Inspirational Stories

[FineLinen]

Wm. Wilberforce

William Wilberforce led a campaign against the British Parliament to abolish slavery in the late 1700's and early 1800's.

During the course of his intense efforts, Wilberforce came to a desperate place of discouragement, feeling he had absolutely no more strength to continue.

In this condition, he was about to give up, when his elderly friend, John Wesley, lying on his deathbed, was informed of his friend William's distress.

Wesley requested pen and paper, and with a quivering hand, wrote these words....

"Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them stronger than God? Oh be not weary of well-doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery shall vanish away before it."

John Wesley died six days later, but William Wilberforce fought for forty-five more years, and in 1833, three days before his own death, witnessed the abolition of slavery in Britain.

[FineLinen]

The Ant and the Contact Lens

Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens. "Great", she thought. "Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry."

She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there.

She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the bible verse "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth."

She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

I think it would do all of us some good to say, "God, I don't know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Yes, I do love GOD. He is my source of existence and my Savior. He keeps me functioning each and every day. Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him....I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5zP14_8meo

[FineLinen]

A Grateful Customer's Letter To His Late Wife's Hairdresser

Since the start of the lockdown, many people have joked and laughed about missing barbers and hairdressers as their hair has grown longer and shaggier than ever before. Social media has been flooded with hilariously cringe worthy images of DIY haircuts, from the lopsided to the patchy, a style now commonly referred to as the pandemic haircut.

For Illinois hairdresser Sara Verkuilen, receiving a heartfelt letter from a customer reminded her of the power a simple haircut can have.

It was sent from a man whose wife had gotten a haircut from Sara in December of last year. His wife was suffering from dementia. Sara had no idea what an impression she made on this couple until now.

"Dear Sara,

This is a little bit awkward. But I've waited a really long time to pass this on to you.

My wife and I came in for haircuts shortly before Christmas of last year.

My wife was suffering from dementia, and you treated her as if you'd been working with dementia patients all your life. You let us sit next to each other, and when it came time for her cut you turned her chair towards me so I could watch her expression as you cut her hair.

It turned out even better than I thought it would.

Sadly, she died in March. And that haircut was one of the last, best moments of her life. She felt so pretty. She visited the mirror in her bathroom several times during the day and would come out beaming.

To see her so happy was priceless.

Looking back, it was likely dozens of haircuts you gave that day. But one which revitalized a woman's sense of self and her singular beauty. I hope you always realize the power of your profession.

It's so easy to take things like that for granted.

Sincerely,

A grateful customer"

One small act can make one big difference in a day, in a life.

[Lazarus Short]

FL, I enjoy these stories of yours.  About the ant and the contact lens, I had something like that happen, but it was an irreplaceable part dropped on the floor, and "poof" it was gone  I prayed, and found it easily.

[FineLinen]

FL, I enjoy these stories of yours.  About the ant and the contact lens, I had something like that happen, but it was an irreplaceable part dropped on the floor, and "poof" it was gone  I prayed, and found it easily.

:URWelcome:

My brother Laz: our Lord is very very good indeed.

I Want To Die Broke

Giving while living. Chuck Feeney is spending most of his fortune on charity while he's alive to see its impact. In fact, his goal is to die broke.

Chuck Feeney, co-founder of retail giant Duty Free Shoppers, was once a billionaire. Over his lifetime, he amassed a fortune of over $8 billion dollars selling luxury goods to tourists. Now age 90 he has nothing left and couldn?t be happier.

It was Feeney's lifetime ambition to give away his entire fortune before he died, a concept he called Giving While Living, spend most of your fortune on charity while you are alive to see its impact instead of funding a foundation upon death.

As he signed papers to formally dissolve his foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Feeney said he was very satisfied with completing this on my watch and urged other members of the super-rich to try it, you'll like it.

Wealth brings responsibility, he often said. People must define themselves, or feel a responsibility to use some of their assets to improve the lives of their fellow humans, or else create intractable problems for future generations.

Over the last four decades, Feeney donated his wealth to charities, universities, human rights groups and foundations worldwide all while living a remarkably frugal lifestyle. Feeney didn't own a car or a home, he only had one pair of shoes and flew economy class even when his family or friends who were on the same plane flew business.

Christopher Oechsli, the president and chief executive of The Atlantic Philanthropies, said Feeney would not preach his views to other members of the global super-rich, But he would scratch his head and say how many yachts or pairs of shoes do you need? What is all this wealth accumulation about, when you can look about you and see such tremendous needs, as shared in an article by The Guardian.

