Excerpt

The bride stood in a circle of Virginia sunlight, her narrow heels clicking on Holly Oak’s patio stones as she greeted strangers in the receiving line. Her wedding dress was a simple A-line, strapless, with a gauzy skirt of white that breezed about her knees like lacy curtains at an open window. She had pulled her unveiled brunette curls into a loose arrangement dotted with tiny flowers that she’d kept alive on her flight from Phoenix. Her only jewelry was a white topaz pendant at her throat and the band of platinum on her left ring finger. Tall, slender, and tanned from the famed and relentless Arizona sun, hers was a girl-nextdoor look: pretty but not quite beautiful. Adelaide thought it odd that Marielle held no bouquet.

From the parlor window Adelaide watched as her grandson-in-law, resplendent in a black tuxedo next to his bride, bent toward the guests and greeted them by name, saying, “This is Marielle.” An explanation seemed ready to spring from his lips each time he shook the hand of someone who had known Sara, her deceased granddaughter. His first wife. Carson stood inches from Marielle, touching her elbow every so often, perhaps to assure himself that after four years a widower he had indeed patently and finally moved on from grief.

Smatterings of conversations wafted about on the May breeze and into the parlor as received guests strolled toward trays of sweet tea and champagne. Adelaide heard snippets from her place at the window. Hudson and Brette, her great-grandchildren, had moved away from the snaking line of gray suits and pastel dresses within minutes of the first guests’ arrival and were now studying the flower-festooned gift table under the window ledge, touching the bows, fingering the silvery white wrappings. Above the children, an old oak’s youngest branches shimmied to the tunes a string quartet produced from the gazebo beyond the receiving line.

Adelaide raised a teacup to her lips and sipped the last of its contents, allowing the lemony warmth to linger at the back of her throat. She had spent the better part of the morning readying the garden for Carson and Marielle’s wedding reception, plucking spent geranium blossoms, ordering the catering staff about, and straightening the rented linen tablecloths. She needed to join the party now that it had begun. The Blue-Haired Old Ladies would be wondering where she was.

Her friends had been the first to arrive, coming through the garden gate on the south side of the house at five minutes before the hour. She’d watched as Carson introduced them to Marielle, witnessed how they cocked their necks in blue-headed unison to sweetly scrutinize her grandson-in-law’s new wife, and heard their welcoming remarks through the open window.

Deloris gushed about how lovely Marielle’s wedding dress was and what, pray tell, was the name of that divine purple flower she had in her hair?

Pearl invited Marielle to her bridge club next Tuesday afternoon and asked her if she believed in ghosts.

Maxine asked her how Carson and she had met—though Adelaide had told her weeks ago that Carson met Marielle on the Internet—and why on earth Arizona didn’t like daylight-saving time.

Marielle had smiled, sweet and knowing—like the kindergarten teacher who finds the bluntness of five-year-olds endearing—and answered the many questions.

Mojave asters. She didn’t know how to play bridge. She’d never encountered a ghost so she couldn’t really say but most likely not. She and Carson met online. There’s no need to save what one has an abundance of. Carson had cupped her elbow in his hand, and his thumb caressed the inside of her arm while she spoke.

Adelaide swiftly set the cup down on the table by the window, whisking away the remembered tenderness of that same caress on Sara’s arm.

Carson had every right to remarry.

Sara had been dead for four years.

She turned from the bridal tableau outside and inhaled deeply the gardenia-scented air in the parlor. Unbidden thoughts of her granddaughter sitting with her in that very room gently nudged her. Sara at six cutting out paper dolls. Memorizing multiplication tables at age eight. Sewing brass buttons onto gray wool coats at eleven. Sara reciting a poem for English Lit at sixteen, comparing college acceptance letters at eighteen, sharing a chance letter from her estranged mother at nineteen, showing Adelaide her engagement ring at twenty-four. Coming back home to Holly Oak with Carson when Hudson was born. Nursing Brette in that armchair by the fireplace. Leaning against the door frame and telling Adelaide that she was expecting her third child.

