waiter
05-12-2008, 08:42 PM
This is prompted by Lynn sharing a story about a man being reunited with his mother through prayer over a century ago.
A number of years ago I was at a prayer meeting with my head bowed while someone else prayed. Suddenly I saw in my mind a picture of my younger brother falling from the sky, hitting the ground, then getting up unhurt and surrounded by smiling people. This came out of the blue to me, and I had a quickening inside knowing it was the Holy Spirit. I didn't know what this fall was about, but simply knew it would be a fall in his life.
Not sure of the exact time, but about a year or so later, his wife left him. The long of this is that they remained separated for about 4 years. She lived with another man for a year. They have one daughter. After she moved out, my brother lost the home, and went bankrupt. He moved to another town and started up again.
Meanwhile-I should have got the message that God wanted to help just by the fact of his showing me this vision in the first place, but I had a lot to learn at that time about God speaking to me- I prayed for him on and off. I was a committed christian in my heart to the Lord in that I truly and stedfastly believed in him, but I did not live a consistent christian testimony to the Lord. So I prayed intermittently. One night I put my two young boys to bed. They prayed first,and then while Dad prayed, they fell asleep. I began to pray for my brother and his wife, and as soon as I began I was surprised by a sudden realization of the presence of God in my praying. I was really surprised because he really showed up out of nowhere and very strongly into my awareness. That showing up told me one big thing: God was for the restoration of this marriage. I knew that without a doubt.
A few months later, they came back together. But only for a time.Then they separated again. She lived with her guy then for a time. My brother eventually lost the house, and then declared bankruptcy. He then moved to another town, and she kept their daughter. In the meantime I prayed on and off, and the thing did not look good and time just went on.
Then my dad died in May of 2005, and my mom died in Sept of 2005. I went to visit him in Jan.of 2006. I was shocked at how much he drank. Very drunk 3-4 times a week.He was crushed by my mother's death especially.I was studying for a final exam on a real estate course. One weekend he came back early after going to visit his daughter. I was surprised to see him back early and asked why. He told me what had happened. His wife and him had a conversation, she said she could never be with him, he wanted to reconcile, it looked dead.
God spoke to me after I heard this. It looked worse than ever, I actually thought, it's dead, they will divorce. But God reminded me that he had spoken to me before and he said to not to pay attention to what either one of them said, what it looked like, nor what I felt about it. Not being in a great spiritual state at that time myself I somehow was able to not only hear this from God but take him at his word, and then I left it at that. He basically was telling me not to give up hope on this.
3 months later I talked to my brother and he told me his daughter would be coming to live with him and was not getting along with mom. I was deeply concerned about his ability to take care of her with his drinking and working late, but somehow this seemed an incredibly positive and interesting development. 2 months later I spoke with him and he said his wife was going to be coming to live in the same city for obvious reason to do with their daughter. Again, this was just by nature of being a new thing, incredibly positive even though there was no intimation about reconcilation whatsoever. Then a month or so later I spoke with him on the phone, and in the course of things I asked him if she was still coming to live in the same area. He proceeded to tell me she was coming to live with him. I was shocked. I had been led to believe it would ony be in the same area, not in the same house. My brother was cautious, saying they were going to see "how it goes", and that was perfectly understandable after all that had transpired.
I was stunned. Especially after what God said about not paying attention to what it looked like nor what anyone's perception about it was. It has been almost two years now since they reunited. I was not always faithful at the time in praying. God taught me something.He was the one who spoke to me at a prayer meeting a few years ago and before it all blew up. If I had been on my toes in understanding I would have known that I was to pray consistently for them.it is hard to express this thing properly in a short story for it dragged on for a few years and really the only thing they had not officially done was sign divorce papers.It is hard to express how much God was in this and what a lesson to me about God speaking and how important his words are.
I was not in the place of faithfulness at the time. I did not understand total commitment to Christ at the time even though I knew his reality, his voice, his presence. I did not understand the degree we are called to is to be full time believers. I learned that if God is involved and has made himself known, we can really hang on him and he will come thru.Appearance is not to be relied on, and that is our challenge. It is not easy, but all that matters is what God has said or revealed about his will in a situation, not what we think, feel, or what it looks like. Today I pray for their salvation, believing more confidently that if God will put their marriage back together, he certainly can and will save them. Having learned a lesson about not trusting what things look like, it makes it easier to pray and not look at seeming unchangeableness, knowing God is working under the surface. God does things that "we know not"-Jer.33.