Unlike many wealthy philanthropists who greatly publicize their charitable efforts, all of Feeney's donations throughout his lifetime were made anonymously. Because of his clandestine, globe-trotting philanthropy campaign, Forbes magazine dubbed him the James Bond of Philanthropy.

[FineLinen]

His nightmares began each day when he awoke.

James Stegalls was nineteen. He was in Vietnam. Though he carried a small Gideon New Testament in his shirt pocket, he couldn't bring himself to read it. His buddies were cut down around him, terror was building within him, and God seemed far away. His twentieth birthday passed, then his twenty-first. At last, he felt he couldn't go on.

On February 26, 1968, he prayed for it all to end, and his heart told him he would die before dusk.

Sure enough, his base came under attack that day and Jim heard a rocket coming straight toward him. Three seconds to live, he told himself, then two, then...A friend shoved him into a grease pit, and he waited for the rocket to explode, but there was only surreal silence. The fuse malfunctioned.

For five hours James knelt in that pit, and finally, his quivering hand reached into his shirt pocket and took out his Testament. Beginning with Matthew, he continued through the first 18 chapters.

"When I read Matthew 18:19-20," he said, "I somehow knew things would be alright."

Long after Jim returned home, as he visited his wife's grandmother, Mrs. Harris, she told him a night years before when she had awakened in terror. Knowing Jim was in Vietnam, she had sensed he was in trouble. She began praying for God to spare his life. Unable to kneel because of arthritis, she lay prone on the floor, praying and reading her Bible all night.

Just before dawn, she read Matthew 18:19-20. Then she immediately called her Sunday school teacher, who got out of bed and went to Mrs. Harris' house where together they claimed the Lord's promise as they prayed for Jim until reassured by God's peace.

Having told Jim the story, Mrs. Harris opened her Bible to show him where she had marked the passage. In the margin were the words -- "Jim, February 26, 1968."

[FineLinen]

One of Frances Dupris fondest childhood memories is having chicken pox.

No, it wasn't because the illness was fun. Rather, what she remembers with such nostalgia is that having chicken pox meant that she got to spend an extended period of time with her grandmother, Louise Eagle Tail Quick Bear, and great-grandmother, Rebecca Quick Bear, who took care of her while she was sick.

When I had chicken pox it was great because we would all have breakfast together and pray together, and I got to listen to my great-grandmother, who spoke only Lakota, says Dupris, winner of this year's Blazing Flame Award. It was such a blessing to have that time.

By no means was Dupris bout with chicken pox the only time her grandmother took care of her.

As a newborn, Dupris came down with pneumonia and was in an incubator clinging to life. The sound of her grandmother's voice reaching her in the incubator remains an indelible first memory. But plenty more memories followed, her grandmother took an active role in her childhood because her parents were young and not entirely equipped to raise Dupris and her sister.

It was a challenging upbringing, one that included periods of homelessness and poverty, but the lessons her grandmother provided were profound. Ever since I can remember, when she had a home it was open to anybody who needed a place to stay, says Dupris. It could be uncles, aunts, and kids, and even people who were not blood-related. She was loving and caring for anybody and everybody.

Dupris has taken those lessons of service and compassion with her throughout her life and career. Today she is a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, a senior non-commissioned officer providing specialized intelligence to support the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. In her nearly 20 years in the military, Dupris has balanced her work and studies, earning both a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's in organizational leadership.

Though her school, job, and family responsibilities, her husband is from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, have always been significant, Dupris commitment to sharing, teaching, and celebrating her Lakota and Arapaho heritage has remained a priority. The many examples of her efforts include leading a yearlong series of cultural events through the Air Force's American Indian and Alaska Native Employee Resource Group, including an event with Billy Mills, the Oglala Sioux athlete who won a gold medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games in a legendary upset.

Dupris and her husband also devote countless hours to mentoring and helping Native American and Alaska Native students through the Colorado Springs School District's Office of Indian Education. Through both this work and her longtime membership in AISES, Dupris helps students navigate school and scholarship applications and tries to foster networking and professional development opportunities.

