Stories to inspire

Mom Plans Funeral While Pregnant For Baby With Virtually No Brain Function & Then Gets A Miracle.

https://www.godupdates.com/miracle-b...ers-noah-wall/

The Love of God

Down through the tedious ages of time man's heart has been cheered at the thought of the boundless love of God, and in his soul there has often been touched a responsive chord to that wonderful love. So compelling is this love that it is often felt by the most unfortunate and seemingly hopeless of mortals. Some years ago after the patient in a certain room in one of the mental institutions of our land had found release from his pathetic earthly sojourn, and his room was being readied for another unfortunate occupant, the attendants found scrawled on the walls of the room the following profound lines:

"Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made; Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade: To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry, Nor could the scroll contain the whole Though stretched from sky to sky."

In his saner moments this poor, troubled soul had poured out his simple heart of love to his God.

MUSIC OF THE MESSAGE: The Story of

Richard Wurmbrand

Richard Wurmbrand was born the youngest of four boys in a Jewish family on March 24, 1909, in Bucharest, Romania. Gifted intellectually and fluent in nine languages, Richard was active in leftist politics and worked as a stockbroker. On Oct. 26, 1936, Richard married Sabina Oster, who was also Jewish. They placed their faith in Jesus Christ in 1938 as a result of the influence of a German carpenter named Christian Wölfkes. Richard was ordained as an Anglican, and later Lutheran, minister.

Tortured For Christ

https://www.amazon.com/Tortured-Christ-Richard-Wurmbrand/dp/0882643266

Married now for 43 years. Working it out constantly. My wife has dementia and sometimes doesn't know who I am. I will never leave her or put her in a "home".

Moved into assisted living so I could be with her all the time with basics covered by someone else.

We sleep together and I wake her up when she has screaming nightmares. This is what it's about. I'm almost 80 now; she's older that that. This is love that I was never taught. I had to learn it.

"For better or worse" means something more than I ever knew. -Walter Trull

What Love Is All About

It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman, in his 80’s arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry and that he had an appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs, and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.

On exam it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redressed his wound. While taking care of him, we began to engage in conversation. I asked him if he had a doctor’s appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for awhile and was a victim of Alzheimer’s Disease.

As we talked and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, and hadn’t recognized him in five years. I was surprised, and asked him, “And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?” He smiled and patted my hand and said,

"She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is."

An African king had a long time friend who always looked at everything positively, always saying "This is good!" even in the face of the most difficult situations. Hunting one day, he was preparing the king’s guns. When the king took his first shot, his thumb was blown off. Though the friend realized that it was his grave mistake for not properly setting the gun, and even in the face of this furious, bleeding king, he looked at him and said, "This is good!" The king was livid and ordered that his friend be thrown in jail immediately.

A year later the king was hunting in an area where he should have stayed clear and was suddenly captured by Cannibals. They tied him up and were preparing to cook him when they realized he had no thumb. They didn't eat anyone who was less than whole so they released him. On his way home, the king pondered the event that had taken his thumb in the first place. He went straight to the jail, told his friend what happened, and apologized in tears for sending him to jail as he did. His enthusiastic friend looked at the King and replied: "This is good!"

The king, taken aback once again said "What do you mean 'this is good!' I sent you mercilessly to jail and you’ve been suffering for here for an entire year – how is that good?" His friend responded unwaveringly, "Well if I had not been in jail, I would have been with you!"

Perspective

A new driver for an interstate trucking company was having a difficult time. He found the long cross-country trips extremely tiring. The older driver who traveled with him, however, seemed to thrive on those long trips. He always seemed to look as fresh at the end of the ride as he did at the beginning.

One day, the young man asked the older what his secret was.

"Well, it's really all in the way you look at it," he replied.

"While you went to work this morning, I went for a ride through the country."

Our focus will determine whether life is work or a ride in the country.

An Indian was walking in downtown New York City alongside a resident friend. As they approached a busy street corner in the center of Manhattan, the Indian seized his friend's arm and whispered,

"Wait. I hear a cricket."

"Come on!", the city boy sneered, "This is downtown New York -- how could you possibly hear a cricket?"

His friend persisted, however, "No - seriously, I do!"

As cars were roaring, horns honking, people shouting, brakes screeching, cash registers clanging, subway clamoring and people bustling about, the Indian began leading his friend along slowly, every now and again stopping and turning his ear toward the seemingly noiseless sound. At last, the Indian insisted they were near and proceeded to follow the sound across the street and toward a small dark corner next to a graffiti-covered wall. There, he bent down to a minuscule tuft of grass and pulled out the cricket.

