There are a few reasons I am writing this page. First of all, I firmly believe in God and there are many times He has answered my prayers. Too many times for me to have any doubt that He truly exists and cares about me. This page is a statement of faith and a witness to some of the wonderful things God has done for me.
Not only am I writing this page as a witness for whoever happens to read it, it is also a reminder to myself if I ever happen to find myself becoming afraid or forgetting that God truly is in charge of my life.
Miracles and Gifts From God
Spice
One of the earliest miracles I remember was when I was about 18 or 19 years old. I had a kitten that slept mostly in my closet. My parents didn’t want it to have the run of the house and I didn’t always want it to run loose in my room so it spent most nights and some of the day in its room. The kitty’s name was spice and she was a really sweet, playful little baby.
But one day, I noticed that she wasn’t eating right and she wasn’t playful as usual. Later that day, she started vomiting and, by that evening, there was blood in her urine and stool and she was obviously running a fever. My parents wouldn’t take her to the vet. They said we didn’t have the money. Finally, my mom told me to call the animal hospital to see if they could give me any advice but all they could tell me was to bring the cat in to the hospital. I watched helplessly as my poor kitty suffered and finally, I went into my room, got down on my knees, and prayed.
This wasn’t the first time I ever heard the ‘voice’ but it was the first time I recognized it as a voice. Mostly it was just intuition or ideas coming into my mind when I prayed but, this time, it was more like a voice speaking directly into my mind. The voice said that Spice would be okay but things would have to change and I would have to take much better care of her. I got up and went in to the living room and told my mom I had prayed for Spice to be okay. Spice, who had been in the back bathroom where it was cool, came into the living room and started to follow me into my bedroom. At first, I started to close the door but the voice told me to let her in and reminded me that I needed to start taking better care of Spice. Spice followed me into the room and tried to jump up on the bed. I seem to remember having to pick her up and put her on the bed because she was still weak.
A few minutes later, I noticed that Spice didn’t seem as warm as she had been earlier and she seemed to have more energy. Within a few minutes, she was wanting to play. I played with her for a little while then I got up and got her some milk to see if she was hungry. To my surprise she started drinking it. I tried to give her something to eat that I thought she might like but she went to her dish and started to eat her dry cat food. At first I was afraid because I though the cat food was what had made her sick but I went ahead and let her eat it instead of trying to get her to eat something else. I think I prayed and asked God if it was safe but I can’t remember. I do remember the voice telling me that Spice would be okay now but, if things didn’t change, Spice would be dead within a year because she was not going to be allowed to live in the same conditions where she wasn’t loved or appreciated. I did love the kitty, but I wasn’t the most appreciative cat owner.
The next day, it was as if nothing had ever been wrong. Spice was healthy and full of energy. I turned into a much better cat owner and Spice had the run of the house and was well loved until she died several years later either from being poisoned or from being hit by a car. The neighbors who discovered her body never told us what happened to her.
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Message on the TV
Not long after the miracle God granted me with Spice, I found myself drifting away again. I do not remember the exact timeline of events - whether this happened during the time I was hanging out with Sean and Bambi or if I had already had the band with Sean, Bambi, MaryJo and Todd. It may have been after the band had broken up and I had started drinking nearly every night. All I remember was that I had drifted far away from God and had basically forgotten Him. I was very sick with a very sore throat and I was extremely depressed. I was changing channels on the TV when I stumbled upon TBN. The two people on the TV were praying for people in the viewing audience. For some reason, I found myself going back into my bedroom and getting down on my knees to pray. I asked God for a sign that he was really there. I remembered the miracle with Spice and I felt that I badly needed reassurance because I felt horribly sick and depressed.
The voice told me to go back to the TV. As I was watching, the man on the TV said that that there was a young lady - probably around my age (I cannot remember exactly what he said whether it was 19 or 21) - with the first name beginning with the letter M who was sick .. something to do with her throat... she had a sore throat. He went on to say that God was saying that the young lady would be healed. I started shaking and crying. I knew that God had answered my prayers and was giving me the sign and reassurance that I had asked for.