In other words, Dupris does exactly what her grandmother taught her: she gives back and provides encouragement to those who need it. It's a message she wants all students to hear, no matter how trying their circumstances may be. My message is, don't give up. As humans we go through adversity in life, and as Natives we have more barriers in life than most, she says. Know that your ancestors are walking with you. Overcoming adversity is what makes you stronger and more experienced to share with those going through hard times. We are still fighting to have a voice in this world, for our voice to be heard, and for change to happen. You can be that change.

[FineLinen]

A rattlesnake bit one of my sheep in the face about a week ago. Deadliest snake that lives around here. The sheep's face swelled up and hurt her terribly.

But the old rattlesnake didn't know the kind of blood that flows through the sheep. Anti-venom is most often made from sheep's blood.

The sheep swelled for about 2 days but the blood of the lamb destroyed the venom of the serpent.

I was worried but the sheep didn't care. She kept on eating, kept on drinking and kept on climbing because she knew she was alright.

Often the serpents of this life will reach out and bite us. They inject their poison into us but they cannot overcome the blood of the Lamb of God that washes away the sin of the world and the sting of death. Don't worry about the serpent or his bite, just make sure that the Lamb's blood is flowing through your veins.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-05-23/sheeps-blood-provides-rattlesnake-anti-venom/1576314#:~:text=The%20blood%20of%20sheep%20in,in%20South%20Australia's%20Clare%20Valley.

[FineLinen]

Pouring rain, a broken down scooter, an old lady, four young men.

Lending a helping hand will always be appreciated.

Four young men learned that firsthand after they received praise for escorting a retirement home resident back to her residence when her scooter broke down in the middle of a storm.

The men were passing through the area after a hard day?s work, but noticed the woman just when they were about to turn onto an eight-lane highway.

"We noticed the woman was clearly experiencing a malfunction with her mobile scooter," said John Morgan Massa, a corporate general manager at Rebounderz Adventure Parks, in an interview with Fox News.

"We were tired, dirty and wanted to get back to the hotel; but, knew without a doubt that regardless of our long day, it certainly wasn't worse than the day this lady was having. She literally had a plastic bag on her head to keep her hair dry," he added. "We knew we couldn't leave her in the rain, in the middle of the road, frantically trying to get her scooter to work again."

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/men-help-elderly-woman-home-broken-scooter-rain

[FineLinen]

Have you  heard how a pearl is formed?

It is truly fascinating. A foreign object, often a grain of sand, somehow makes its way into the tightly sealed crack of an oyster. Instead of spitting out this irritating object, the oyster covers it with layer upon layer of a substance secreted from its own body. After months or even years, a beautiful pearl is formed. The longer the pearl stays in the oyster, the more valuable it becomes.

What a picture of God's mercy toward us!

The Lord doesn't spit us out when we come to Him! "We are accepted in the beloved!" God has every right to cast us out because of our sin but instead, He brings us into His body and covers over our sin with His beautiful covering!

When God found us we were nothing more than an irritation, but by His grace,He keeps us under His covering, so that we can be made into something valuable to His Kingdom!

God is using our time now under His covering to conform us into His image!

[Lazarus Short]

More wonderful stories - thank you!

[FineLinen]

My friend Laz: it is always a delight seeing you again. I  appreciate the place you hold within the fellowship of the mystery.

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."

In Matthew 13, we see that a merchant sold all that he had to purchase a single pearl. But why, of all things, a pearl?

A jeweler would surely question the choice the Lord made.

Why not a much coveted diamond? A diamond is graded in value according to the the 4 C's

Cut, colour, clarity & carat-weight.

The diamond receives a substantial portion of its value from the way a person cuts it -- the work of man's hand.

The only natural gemstone that has more value when it is found than when men finish it is the pearl.

[FineLinen]

Stage 4 Cancer Plus Prayer

As the pastor of the Federated Church of Bondurant in Iowa, Jeff Sanderson is no stranger to the power of prayer, the existence of miracles and the greatness of God. That knowledge recently grew even stronger and more personal after God blessed him with an incredible miracle. And the story of Jeff's divine healing is nothing short of incredible!

The trouble started when Jeff experienced a sharp pain on the right side of his lower back. The pain persisted, and Jeff's doctor noticed his enlarged prostate and elevated PSA levels, a protein produced by the prostate gland. He gave him some medicine intended to help shrink the prostate and suggested Jeff follow up with a urologist.

The trouble started when Jeff experienced a sharp pain on the right side of his lower back. The pain persisted, and Jeff's doctor noticed his enlarged prostate and elevated PSA levels, a protein produced by the prostate gland. He gave him some medicine intended to help shrink the prostate and suggested Jeff follow up with a urologist.