A number of years ago I was at a prayer meeting with my head bowed while someone else prayed. Suddenly I saw in my mind a picture of my younger brother falling from the sky, hitting the ground, then getting up unhurt and surrounded by smiling people. This came out of the blue to me, and I had a quickening inside knowing it was the Holy Spirit. I didn't know what this fall was about, but simply knew it would be a fall in his life.
Not sure of the exact time, but about a year or so later, his wife left him. The long of this is that they remained separated for about 4 years. She lived with another man for a year. They have one daughter. After she moved out, my brother lost the home, and went bankrupt. He moved to another town and started up again.
Meanwhile-I should have got the message that God wanted to help just by the fact of his showing me this vision in the first place, but I had a lot to learn at that time about God speaking to me- I prayed for him on and off. I was a committed christian in my heart to the Lord in that I truly and stedfastly believed in him, but I did not live a consistent christian testimony to the Lord. So I prayed intermittently. One night I put my two young boys to bed. They prayed first,and then while Dad prayed, they fell asleep. I began to pray for my brother and his wife, and as soon as I began I was surprised by a sudden realization of the presence of God in my praying. I was really surprised because he really showed up out of nowhere and very strongly into my awareness. That showing up told me one big thing: God was for the restoration of this marriage. I knew that without a doubt.
A few months later, they came back together. But only for a time.Then they separated again. She lived with her guy then for a time. My brother eventually lost the house, and then declared bankruptcy. He then moved to another town, and she kept their daughter. In the meantime I prayed on and off, and the thing did not look good and time just went on.
Then my dad died in May of 2005, and my mom died in Sept of 2005. I went to visit him in Jan.of 2006. I was shocked at how much he drank. Very drunk 3-4 times a week.He was crushed by my mother's death especially.I was studying for a final exam on a real estate course. One weekend he came back early after going to visit his daughter. I was surprised to see him back early and asked why. He told me what had happened. His wife and him had a conversation, she said she could never be with him, he wanted to reconcile, it looked dead.
God spoke to me after I heard this. It looked worse than ever, I actually thought, it's dead, they will divorce. But God reminded me that he had spoken to me before and he said to not to pay attention to what either one of them said, what it looked like, nor what I felt about it. Not being in a great spiritual state at that time myself I somehow was able to not only hear this from God but take him at his word, and then I left it at that. He basically was telling me not to give up hope on this.
3 months later I talked to my brother and he told me his daughter would be coming to live with him and was not getting along with mom. I was deeply concerned about his ability to take care of her with his drinking and working late, but somehow this seemed an incredibly positive and interesting development. 2 months later I spoke with him and he said his wife was going to be coming to live in the same city for obvious reason to do with their daughter. Again, this was just by nature of being a new thing, incredibly positive even though there was no intimation about reconcilation whatsoever. Then a month or so later I spoke with him on the phone, and in the course of things I asked him if she was still coming to live in the same area. He proceeded to tell me she was coming to live with him. I was shocked. I had been led to believe it would ony be in the same area, not in the same house. My brother was cautious, saying they were going to see "how it goes", and that was perfectly understandable after all that had transpired.
I was stunned. Especially after what God said about not paying attention to what it looked like nor what anyone's perception about it was. It has been almost two years now since they reunited. I was not always faithful at the time in praying. God taught me something.He was the one who spoke to me at a prayer meeting a few years ago and before it all blew up. If I had been on my toes in understanding I would have known that I was to pray consistently for them.it is hard to express this thing properly in a short story for it dragged on for a few years and really the only thing they had not officially done was sign divorce papers.It is hard to express how much God was in this and what a lesson to me about God speaking and how important his words are.
I was not in the place of faithfulness at the time. I did not understand total commitment to Christ at the time even though I knew his reality, his voice, his presence. I did not understand the degree we are called to is to be full time believers. I learned that if God is involved and has made himself known, we can really hang on him and he will come thru.Appearance is not to be relied on, and that is our challenge. It is not easy, but all that matters is what God has said or revealed about his will in a situation, not what we think, feel, or what it looks like. Today I pray for their salvation, believing more confidently that if God will put their marriage back together, he certainly can and will save them. Having learned a lesson about not trusting what things look like, it makes it easier to pray and not look at seeming unchangeableness, knowing God is working under the surface. God does things that "we know not"-Jer.33.