Right there Sara had done those things while Adelaide sat at the long table in the center of the room, empty now but usually awash in yards of stiff Confederate gray, glistening gold braid, and tiny piles of brass buttons—the shining elements of officer reenactment uniforms before they see war.

Adelaide ran her fingers along the table’s polished surface, the warm wood as old as the house itself. Carson had come to her just a few months ago while she sat at that table piecing together a sharpshooter’s forest green jacket. He had taken a chair across from her as Adelaide pinned a collar, and he’d said he needed to tell her something.

He’d met someone.

When she’d said nothing, he added, “It’s been four years, Adelaide.”

“I know how long it’s been.” The pins made a tiny plucking sound as their pointed ends pricked the fabric.

“She lives in Phoenix.”

“You’ve never been to Phoenix.”

“Mimi.” He said the name Sara had given her gently, as a father might. A tender reprimand. He waited until she looked up at him. “I don’t think Sara would want me to live the rest of my life alone. I really don’t. And I don’t think she would want Hudson and Brette not to have a mother.”

“Those children have a mother.”

“You know what I mean. They need to be mothered. I’m gone all day at work. I only have the weekends with them. And you won’t always be here. You’re a wonderful great-grandmother, but they need someone to mother them, Mimi.”

She pulled the pin cushion closer to her and swallowed. “I know they do.”

He leaned forward in his chair. “And I…I miss having someone to share my life with. I miss the companionship. I miss being in love. I miss having someone love me.”

Adelaide smoothed the pieces of the collar. “So. You are in love?”

He had taken a moment to answer. “Yes. I think I am.”

Carson hadn’t brought anyone home to the house, and he hadn’t been on any dates. But he had lately spent many nights after the children were in bed in his study—the old drawing room—with the door closed. When she’d pass by, Adelaide would hear the low bass notes of his voice as he spoke softly into his phone. She knew that gentle sound. She had heard it before, years ago when Sara and Carson would sit in the study and talk about their day. His voice, deep and resonant. Hers, soft and melodic.

“Are you going to marry her?”

Carson had laughed. “Don’t you even want to know her name?”

She had not cared at that moment about a name. The specter of being alone in Holly Oak shoved itself forward in her mind. If he remarried, he’d likely move out and take the children with him. “Are you taking the children? Are you leaving Holly Oak?”

“Adelaide—”

“Will you be leaving?”

Several seconds of silence had hung suspended between them. Carson and Sara had moved into Holly Oak ten years earlier to care for Adelaide after heart surgery and had simply stayed. Ownership of Holly Oak had been Sara’s birthright and was now Hudson and Brette’s future inheritance. Carson stayed on after Sara died because, in her grief, Adelaide asked him to, and in his grief, Carson said yes.

“Will you be leaving?” she asked again.

“Would you want me to leave?” He sounded unsure.

“You would stay?”

Carson had sat back in his chair. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to take Hudson and Brette out of the only home they’ve known. They’ve already had to deal with more than any kid should.”

“So you would marry this woman and bring her here. To this house.”

Carson had hesitated only a moment. “Yes.”

She knew without asking that they were not talking solely about the effects moving would have on a ten-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl. They were talking about the strange biology of their grief. Sara had been taken from them both, and Holly Oak nurtured their common sorrow in the most kind and savage of ways. Happy memories were one way of keeping someone attached to a house and its people. Grief was the other. Surely Carson knew this. An inner nudging prompted her to consider asking him what his new bride would want.

“What is her name?” she asked instead.

And he answered, “Marielle…”

Excerpted from A Sound Among the Trees by Susan Meissner Copyright © 2011 by Susan Meissner. Excerpted by permission of WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

“She’s dying, Krista.”

I took a long, slow breath. “She died a long time ago, Dane.”

He paused, and I could picture him formulating his next words, something that would move me. Why was my relationship with my mother so important to him? I mean, other than the fact that she was a patient in his care. “There’s still time, Kristabelle.”

I sighed. Dane knew that his old nickname for me always got to me. “For what? For long, deep conversations?” I winced at the harsh slice of sarcasm in my tone.