The urologist found nothing suspicious and explained that an enlarged prostate was fairly common for a man in his early fifties. But when the pain grew unbearable, a CT scan suggested that Jeff needed to be biopsied for potential prostate cancer.

And yet, he got this terrifying news, the pain  which had become overwhelming  immediately disappeared. Jeff didn't know it yet, but this was just the first touch from God's healing hand!

A week after the biopsy, Jeff got a call from the urologist. And the words that followed were terrifying, even for a man of great faith:

I have some bad news. You have prostate cancer and it's the most aggressive form.

Jeff's doctor referred him to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for more evaluation and testing. There, they injected body with a radioactive dye. The doctors explained that this would allow them to scan for cancer. With the radioactive dye, the parts of Jeff's body affected by cancer would show up as a fluorescent green.

Before showing the scans to Jeff, his wife, and two sons, the doctors spent some time alone in the room with Jeff, giving him a total physical of his body. They repeatedly asked him, Does this hurt? Each time, Jeff replied no.

Jeff's family returned to the room, and the doctors did their best to delicately break the news. But nothing could have prepared Jeff and his family for what the scan showed.

When the doctors turned the computer screen towards the family, Jeff's name and birthdate were at the top of the screen. Beneath it was the outline of Jeff's body.

My body was lit up like a Christmas tree. I was absolutely filled with cancer, from my knees to the top of my shoulder blades.

The dye revealed tumors in Jeff's abdomen and urethra, the bones in his femurs, hip bones, tailbone, his ribs, vertebra and collar bones. . . cancer covered all of them. Further tests estimated Jeff had cancer in over 100 lymph nodes. Doctors officially diagnosed him with Stage 4 Cancer on June 3, 2015.

Doctors didn't' give Jeff any guesses on life expectancy, but a quick Google search suggested he had 12 to 14 months. . . at best.

My family and I were devastated, but not without faith and hope.

Jeff's two older sons had joined him and his wife, Kathy, on the trip to Minnesota. But the couple also had two younger children, Josh (10) and Lydia (8).

Jeff didn't want to worry them, so he shared only the basics of his condition. Then, because he didn't want to scare his family, he turned to God with a somewhat unusual request:

For some reason, I didn't ask Him to heal me at the time. I simply asked Him, Lord, if I'm not going to die right away, could you please keep me looking normal during my chemo treatment so my kids don't have to worry.

As Senior Pastor at his church, Jeff next shared the disheartening news with his congregation. And his church family did what church family does best, they prayed!

Upon the startling announcement of his Stage 4 cancer diagnosis, the congregation immediately gathered around their beloved Pastor and prayed. They left the four walls of the church that day, and they kept praying. Word traveled, and soon other churches and members of the Bondurant community were praying for Jeff. He says he even received multiple calls from complete strangers, Christians who were calling to let him know they were praying for divine healing.

And so, the cancer treatments began. Doctors and nurses gave Jeff a list of things to expect. They said,You will lose your hair and your skin will turn pale. You'll start retaining fluid in your face and ankles. Your red and white blood cell count drop dramatically, so you'll often be fatigued. You'll lose muscle and body tone. Your immune system will deteriorate, so don't be surprised if you get sick a lot.

Lastly, they warned Jeff that the particular type of cancer he had was a complex and aggressive form that was self-sustaining. This meant that, while the chemo would help slow the advance of cancer, it would not be able to cure him.

Basically, they were telling Jeff he was in for one rough ride, with no hope of being cured.

But with God, nothing is impossible!

Despite the long list of negative side effects Jeff received from medical staff, God was faithful in answering Jeff's special prayer for his chemo treatments. The only place Jeff lost any hair was in places that remain covered in day-to-day life. He never lost any hair on his head.

On the contrary, Jeff says he needed three haircuts during the 18-week treatment, and the hair on his arms and legs actually grew longer!

His skin never lost its tan, nor did he experience any swelling. His blood cell count,  both red and white, never dipped below normal. The red count even ran on the high side! He never got sick, nor fatigued. He and his wife spent every day waking up at 5 a.m. to walk three miles, and Jeff stayed active at the gym. Through it all, he never lost any muscle tone.