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Casey
A few years later, I was living with my grandmother who needed somebody to stay with her. My mom was visiting my dad who was working out of town and she had asked me to go take care of the dogs. She also asked me to check on Casey, who had just had puppies and wasn’t eating right. Casey was spending most of her time the den she had dug out under the dog house and my mom couldn’t get her to come out.
Anthony and I went up to my parent’s house and I went back to feed and check on the dogs. Anthony came back to the dog pen with me and brought a flashlight. Casey wouldn’t come out from her hiding place under the dog house so I reached in and gently pulled her out. She was skinny and very shaky. We took her up to the house to get a better look at her and decided to take her to the animal emergency clinic. I called my mom and told her the situation, then went home to borrow some money from my grandmother, then Anthony and I took her to the animal emergency clinic.
When we got there, we found that the situation was far worse than we could have imagined. When the vet rolled her onto her back to get a look at her, all we saw were maggots all over the lower part of her belly and between her back legs. The vet said that he thought her chances of survival were very slim but, knowing what my mom would say, I told him to do whatever was necessary to save her. We found out later that Casey had a dead puppy stuck - either in the womb or in the birth canal (I can’t remember which) - and it had caused a serious infection.
After leaving the animal hospital, Anthony and I went up to my parents house and pulled the two puppies out from under the dog house. We took them into the house and I fed them some milk with an eyedropper then made them a nice bed in a box and left them to sleep. Then I called my mom and told her what the doctor at the animal emergency hospital had told me and let her know that the two puppies were in the house and had been fed.
The next morning, my mom came home and went to the animal emergency clinic where she found out that Casey had survived the night but was in critical condition and that her chances were not good. My mom told the vet to do whatever he could to save her then she came home and took care of the puppies.
My mom and I both had been praying that Casey would be okay and, I cannot remember if I heard the voice this time or not, I just remember knowing that she would be okay. The doctor at the animal emergency clinic referred us to the hospital where he worked during the week and Casey was transferred there where she made a miraculous recovery. After that, Doctor Price called Casey his ‘miracle dog’.
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Healed From Sciatica
Many years later, I was having serious problems with my back. I had gotten into drugs by then and was addicted to methamphetamine. The back pain radiated into my leg and the outside of my leg was getting numb in places. At first, the pain was just uncomfortable and felt like a pulled muscle. But, in time, it turned into an unbearable pain that would not go away. My mom told me she thought I had sciatica and that there was really nothing that could be done for it. Several trips to the chiropractor seemed to prove my mom right and I was miserable. My mom was getting impatient because of my constant complaining and my unwillingness to stay off of my feet for a few days. I was working for her at the time and needed every penny I could earn so I could keep up with the bills because so much of my money was spent on speed.
Finally, my mom told me that the only way I would ever get well was to be flat on my back for a couple of weeks. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do this because I needed t work. I had sold my old car and had $300 but that was all spent on the chiropractor so I was now broke again. By this time, I was using crutches and a back brace just so I could walk. I was feeling totally helpless and desperate.
I went into my mom’s bathroom to work on cleaning the hot tub and, as I sat there in the hot tub, I began to pray. I told God that I was scared and desperate .. that my mom had told me that I would have to spend at least two weeks flat on my back to heal but I couldn’t do that. I begged for help.
That was when I heard the voice much more clearly that ever before.
He said, “Do you have faith?”
I said, “Yes.”
He said, “Then throw away the crutches.”
I made a mental note not to use the crutches anymore.
He spoke again. “Do you have faith?”
I said, “Yes.”
He said, “Then throw away the back brace.”
I took off the back brace and tossed it aside.
He spoke one more time, “Now stand up.”
My first thought was that I couldn’t stand up -- then it dawned on me what had just happened and I stood up straight and tall. I was healed!!!!