“You never know,” he said quietly. “An aide found something you should see.”

“What?”

“Come. I’ll keep it here in my office until you arrive. Consider it a Christmas present.”

“It’s December ninth.”

“Okay, consider it an early present.”

It was typical of him to hold out a mysterious hook like that. “I don’t know, Dane. The school term isn’t over yet. It’s a hard time to get someone to cover for me.” It wasn’t the whole truth. I had an assistant professor who could handle things on her own. And I could get back for finals. Maybe. Unless Dane wasn’t overstating the facts.

“Krista. She’s dying. Her doctor tells me she has a few weeks, tops. Tell your department chair. He’ll let you go. This is the end.” I stared out my cottage window to the old pines that covered my yard in shadows. The end. The end had always seemed so far away. Too far away. In some ways I wanted an end to my relationship with my mother, the mother who had never loved me as I longed to be loved. When she started disappearing, with her went so many
of my hopes for what could have been. The road to this place had been long and lonely. Except for Dane. He had always been there, had always waited. I owed it to him to show. “I’ll be there on Saturday.”

“I’ll be here. Come and find me.”

“Okay. I teach a Saturday morning class. I can get out of here after lunch and down there by five or six.”

“I’ll make you dinner.”

“Dane, I—”

“Dinner. At seven.”

I slowly let my mouth close and paused. I was in no mood to argue with him now. “I’ll meet you at Cimarron,” I said.
“Great. It will be good to see you, Kristabelle.” I closed my eyes, imagining him in his office at Cimarron Care Center. Brushing his too-long hair out of his eyes as he looked through his own window.

“It will be good to see you, too, Dane. Good-bye.”

He hung up then without another word, and it left me feeling slightly bereft. I hung on to the telephone receiver as if I could catch one more word, one more breath, one more connection with the man who had stolen my heart at sixteen.

Dane McConnell remained on my mind as I wrapped up things at the college, prepped my assistant, Alissa, to handle my history classes for the following week, and then drove the scenic route down to Taos from Colorado Springs, about a five-hour trip. My old Honda Prelude hugged the roads along the magnificent San Luis Valley. The valley’s shoulders were still covered in late spring snow, her belly carpeted in a rich, verdant green. It was here that in 1862 Maggie O’Neil single-handedly led a wagon train to settle a town in western Colorado, and nearby Cecilia Gaines went so
crazy one winter they named a waterway in her honor—“Woman Hollering Creek.”

I drove too fast but liked the way the speed made my scalp tingle when I rounded a corner and dipped, sending my stomach flying. Dane had never driven too fast. He was methodical in everything he did, quietly moving ever forward. He had done much in his years since grad school, establishing Cimarron and making it a national think tank for those involved in gerontology. After high school we had essentially ceased communication for years before Cimarron came about. Then when Mother finally got to the point in her descent into Alzheimer’s that she needed fulltime institutionalized care, I gave him a call. I hadn’t been able to find a facility that I was satisfied with for more than a year, when a college friend had shown me the magazine article on the opening of Cimarron and its patron saint, Dane McConnell.

“Good looking and nice to old people,” she had moaned. “Why can’t I meet a guy like that?”

“I know him,” I said, staring at the black-and-white photograph.

“Get out.”

“I do. Or did. We used to be…together.”

“What happened?” she asked, her eyes dripping disbelief.

“I’m not sure.”

I still wasn’t sure. Things between us had simply faded over the years. But when I saw him again, it all seemed to come back. Or at least a part of what we had once had. There always seemed to be a submerged wall between us, something we couldn’t quite bridge or blast through. So we had simply gone swimming toward different shores.

Mother’s care had brought us back together over the last five years. With the congestive heart failure that was taking her body, I supposed the link between us would finally be severed. I would retreat to Colorado, and he would remain in our beloved Taos, the place of our youth, of our beginnings, of our hearts. And any lingering dream of living happily ever after with Dane McConnell could be buried forever with my unhappy memories of Mother.