The typical telltale signs of chemo were so absent that the nurses regularly assumed Jeff was just starting treatment. When he corrected them, they were always curious as to how he was faring so well. To which Jeff always told them it was by the power of God!

But Jeff's'healthy outward appearance didn't change the fact that cancer riddled his insides. And the tumors were growing to the point that Jeff could physically feel them.

A week before Jeff and Kathy returned to the Mayo Clinic for a new round of body scans, Jeff woke Kathy up at 4 in the morning. Jeff could feel the tumor in his abdomen, and it had grown so large that it was starting to expand under his rib cage. He shared the news with Kathy, and the two held each other as they cried together.

The two returned to the Mayo Clinic and Jeff continued to feel the tumors growing. He could trace the outlines with his hands.

Before heading into the next round of scans, Jeff dropped to his knees on the bathroom floor and asked God to have mercy on him. Still, he felt the physical presence of the tumors as the medical team ran the tests.

The results wouldn't be ready for them to review until later in the afternoon, so Jeff and Kathy decided to grab lunch at a nearby restaurant. They walked hand in hand with heavy hearts, when something on the ground, near the curb, caught Jeff's eye. It was a rubber bracelet with the message: FAITH Rx.

In that very moment, we knew that God was reminding us to put our faith in Him. And as I put the bracelet on my wrist, I knew that however things went, the Lord would make a way for my family and I to get through the storm.

Jeff and Kathy both dreaded the inevitable news as it came time to review his scans. They felt certain Jeff's cancer must be worse.

They met first with the doctor proctor. Jeff and his wife could not see the computer screen displaying Jeff's scan from where they sat. So, when the proctor said, they look pretty good, Jeff assumed he meant this relatively speaking in regards to his Stage 4 condition.

Then the proctor went on, saying:

Actually, they look really good. To be honest, the scans look as good as they possibly could.

It was then that Jeff stood up to see the computer screen with his results. Like before, the top had his name and birthdate. But the picture beneath was completely different than before. In the original scan, Jeff's body had lit up like a Christmas tree. But in this scan, there wasn't so much as a speck of fluorescent green.

Where's my cancer? Jeff asked.

The proctor replied, You don't have any!

Jeff fell to his knees before God. As tears of joy and amazement streamed down his face, he praised the Great Physician who had healed him. Excitedly, he told the proctor all about the Lord of miracles and the power of prayer. The proctor confirmed that all of Jeff's vitals, his kidney functions and blood work, checked out perfectly. And there was no earthly explanation for it!

He'd actually been able to trace the outline of the one in his abdomen, which had grown so much in size that it was putting pressure on his rib cage. Yet, checking now, it was completely gone, as was the pressure under his rib cage!

The scans were so good that the proctor came back explaining there was no need for the doctor to see him. Jeff had literally walked in with Stage 4 cancer, and through God's divine healing, walked out the same day cancer free!

[Lazarus Short]

A hopeless situation for us...but easy peasy for God!  :dsunny: :dsunny: :dsunny: :dsunny: :dsunny: :dsunny: :dsunny:

[FineLinen]

Helen Roseveare, a missionary doctor from England to Zaire Africa, told this as it happened to her in Africa.

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labour ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator. We had no electricity to run an incubator. We also had no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle.

She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates. And it is our last hot water bottle, the midwife exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk; so, in Central Africa, it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

All right, I said, Put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. Please, God, she prayed, send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.

While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added by way of a corollary, And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl, so she'll know You really love her.

As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, Amen? I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything. The Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland.

I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator, where the weather is hot. So it makes no sense for someone to send me a hot water bottle!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a large twenty-two-pound parcel.

I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. The excitement was mounting. Some 30 or 40 pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly coloured, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas  that would make a nice batch of buns for the weekend.

Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the..could it really be?

I grasped it and pulled it out, yes, a brand-new, rubber hot water bottle! I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly too!?Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted. Looking up at me, she asked: Can I go over with you, Mummy, and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her? That parcel had been on the way for five whole months! Packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child five months before  and both delivered that day in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it that afternoon.

What a mighty God we serve! He can reverse or fast-forward time and events in order to favour those who serve Him and call upon Him in truth. Rest assured, your own situation is not beyond His power. Trust Him and He will do it.

[Lazarus Short]

I just LOVE stories like that!  It puts a smile on my face this Monday morning.   :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[FineLinen]

The Gift of the Magi

Over 100 years ago Della, a newlywed, longed to buy a present for her husband Jim. Della and Jim are a young couple who earn a measly $20 a week and live in a humble apartment, the kind furnished by a shabby couch. Though they don't have much, to them, it is their loving home.

