Happy New Year

A New Year is just a day away, and looking wonderful for us. Son Jerry is recovering very well from his Kidney Transplant, My new book, "Reach out, each day" is almost complete, I think, and our music calendar is beginning to fill up--Yay

Reach Out is a compilation of short stories of how God has "pushed" me out of my comfort zone of a few years back by guiding me to speak to strangers I meet along the way who are in need of a kind word, a prayer, perhaps a meal to keep them from hunger. It is a fasinating journey He has been taking me on.

So as the new year arrives I encourage you to pray for God to open doors for you to help others in thier life journey.

A Thanksgiving Miracle

Jerry’s miracle of life

It was a crisp fall day as we wondered down the main street in Branson, Missouri, looking into store windows and just enjoying a family vacation.

As my sister, Nina, peered into a little coffee shop, she said, “We have to eat here before we leave town. We all glanced back and agreed to stop in for breakfast one morning.

We were enjoying time spent together, attending various music concerts: The Oak Ridge Boys, Jim Stafford and Johnnie Mathis and time had just flown. Suddenly it was Saturday Morning and we walked into the little café to finally see what good country cooking awaited us, unaware that a miracle was the main gift of the day.

As we began to read the menu we discovered the café was owned and operated by an organization, Church Army, that provided housing and jobs for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics.

The waitresses were happy, joyful ladies who were excited to share the story behind the organization.

When we finished our breakfast and started to leave I felt an urge to step over to one of the waitresses and share with her that my son spends three days each week on dialysis. I told her we had been praying for him to receive a kidney transplant so he could return to a more normal life.

She very excitedly asked for my sons name and my phone number. She said, “As soon as I am off work I am going to start praying and find your son a kidney. I thanked her kindly and promised to keep in touch.

At about ten o’clock that same night my son called and said, “Mom, I got a call from the hospital –they said be there tomorrow morning at 7:00am. We have a kidney on its way from Texas for you”.

My husband Gary, and I were scheduled to leave Branson Sunday morning to fly back home to California and I told him we had to stop by the little café and tell Denise what had happened during the night.

Denise was not surprised! She said as soon as she was off work she went directly to her group home, gathered all the ladies into a room and they all prayed for God to give Jerry a new kidney. She said their church has a Saturday night service and she asked all the people to pray for him and that there was about two hundred people that night, earnestly praying for a new kidney for Jerry.

When Jerry arrived at the hospital Sunday morning the kidney had not yet arrived, but they began preparing him for the transplant operation with blood tests, x-rays, etc. The surgery was scheduled for the next day, Monday, November 21^st at noon.

One of my kids asked me, “Mom, did Jerry tell you about what happened to him at dialysis Saturday morning?” I replied, “No, what happened?”

She said that the mother of one of the dialysis patients walked over to Jerry-pointed and touched her finger to his chest and said, “God is giving you a blessing very soon!”

God is definitely a loving, caring father. He provided a precious gift for our son, as people all over the world were praying for this miracle. We had people from all walks of life; from America to Canada, Nigeria and Kenya all praying on that wonderful night. I believe because this was so widely shared, many will recognize this as having been the hand of God, reaching out and setting the stage for this to all come together.

As I sat in the waiting room that day, waiting for word that the surgery was finished, I kept feeling there was something special about this date, November 21, 2011. When I got home and checked, my thoughts were correct.

You will notice I have added a photo of Jerry on his cycle, which he loves to ride. He will not be able to ride it for 6 months but says he can handle the withdrawls in order to have this new lease on life. He is so thankful for the gift he was given by this person in Texas. A special thank you to the family who made this possible.

This was the 10^th Anniversary of the day my mother left us to live with our Heavenly Father.

If you have loved ones in need, ask God to help—He wants us to ask so that we will know it is a gift from Him when our prayer is answered. He has many blessings He wants to give us if we will only reach out to Him.