I loosened my hands on the wheel, realizing that I was gripping

it so hard my knuckles were white. I glanced in the rearview mirror, knowing that my reverie was distracting me from paying attention to the road. It was just that Dane was a hard man to get over. His unique ancestry had gifted him with the looks of a Scottish Highlander and the sultry, earthy ways of the Taos Indians. A curious, inspiring mix that left him with both a leader’s stance and a wise man’s knowing eyes. Grounded but visionary. A driving force, yet empathetic at the same time. His employees loved working for him. Women routinely fell in love with him.

I didn’t know why I could never get my act together so we could finally fall in love and stay in love. He’d certainly done his part. For some reason I’d always sensed that Dane was waiting for me, of all people. Why messed-up, confused me? Yet there he was. I’d found my reluctance easy to blame on my mother. She didn’t love me as a mother should, yada-yada, but I’d had enough time with my counselor to know that there are reasons beyond her. Reasons that circle back to myself.

I’d always felt as if I was chasing after parental love, but the longer I chased it, the further it receded from my reach. It left a hole in my heart that I was hard-pressed to fill. God had come close to doing the job. Close. But there was still something there, another blockade I had yet to blast away. I would probably be working on my “issues” my whole life. But as my friend Michaela says, “Everyone’s got issues.” Supposedly I need to embrace them. I just want them to go away.

“Yeah,” I muttered. Dane McConnell was better off without me. Who needed a woman still foundering in her past?

I had to focus on Mother. If this was indeed the end, I needed to wrap things up with her. Find closure. Some measure of peace. Even if she couldn’t say the words I longed to hear.

I love you, Krista.

Why was it that she had never been able to force those four words from her lips?

INTRODUCTION

What Do You Want Me to Do for You?

_

hat prayer do you want answered? If you could sit down with God over a cup of coffee and He asked you, “What do you want Me to do for you?”–what would you say? What would you ask? Think about it. His question could usher in the greatest breakthrough of your life. I believe that God answers prayer. Yes, even yours.

While it’s true that God is not a genie, nor is He Santa Claus, He nonetheless wants to “give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4 nkjv). He understands your needs, and with a heart filled with love, generosity, and compassion, He reaches out to you at this time in your life.

Over the years, people have asked me some very interesting questions about prayer. Quite often they ask, “Is it unspiritual to ask God to help me get out of debt or make more money?” On occasion, some have quietly inquired if it’s all right to pray for a more dynamic and meaningful sex life in their marriage. One person asked me if God cared enough to hear her petition to be a better tennis player. While these prayer requests might seem unimportant to some, to those who are searching for answers, they are very important. In almost every situation my response is the same. God cares more than you think, and yes, you should share your heart with the Lord. There is hardly a conversation with God you shouldn’t have, especially if your heart is genuine and your desire is sincere. The following story illustrates just how much God cares about the details of our lives.

“God, we need Your help. We need Your provision.” Those were the sincere words I jotted down on a piece of paper sitting in a mandatory meeting just before the noon hour. My wife, girls, and I were planning to return to the United States from Central America for a year of itineration (traveling across the country to raise our ministerial budget). We needed no less than $5,000 for travel, a down payment on a used vehicle, security deposit, and first month’s rent, and if anything was left over, clothes for the girls. In short, we needed a financial miracle. That was March 31, 1999. April came and went. Our departure date was May 24.

The last weekend we were in Costa Rica, I spoke at a church called Oasis of Hope. I remember that night vividly. Because we were so strapped for cash, my shoes had holes in the soles. One of the ushers in the church came up to me and said, “Jason, would it bother you if I cleaned up your shoes? It’s just that they are too dirty.” Although it was a bit humiliating, I sat down in the back of the sanctuary while she polished them. Afterward, I thanked her, and she returned to her post.

That night, I shared a simple message of how God is the God of second chances. When I finished, the associate pastor walked onto the platform and, unbeknownst to me, announced that the church was going to receive an offering for us. Afterward, he instructed me to use it however I saw fit. The offering was $1,000. We were overwhelmed with gratitude for their generosity, and we were grateful, of course, to the Lord.