"I told, you", he said, "I heard a cricket."

Astounded, the New Yorker marveled "How could you have heard that cricket in the middle of all this noise?"

"Well", said his foreign friend,

"My ears are different from yours. It simply depends on what you're listening to.

Here, let me show you what I mean."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change --a couple of quarters, three or four nickels, and a dime and a few pennies.

"Now," he said, "watch this." He held the coins waist high and dropped them to the sidewalk. At once, every head within nearly a block turned around and looked in the direction of the Indian.

"You see, It all depends on what you're listening to."

To what sounds are our ears trained to listen? Are they trained to hear the sound of money, of gossip, of complaining, of worldly things or are they trained to hear the still small voice of the Most High, directing and advising us in the way we should go?

It’s quiet. It’s early. My coffee is hot. The sky is still black. The world is still asleep. The day is coming.

In a few moments the day will arrive. It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun. The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the noise of the day. The calm of solitude will be replaced by the pounding pace of the human race. The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made and deadlines to be met. For the next twelve hours I will be exposed to the day’s demands. It is now that I must make a choice.

Because of Calvary, I’m free to choose. And so I choose.

I choose love. No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.

I choose joy. I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical… the tool of the lazy thinker.

I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I choose peace. I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live.

I choose patience. I will overlook the inconveniences of the world. Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I’ll invite Him to do so. Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray.

Instead of clinching my fist at new assignments, I will face them with joy and courage.

I choose kindness. I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.

I choose goodness. I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I will boast. I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness.

I choose faithfulness. Today I will keep my promises. My debtors will not regret their trust. My associates will not question my word. My wife will not question my love. And my children will never fear that their father will not come home.

I choose gentleness. Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice, may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.

I choose self-control. I am a spiritual being. After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal.

I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithful-ness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek His grace. And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.

Excerpted from Let the Journey Begin by Max Lucado © Thomas Nelson.
Originally published in When God Whispers Your Name by Max Lucado © Thomas Nelson

The best laid intentions of mice and men often go aglee

One of the great marvels of the Roman Empire was the invention of the aqueduct system to provide water over vast distances. It was an absolutely ingenious method which made use of gravity, with stone arches to support the water channels. An aqueduct was built in 109 AD which carried water to the city of Segovia for eighteen hundred years. For nearly sixty generations this aqueduct provided cool water from the mountains above. But fairly recently, it collapsed.

A well-intentioned citizen, observing the ancient structure, remarked, "This aqueduct is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved for our children, as a museum piece. We shall relieve it of its centuries-long labor." So the city decided to construct a modern water system with iron pipes to carry the water, intending to give the aqueduct a long-deserved rest. What they failed to realize, of course, was that attempting to preserve the aqueduct by stopping the flow of water through it, assured its rapid disintegration! As the sun beat down on the now dry mortar and stone, the centuries old structure quickly began to fall apart. Amazingly, nearly two millenia of service would not accomplish the destructive work of less than a century of idleness!

I was living in Seward, Alaska, it was winter of 1971, and there was plenty of snow on the ground.

One weekend my uncle asked if I wanted to go "snow-machining" with him and his son. Of course, as a young 22 yr old, I wanted to go! Soon the three of us were riding on up into the hills and mountains, nearly 2000 feet above, on separate machines.

We spent the day playing, having fun chasing each other up and down snow-clogged valleys, high in the mountains of the Kenai Peninsula.

Suddenly we noticed the sky was totally clouded over, it had begun snowing, and daylight was fading fast, we had lost track of the time!

Everything was white, and because light was fading, poor depth perception set in. It was difficult to judge distances, and it was hard to see bumps and dips in our path.

My uncle asked me to lead the way home, so, without giving it a second thought, I headed in a direction that I thought was right.

We wound our way down the mountain single file, with me in the front at about 25mph. I struggled to pick our way through a maze of hundreds of criss-crossing snow machine tracks. There was simply no trail to follow at that altitude, above the treeline. I had to guess the direction.

I remember heading down this gentle slope, perhaps about a 15 degree or so angle downward, when all of a sudden my machine gave an extremely sharp, and VERY sudden abrupt spin to the left and stopped! It had literally stopped in it's tracks sideways.

It was now "parked" in the way, my uncle and cousin pulled up behind me and they also stopped. I didn't know what had happened, or what was going on. My uncle said "why did you stop?" I said "I don't know."

I was still wondering what had happened, as I certainly had not done anything to stop the machine, and I sure hadn't made it turn to the left.

