Coincidences that just aren't...

I have to post on here. Karissa is developing a love for performing, and I also see glimpses of that in Katherine. Justin is an amazingly gifted singer, even though he doesn't realize it, and I was really looking for an opportunity for them to do something. A friend of Karissa told her about West Side Story auditions at a local community college, and as a mother it was something I was not ready to release her to...especially being so young, and some of the content is just a bit too "adult" for my comfort zone. The very next day a friend of mine just happened to send an e-mail with information on the Music Man auditions in Grand Prairie, with only a couple of days' notice. So, we rushed over, unprepared, but we were all made part of the show! Justin is in the boys' band, Katherine and Karissa are Shipoopi dancers, and I am one of those busy body pick a little ladies! I know this may seem trivial, but I believe it is truly a way that God has answered my prayer for my kids to have this experience, and an opportunity for them to see mom having fun, too! What a fun memory we are building, and if my friend Karen would not have sent this to me, I would not have known!

Still able to hear the music

Melissa's post reminded me of a time when the Lord healed me back in Winslow, AZ. I was a new music teacher at the time, and I developed an ear infection. First year teachers get really sick all the time! Well, I got a prescription for some amoxicillin and it wasn't clearing up my infection. In fact, I was getting worse, developing a horribly itchy rash all over my body and my fever was shooting way up. I went to the doctor and he admitted me into the hospital. I was in a terrible state. My fever went up to about 105 degrees, even after they started giving me a different, more powerful antibiotic intravenously. I recall the nurses drawing blood over and over, running more tests trying to discover the root cause of a this. Well, it turns out I was allergic to penicillin, and the drug that I was receiving intravenously, called rosephin (a distant cousin of penicillin). They gave me a shot of benadryl and my fever broke that same night. Well, then next morning, my doctor told me that what was left of my eardrum was just the outer edge, and it only had a small chance of closing...most likely NOT the entire way, and that my hearing would be damaged for the rest of my life. Everything sounded horrible. The best way I could describe it was that everything sounded like it was ringing in a metallic box and very distorted. I knew that I would really need to make some life decisions if I couldn't hear properly again, since I am a musician and that was my bread and butter. As I was feeling better, I began to watch t.v. in the hospital, and CBN was on and one of the people praying had a "word" that someone was being healed of an ear infection. Well, I jumped on that one and asked God if He wouldn't mind sending that one my way. The next time I saw my doctor, he looked into my ear and had to double check. The membrane had nearly grown back completely in less than 24 hours. By the time I had gone to his office for my follow up visit, the eardrum was completely closed and I could hear fine. To this day there is no distortion of sound and I'm still involved in music somehow. God is amazing and I am so glad He smiled on me that day! NOW DON'T FORGET TO SHARE YOUR STORIES, TOO!

This is a wonderful idea Carrie! God does bestow amazing blessings to us and one of those times for our family came about four years ago. Denny, my husband, has vision only in one eye and has very poor vision in the seeing eye. He began having problems with this eye suddenly. He had wavy lines, flashes, but then more seriously he couldn't make out faces and extremely blurred central vision began to occur. This scared us tremendously! It came out of the blue and we had to search for someone to help. His regular eye doctor couldn't find anything so he sent him home and said come back in three weeks! WHAT!? THREE WEEKS!? He couldn't see to drive, to work, nothing! I was extremely upset. So we went to Him, the only one that could truly help and guide us. So that Saturday night as I was praying on my knees and needing to search His word for comfort and answers, I asked the Lord to speak to me in His word...give me a sign; something; anything that all was going to be ok. So it was then that I wiped away the tears streaming down my face and opened the Bible. It opened right to John 9 where Jesus heals the blind man. I read and read! He HAD spoken to me. From that point on I felt a peace transcend over me and I knew Denny would be well again. That Monday morning, I called his doctor to get him into a specialist...and specialist we saw! This doctor was absolutely excellent, and from then on it was a process of healing. The Lord saw us through a very difficult time and we grew during this time as well. Our Lord was there every step of the way for us. And our faith never wavered. We thank Him to this day for healing Denny and giving him a chance to see the beautiful world He created again! Denny is so thankful every morning that he wakes up and sees the sunrise!

I hope this starts something good!

My first story is going to be one that occured about 11 years ago when my husband had just left the air force and enrolled in college to complete his degree. We were so poor! He would awaken every morning at about 2:00 to go to the local newspaper, roll the papers and drive around in the dark throwing papers from his Ford Escort, which was a standard transmission. Yuck! We had no health insurance, two babies from months old to two years old, and I was teaching in a private school making about $18,000 per year. He was only making about $800 per month throwing papers, so when I say poor, we really were! During this time, there was a men's retreat that my husband wanted to attend, but the problem was that it was $100 to go. We couldn't scrape together $100! So, I flippantly told him that if he wanted to go, then God was going to have to give him the money because we certainly didn't have it. That very weekend we were at church and a man handed Paul and envelope with $110 in it! I had to let him go, and he did have a wonderful time. During that time in our lives I can think of countless ways that God took care of us. We've had food mysteriously appear on our doorstep, among other "little things" such as hand-me-downs for our girls. Now it is your turn!