The week prior to our departure, we still needed $4,000. That was when I received a call from my father-in-law asking if I would be interested in translating for an Argentine evangelist at a crusade in San Diego, California, scheduled the day after we arrived. The coordinators needed someone to interpret from Spanish to English. I felt honored by the invitation and told him that I would be glad to help.

Five days later, we landed in Southern California and headed to the crusade. Along the way we stopped at a shopping mall to purchase new shoes. I didn’t want people to see my toes pushing through the soles.

The crusade went well.

The following morning, both the preacher and I were invited to eat breakfast with the pastors who had sponsored the event. I took all three of our girls to the restaurant while Cindee enjoyed some peace and quiet in the room. After we finished eating, the coordinator said, “Thank you so much for serving us in this capacity. You have truly blessed our hearts.” After giving an envelope to the speaker, he turned and gave one to me as well. I assumed that it was an offering for serving as the interpreter. I asked if I could apply whatever was in the envelope to any particular need we had. He replied, “Of course.”

After saying good-bye and exchanging hugs, I said to the girls, “Come on. Let’s go for a walk on the beach and find a park.” They were excited.

I waited until we found a set of swings and a jungle gym before I pulled out the envelope. The girls immediately started climbing like monkeys turned loose in a tree. I opened the envelope thinking, There’s probably a check for $250 to $300. I unfolded the check. At first, my eyes couldn’t believe it. This can’t be right, I thought. The dollar amount read “$4,000.00.” I rubbed my eyes for a second to ensure that my vision was clear. Then I focused on the portion where the check writer spelled out the amount on the check. It read: “Four thousand dollars and ____________ xx/100.”

I jumped up and screamed, “Hallelujah. God is our provider!” Indeed, He is our provider. As I danced around that little park my girls wondered what had gotten into me. In one powerful blow, God erased every financial need we had. There was enough money for us to purchase a used vehicle, set up an apartment, and buy some clothes for the entire family. I was so excited.

Six weeks later, we embarked upon the itineration trail. We were driving from California to Tennessee and spent the night in a hotel in New Mexico. Sitting on the side of the bed in the late afternoon, I received a call on my cell phone.

The voice on the other end was very serious. A man asked, “Is this Jason Frenn?”

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “I believe you translated for a recent crusade in the San Diego area. I am the accountant for the outreach. By chance when you received a check from us, was it made out for the amount of $400?”

It felt like the world’s rotation came to a grinding halt.

I took a deep breath and said, “No! No! The check you gave me was for the amount of $4,000.”

He said, “Four thousand dollars?! Well, that’s where all the money went. There has been a huge mistake, a $3,600 mistake to be exact! We need to resolve this problem. I have no idea what I was thinking. How’s your financial situation? Perhaps we can work out a solution.”

In about seven seconds, I told him the entire story, from my journal entry to the moment when he called me that afternoon.

After I explained everything that happened, I said, “Now, if you are saying that the check amount was a mistake and that we need to give you back $3,600, I am going to need a little bit of time. Because that four grand is gone!”

There was a long pause.

“If you’re telling me that you needed exactly $4,000, I can only assume the Lord led me to write out a check for that exact amount. It must be God’s will. Keep the $4,000. I’ll figure out how I will manage things on my end. God bless you!”

Then he hung up.

Indeed, God answered my request. Through a series of unpredictable circumstances, His provision came at the moment when we needed it. Never too early, never too late, His timing is always impeccable.

It’s been nearly twelve years, and we have seen hundreds upon hundreds of prayers answered. God has never abandoned us, never misled us, nor given us false hopes. He has seen us through thick and thin.

What about you? What are your dreams, aspirations, and desires? What mountain are you facing? What prayer do you want answered?

What This Book Can Do for You

In preparation for writing this book, I surveyed more than one thousand people and asked them one question: “If you could ask God in prayer for three things knowing that He would answer your request, what would you ask?” The answers were intriguing.

The single greatest prayer request was for the spiritual salvation of a family member or friend. The second-largest request was for some sort of financial breakthrough or career advancement. The third was for physical healing, often for someone else. The fourth was for spiritual growth. The fifth most popular prayer request was for physical protection and safety for their children, families, or themselves. Finally, people wanted the strength and opportunity to fulfill God’s call upon their lives.