Perplexed, I stood up, and that's when I saw it: a deep ravine looming ahead of us. I saw the cliff that we had almost gone over, about 15 or 20 feet directly in front of us, with walls almost straight up and down, and the bottom perhaps a hundred yards below us.

I began shaking uncontrollably from head to foot, my whole body shook! I knew we had come very close to dying, all of us. If I'd gone over that cliff, the others were so close they would not have had time to react, they would have followed me over the cliff, and they would have found our bodies down at the bottom. Laughing, my uncle said "it's a good thing you saw that coming!" I said "no Henry, I didn't see it coming, I didn't see ANYTHING!"

We looked all around where my machine had stopped. The brakes weren't locked up. It had not hit anything: no rocks or holes, no tree stumps, nothing.

I couldn't stop shaking for over an hour, but eventually we found our way around that place and got home safely. It was then I remembered my aunt praying for us three before we left, asking God to keep us safe from harm.

Did God send angels to accompany us up that mountain? Did one of them stop my machine from going over that cliff? I don't know, but I do consider it a miracle.

BudinAk Location: Seward, Alaska

God Cares!

It was the winter of 1971 and we were in a cold snap in Alaska. Where I was living, in Seward, it generally doesn't get too extreme, but this one time it was an adventure for me.

I was unemployed, very poor any just barely getting by with whatever odd jobs I could find.

My home was an old 10X50 house trailer, with very poor insulation. I was living alone. With no job to go to, I had much time on my hands for prayer and Bible reading, which I did.

Early one morning in January, I awoke to find the outside temperature at -17F,
it was COLD!

My morning "ritual" was to wander into the kitchen and make coffee. So off to the kitchen I went. I held the coffee pot under the kitchen sink and opened the cold water valve.

Nothing! Not even a drip! I thought "oh noooooo, the water lines are frozen!".

I'll just go into the bathroom, and get water out of there.".

Off to the bathroom I went, which was roughly 35 feet down the hall. Holding the pot under the faucet of the bathroom sink, I opened the cold water valve: nothing!

And the hot water valve: nothing!

I thought "well...there is still the faucet for the bathtub..." I tried the cold water valve there: nothing. And the hot water valve: NOTHING! Not a drip. Not even air.

I remember feeling so depressed about it. I thought "here I am broke, no job, no money, and now I don't have any water either."

"There is nothing left for me to do except go back into the kitchen, sit down at the table, and read the Bible."

Feeling thoroughly sorry for myself, I got the Bible out, flipped it open to no particular page or passage, and decided I would just read whatever scripture I first saw.

There it was: Psalms 63: O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.

I had read it out loud and when I had said the last four words verbally, instantly all of the faucets in the house gushed water at full force! All of them! I had left the valves on. (I don't know why, I just did).

That's when the awe of it hit me: frozen water lines simply do not thaw themselves out instantly, once they are frozen. Even with a blow torch or space heater, you generally are looking at an hour or so to get water going again, it doesn't "just happen".

Well, this one time it did "just happen". I looked at the verse I had just read: "where no water is", and then stared at the water gushing out of the kitchen faucet.

I knew the Lord was near. I knew right away it was a miracle. It brought tears to my eyes. I did enjoy a cup of hot coffee that morning. And I wondered why God would care so much about me.

Children's Letters To God

Dear God, Did you mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident? ~ Norma

Dear God, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don't you just keep the ones you have now? ~ Jane

Dear God, Who draws the lines around the countries? ~ Nan

Dear God, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that okay? ~ Neil

Dear God, Thank you for my baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy. ~ Joyce

Dear God, It rained for our whole vacation and is my father mad! He said some things about you that people are not supposed to say, but I hope you will not hurt him anyway. ~ Your friend (but I am not going to tell you who I am)

Dear God, Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up. ~ Bruce

Dear God, If we come back as something, please don't let me be Jennifer Horton, because I hate her. ~ Denise

Dear God, I want to be just like my daddy when I get big, but not with so much hair all over. ~ Sam

Dear God, I think about you sometimes, even when I'm not praying. ~ Elliott

Dear God, I bet it is very hard for you to love all the people in the world. There are only four people in our family and I can never do it. ~ Nan

Dear God, Of all the people who worked for you, I like Noah
and David the best. ~ Rob

Dear God, My brothers told me about being born, but it doesn't sound right. They are just kidding, aren't they? ~ Marsha

Dear God, If you watch me in church Sunday, I'll show you my new shoes. ~ Mickey
Dear God, We read Thomas Edison made light. But in Sunday school, we learned that you did it. So I bet he stole your idea, RIGHT? ~ Sincerely, Donna

Dear God, I do not think anybody could be a better God. Well, I just want you to know that I am not just saying this because you are God already. ~ Charles

Dear God, I didn't think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday. That was cool! ~ Eugene

Dear God, Maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each other so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother.