Della restlessly counts her change, one dollar and eighty-seven cents, that was all, she laments, before surrendering to her poverty and bursting into tears.

Desperately wishing to buy her husband a new fob chain for his gold watch his most valuable and treasured possession, Della decides to sell her beautiful brunette hair, her most valuable and treasured possession.

Shedding but a tear or two, she goes through with it, trading her beautiful hair to secure the $20 needed to buy a present for Jim.

Later that evening, waiting anxiously for Jim to come home, Della tries to make her newly chopped hair look presentable. When Jim finally arrives, he looks at Della's short hair and is stunned, proceeding to offer up the gift he himself had been busy purchasing for her.

Jim reveals how he afforded such a thing by selling his prized gold watch.

Dell, he says, let's put our Christmas presents away and keep them a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs.

Both Della and Jim had unknowingly sacrificed their own greatest treasures to spoil their loved ones.

These sacrifices show that their real greatest treasures were in fact something that they had with them all along, their endless love for one another.

We are often consumed materialistic items in our lives, counting our treasures and comparing ourselves to others and wanting more. The meaning behind the holidays can be lost and forgotten, overshadowed by crowded malls, anxious shoppers and gifts measured by their quantity or price tag.

The Gift of the Magi, serves as a simple reminder, at any time of the year, of the way we should all be livingi wth love first, giving second and possession below all.

[FineLinen]

There was a man who had four sons.

He wanted them to learn to not judge things too quickly, so he sent them each on a quest to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. He sent his first son in the winter, his second in the spring, his third in summer and his youngest in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no - it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The third son disagreed, he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen. The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfilment.

After hearing all his son's responses the father replied, "Sons, you are all right -- because you have each seen only one season in the tree's life. But you cannot judge a tree, or a person, or anything else by only one season. Most things can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons have come to pass".

[FineLinen]

Running a 100-meter race at 105 years old is no ordinary feat, but for Julia Hawkins, the competition was one of her many achievements.

"This is just a drop in the bucket," Hawkins, who joined the record books for the Louisiana Senior Olympic Games after she became the oldest American and the first woman in the centenarian age group to run a 100-meter race, told CBS News.

With a finishing time of just under 1 minute and 3 seconds, Hawkins described herself as "so happy" for the opportunity, saying she might even do it again.

"Yeah, right now," she joked to a group of reporters after the event, wearing her first-place medal. "[At 106], maybe so. Who knows? I'll have to see how I feel in the morning." (She turns 106 in February.)

"Hurricane," as Hawkins is known by her community, says she stays in shape by jogging a mile or two each day near the Baton Rouge home that she and her husband built in 1948, but the training and the world record do not compare to other things in her life.

After correspondent David Begnaud asked if she was impressed by the record, Hawkins answered: "No, not particularly. I had too many other wonderful things before this. This is just a drop in the bucket."

One of those wonderful things: her 70-year marriage to her husband, Free Hawkins Jr., a former schoolmate at LSU and a soldier in the United States military.

The couple raised four children and were joyously married until "Buddy," as she called him, passed away at 95 years old.

"Without him,  life is not the same. It's not quite as wonderful," Hawkins shared.

Besides running, a passion Hawkins took up after she turned 100-years-old, she enjoys gardening and was a teacher during her working years. Two of her students, Rosemary and Evelyn, 90 and 89 years old respectively, ultimately joined her for the record-setting race.

[FineLinen]

Wilma Rudolph

In 1940, a large and wonderful  family, the Rudolph's, announced the birth of their 20th baby! Though the baby was not expected to live, having been born prematurely and with polio, she defied all odds. She did live, but by the time she was four she had suffered polio, pneumonia and scarlet fever. This little girl was badly crippled with hardly any use of her left leg. While her brothers and sisters enjoyed running and playing outside, she was left confined to braces.

"Will I ever be able to run and play like the other children?" she asked her parents.

"Honey, you only have to believe," they responded. "If you believe, God will make it happen." And she did! Now and again, she would practice walking without her braces with the aid of her siblings. On her twelfth birthday, she surprised her parents and doctors by removing her braces and walking around the doctor's office unassisted.

She never wore braces again.

