. Having done this many times, I’d become practiced in the fine art of slinging; however, it is still backbreaking work. The slinging blade has a long blade with a sharp edge on two sides, attached to a long wooden handle.

I was slinging hard, totally focused on my task, determined not to chop into my own toes, when I clearly heard a voice say, Evil!

I was immediately taken aback, and I actually stepped backward a little. I remember the thought flashed through my head, What was that all about?! Glancing down, I was stunned to see a coiled snake right in front of my nearly bare feet. The snake’s telltale pattern of yellow-bordered, light-centered diamonds left no doubt that it was an eastern diamondback rattlesnake, crotalus adamanteus—the largest venomous snake in North America. It had my feet fixed in its cold black eyes and was coiled to strike. (No, rattlesnakes don’t always rattle before they strike.)

Having the perfect tool in hand, I used my slinging blade and chopped it hard! After ensuring my safety, I put the blade down, my heart pounding.

Reflecting on that voice, I noted that the word chosen to warn me was unusual for this modern day and time. Now, if I had wanted to warn someone that they were about to step on a snake, I would have yelled, _____! You guessed it: "Snake! I think anyone I know would have done the same. Who would have called out, Evil!"? Yet, this voice did.

I believe that choice of word reveals something about the speaker, whose voice could well have saved my life. The Lord’s Prayer implores God to deliver us from evil, and I had been delivered that day. I knew that God had spoken to me! Only God would speak to me using the word evil. He knows that I hate that word.

You will know when God speaks to you. It will be very clear and precise, right on time, and on the exact second you need to hear him. For God loves us so! My eyes tear up when I think of this. I stand in awe of him.

—Ada May

An Encounter with God

In 1971 I began thirty-one years of private sector professional life. I was the principal owner and CEO of a rapidly growing business that operated large facilities in Hartford, Boston, and New York. I was the quintessential driven executive during that entire time. The last fifteen years were particularly frenetic and stressful. I ate, drank, and slept business development. Nothing else mattered nearly as much as The Business. Not friends. Not family. Not God. I became enamored with the trappings of material success and came to enjoy them far too much for my own good. Worst of all, I became a legend in my own mind.

Burned out, I sold the business in 2002. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, but I was sure that I had had enough of the rat race. My wife and I decided to build our dream home in Litchfield, Connecticut. Once the house was completed, I began to become antsy, restless. I spent hours thinking of ways to lead a fulfilled life, to contribute to the betterment of … ? But nothing ever took root or coalesced into a committed vision or plan of action. I drifted.

One Sunday morning in 2006, for an unknown reason, I attended the First Congregational Church of Litchfield. I began to attend regularly, and soon I joined a Bible study group. In several members of that group, I saw the fruits of the Spirit and began to seriously consider becoming a Christian. Still, I struggled with the notion of turning over control of my life to someone other than me.

August 18 was a hot but glorious day. Our property included part ownership of a fishing pond, and that day the bass in that pond got a real spanking! Late in the afternoon, I simply let the boat drift and began to contemplate life. I prayed. Not a perfunctory ABC prayer, but a serious, contemplative communion with God …  my first ever.

I was startled when the drifting boat collided with the dock. Shaken from my reverie, I almost shouted at God, What would you have me do?

Without hesitation, God replied, "Serve me."

What? I asked.

"Serve me," God repeated.

I was certain it was God the instant he spoke. His voice