Last week the U.S.A. experienced a polar vortex. Historians call it a 100-year storm! Millions of Texans were without electrical power as the power grid almost fully collapsed.

Between the United States and Canada sits Niagara Falls. An estimated 500,000 tons of water go over the falls every minute. On March 29, 1948, the falls suddenly stopped. Those who lived near enough heard the overwhelming silence, and immediately they thought it was a sign – the end of the world had come!

However, after thirty hours had passed – the flow of water resumed.

What happened? Heavy winds had set the ice fields of Lake Erie in motion and tons of ice had jammed the Niagara River entrance near Buffalo. The ice blocked the flow of water until finally, there was a shift in the blockage and the river began flowing again.

The river had stopped flowing because of ice. 500,000 tons of water per minute stopped because of ice.

The Soldier and the Seagulls

It happened every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembled a giant orange and was starting to dip into the blue ocean.

Old Ed came strolling along the beach to his favorite pier.

Clutched in his bony hand was a bucket of shrimp. Ed walks out to the end of the pier, where it seems he almost has the world to himself. The glow of the sun is a golden bronze now.

Before long, however, he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a thousand white dots come screeching and squawking, winging their way toward that lanky frame standing there on the end of the pier.

Before long, dozens of seagulls have enveloped him, their wings fluttering and flapping wildly. Ed stands there tossing shrimp to the hungry birds. As he does, if you listen closely, you can hear him say with a smile, 'Thank you. Thank you.'

In a few short minutes the bucket is empty. But Ed doesn't leave. He stands there lost in thought, as though transported to another time and place .

His full name: Eddie Rickenbacker.

He was a famous hero in World War I, and then he was in WWII. On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived, crawled out of their plane, and climbed into a life raft.

Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger and thirst. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No water. They were hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were or even if they were alive.

Every day across America millions wondered and prayed that Eddie Rickenbacker might somehow be found alive.

The men adrift needed a miracle. That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle.

They tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged on. All he could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft...suddenly Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a seagull!

Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he managed to grab it and wring its neck. He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal of it - a very slight meal for eight men. Then they used the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait....and the cycle continued. With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until they were found and rescued after 24 days at sea.

Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the sacrifice of that first life-saving seagull... And he never stopped saying, 'Thank you.' That's why almost every Friday night he would walk to the end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of gratitude.

Reference: (Max Lucado, "In The Eye of the Storm", pp...221, 225-226)

During the American civil war, Jackson's army found itself on one side of a river when it needed to be on the other.

After telling his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could cross, he called his wagon master in to tell him it was urgent that the wagon train cross the river as soon as possible. At once, the wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks, and fence rails he could find and quickly put together a bridge.

Long before daylight, General Jackson got word that all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river. "Where are the engineers and what are they doing?" asked Jackson of his wagon master.

"They are drawing up plans for a bridge, sir." He replied.

Brain Dead Baby & Miracle Kisses

Big Sister Blew Kisses On Brain-Dead Baby's Belly And Got A Miracle

The Two Brothers

Once upon a time, two brothers who lived on adjoining farms fell into conflict. It was the first serious rift in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labour and goods as needed without a hitch. Then the long collaboration fell apart.

It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.

One morning there was a knock on John's door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I'm looking for a few days work," he said. "Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there. Could I help you?"

"Yes," said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That's my neighbour. In fact, it's my younger brother.

Last week there was a meadow between us and he took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I'll go him one better. See that pile of lumber curing by the barn? I want you to build me a fence - an 8-foot fence - so I won't need to see his place anymore. Cool him down anyhow."

The carpenter said, "I think I understand the situation. Show me the nails and the post hole digger and I'll be able to do a job that pleases you." The older brother had to go to town for supplies, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day.

The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, and nailing. About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer's eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped.

There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge - a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other!

A fine piece of work - handrails and all - and the neighbour, his younger brother, was coming across, his hand outstretched. "You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I've said and done." The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each other's hand.

They turned to see the carpenter hoist his toolbox on his shoulder. "No, wait! Stay a few days. I've a lot of other projects for you," said the older brother.

"I'd love to stay on," the carpenter said, " but I have many more bridges to build."