Her next goal was to play basketball. The coach only agreed to let her play as a means of getting her older sister on the team. She was given an outdated uniform, but she was allowed to work out with the other players. One day she approached the coach and promised him if he would give her an extra ten minutes of coaching each day, she would give him a world class athlete. He laughed, but seeing she was serious, half-heartedly agreed. Before long her determination paid off. She became one of the team's best players.

Her team went to the state basketball championships. One of the referees noticed her exceptional ability. He asked if she had ever run track. She hadn't. He encouraged her to try it. So after the basketball season she went out for track. She began winning races and earned a berth in the state championships.

At the age of 16, she was one of the best young runners in the country.

She went to the Olympics in Australia and won a bronze medal for anchoring the 400-meter relay team. Four years later in Rome she won the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and anchored the winning 400-meter relay team -- all in world-record times. She received the prestigious Sullivan Award as the most outstanding amateur athlete in America.

This is the amazing story of Wilma Rudolph, an Olympic gold medalist, who believed the promises of God.

[FineLinen]

The smell of rain

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery. Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news.

That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver the couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. "I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could. "There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one."

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.

"No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.

Next to zero

At last, when Dana turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent.

Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?"

Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."

Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?"

Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain." Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced,

"No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."

Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

[Lazarus Short]

Wow, just wow - your stories amaze me!

[FineLinen]

Clem

In May of 1861, 9-year-old John Lincoln "Johnny" Clem ran away from his home in Newark, Ohio, to join the Union Army, but found the Army was not interested in signing on a 9-year-old boy when the commander of the 3rd Ohio Regiment told him he "wasn't enlisting infants," and turned him down.

Clem tried the 22nd Michigan Regiment next, and its commander told him the same. Determined, Clem tagged after the regiment, acted out the role of a drummer boy, and was allowed to remain. Though still not regularly enrolled, he performed camp duties and received a soldier's pay of $13 a month, a sum collected and donated by the regiment's officers.

The next April, at Shiloh, Clem's drum was smashed by an artillery round and he became a minor news item as "Johnny Shiloh, The Smallest Drummer". A year later, at the Battle Of Chickamauga, he rode an artillery caisson to the front and wielded a musket trimmed to his size. In one of the Union retreats a Confederate officer ran after the cannon Clem rode with, and yelled, "Surrender you damned little Yankee!" Johnny shot him dead. This pluck won for Clem national attention and the name "Drummer Boy of Chickamauga."

Clem stayed with the Army through the war, served as a courier, and was wounded twice. Between Shiloh and Chickamauga he was regularly enrolled in the service, began receiving his own pay, and was soon-after promoted to the rank of Sergeant. He was only 12 years old.

After the Civil War he tried to enter West Point but was turned down because of his slim education.

A personal appeal to President Ulysses S. Grant, his commanding general at Shiloh, won him a 2nd Lieutenant's appointment in the Regular Army on 18 December 1871, and in 1903 he attained the rank of Colonel and served as Assistant Quartermaster General. He retired from the Army as a Major General in 1916, having served an astounding 55 years.

General Clem died in San Antonio, Texas on 13 May 1937, exactly 3 months shy of his 86th birthday, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

[FineLinen]

Dashrath Manjhi

Dashrath Manjhi was born in to the lowest rung of India's caste system in Gehlaur village, India, and ended up working in coal mines.

When he was an adult, his wife was injured and died because the nearest doctor was in a town 34 miles away.

Because of this experience, Manjhi decided that he was going to make a new roadway through a ridge of hills, in order to make his village more accessible.

Manjhi ended up carving a 110m long path, completing it in 22 years (between 1960 and 1982), using only a hammer and a chisel.

Ultimately, Manjhi's road reduced the distance between the start and finish areas from 34 miles to 9.3 miles.

[FineLinen]

Desmond Doss

Desmond Doss was a United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic in World War 2. Doss was a conscientious objector, and was picked on by his fellow soldiers, who labelled him a coward. He was made fun of because he did not want to carry a gun and because he did not work on Saturdays because of his religious beliefs.

He became the only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor when he single-handedly saved the lives of 75 men in the Battle of Okinawa, in the process, having his left arm fractured by a sniper?s bullet and 17 pieces of shrapnel in his body.

Wanting to help in the war effort whilst sticking to his personal beliefs, suffering the abuse he did, and then going on to single-handedly save as many men as he did, means that Desmond Doss story deserves to be considered as one of the most inspirational stories in history.