I got up out of the hot tub and went in to show my mom. She was surprised to see me up and twirling around in front of her as I excitedly told her what had happened.
A few days later, we both went to the chiropractor and I told him what had happened. He couldn’t believe it when I literally jumped out of the chair! The last time he had seen me, I could barely stand up and now I was cured!! The chiropractor explained to me that, while I had been given a miracle cure, it would take a while for the ‘natural cure’. I realized later on what he had meant - while the cause of my problem had been cured, my muscles and nerves needed to heal and recover from what they had been through as a result of the nerve impulses being cut off for so long. It took a while for me to completely recover and get to the point where I could stand up for long periods of time without having to kneel down to give my back and leg a rest.
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A Much Needed Car
A couple of years ago, the blazer I was driving started having a lot of mechanical problems. It started with a trip to the shop to fix some engine problems - which cost me the last $600 I had in my bank account. About two weeks after I got the blazer back from the garage, another problem developed with the engine which started running fast then slow in a steady cycle. Then the radiator hose started blowing off of the radiator and, after Anthony removed the thermostat, the blazer started overheating badly instead of cooling down like it should have without the thermostat. And now it was leaking water. We found a couple of leaks on the radiator and tried several different types of stop-leak but nothing worked and I didn’t have enough money for a radiator or to get the radiator fixed. I prayed about the situation as I was driving to work one day and the voice came to me saying, “It has to be this way now." The word now was emphasized and I new that God had a reason for this happening and it had to happen at this point in time.
At that time, my friend Jackie was working for me and Teresa and I had to pick her up everyday for work then drive her home. But my blazer was getting so bad that I could no longer give Jackie a ride to or from work and the whole situation (along with some other things) was creating quite a bit of friction between Jackie and me. Finally, it got to the point where I was afraid to drive the blazer and Teresa now had to come up from where she lived to work with me on whatever days she could so I wouldn’t have to drive the blazer. This cut Jackie’s hours and caused even more friction.
The situation with the transportation finally got to a breaking point and, one day as I was having to drive the blazer back home with the heater on full blast on a hot summer day, I knew I needed another car. I had no money to buy a car from a used car lot and no money to make payments even if I somehow got credit to buy a car from a dealer. As I was driving, I began to pray. “God, I need another car. I don’t care what kind it is or what it looks like just as long as it is reliable and will get me to and from work.”
At that point, a perfect image of a little white car came into my mind. It was crystal clear and I recognized the car. I said out loud, “That would be perfect. But, Pastor Galen isn’t selling his car is he?” I should have emailed him right away but, instead, I waited a week then emailed him asking for prayer regarding the work situation and the problems I was having with the blazer. His reply, “You should have told me sooner. I just got a new car and the other car is just sitting. David said he might want to buy it but he has until Saturday night to make his decision. You can drive it until then, or if he doesn’t want it, you can drive it for as long as you need it.”
I waited until the next weekend then emailed him back asking if David was going to buy the car and, if not, maybe I could buy it from him if he could take payments. Pastor Galen called me back a few minutes later saying that David had decided not to buy the car and telling me he could take payments. He told me he had offered the car to David for $800 in three payments. This was an amazing deal because the car was in excellent shape and only had 106,00 miles on it. The only serious problem being an oil leak. Anthony drove me up there a few minutes later to get my car and make my first payment.
Finally I understood what God had meant when he told me, “This has to happen this way, now". If the timing of my blazer’s radiator problems had been any different, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get Pastor Galen’s car. Considering the shape that car was in, he could have easily sold it for twice what he had charged me and it would have gone quickly! Also, at that time, gas prices were quickly raising to new heights and, if I had continued to drive the blazer, there would have been no way I could have afforded to put gas in it. Especially with the engine running the way it was and me having to put gas in it every other day.
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There are a few other examples of the amazing things God has done for me. There are many other miracles and many times God has answered my prayers but these are the most dramatic examples of miracles in my life.
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