Odds are, the prayers you want God to answer fall into one of the areas mentioned above, and my desire is that this book will help you pray and see the results that you desire. I pray that you see a major breakthrough, not in one area of your life but in many. I believe that it is God’s intent to help you move beyond the obstacles that keep you or a loved one from moving forward.

This book will give you insight into the prayers that God always answers. It will teach you to understand His heart so that you can pray in accordance with His will. This book will build your faith to move mountains. It will help you experience His power. My desire is that this book completely transforms your life!

Ask for the Impossible!

A man born blind was sitting along the side of the road. Each day, he held out his hand, hoping that those who passed by would drop a few coins into his cup. One day, he heard a distant rumble caused by a rather large entourage heading his way. Up until that time, no one born blind had ever recovered his or her sight (John 9:32). When he asked the person standing next to him what all the commotion was about, his neighbor replied, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

The famous healer has come to my town, he thought. Waiting for the precise moment when the central figure of the parade was at the shortest distance, he raised his voice and said, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those close by rebuked him and told him not to bother the Master. But he raised his voice even louder. That’s when Christ stopped, turned to His disciples, and said, “Bring him!” They brought him before the healer. Jesus asked him the question that sooner or later He asks every one of us: “What do you want Me to do for you?”

At that moment, the beggar could have answered, “I’d like a million dollars,” or perhaps “I’d like to be super famous.” Instead, he asked for the only thing that had never been done in the history of the world. He asked for what seemed to be impossible. “I want to see,” he said. Without hesitating, Christ granted his request, saying, “Your faith has healed you.” (Story paraphrased from Luke 18:35-42 niv.)

Just like those who tried to discourage the beggar, there will always be people who feel it’s their duty to tell you how insignificant you are. There will always be people who tell you that you don’t matter, especially when your dreams seem impossible. There will always be people who have the gift of raining on your parade. But God won’t. He cares about you. He always listens, because He loves you. So ask Him for what’s never been done before in your life. I challenge you to ask Him for the impossible.

As a missionary evangelist who has served throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States, my experience is that God answers the prayers placed within the pages of this book. I write from the experience of someone who lived fifteen years in the heart of Central America and has seen God transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Without a doubt, He is interested in the details of your life. Ultimately, friend, it’s your faith placed in Him that will allow you to see the miracles and the breakthrough you seek.

Our Road Map

This book is about seven prayers that God always answers. These are prayers that aim to motivate the hand of God to direct you, forgive you, free you, provide for you, heal you, bless you, and save you. They are biblical, and I carry a deep conviction that they were born in God’s heart to benefit and bless your life. It’s fair to say that God answers all prayer with a “yes,” “no,” or “wait.” However the prayers discussed in this book all have something wonderful in common. They are prayers to which God always responds positively in one way or another. In a day when people question whether God interacts with humanity and when unbelief is spreading like a virus, this book aims to teach you to pray in such a way that you clearly see the hand of God move powerfully.

This book can serve you in two ways. First, you can apply these prayers to your personal life. Or if you are a leader, you can also apply them corporately to those you currently serve or lead, such as your family, church, or organization.

Each chapter is dedicated to a prayer. Beginning with chapter 1, the chapters are divided into sections that will explain each prayer, lay a biblical foundation, provide powerful testimonies, give different examples regarding how you might implement the specific type of prayer in your life, and teach you to pray in a way that helps you see results in each of the given areas.

As we conclude this introduction, I want to focus your attention on the first question we talked about earlier. I believe that God asks you the same question at this time in your life. At the beginning of this chapter, I gave you a scenario. If you could sit down over a cup of coffee with the Lord and He asked you, “What do you want Me to do for you?” what would be your answer?

As we begin this journey together, I am going to ask you to be mindful of two things. First, make a mental note of the prayers you want God to answer. Second, keep your eyes open to the possible ways He may use to answer them. (Please see Instructions for a Prayer Journal located at the end of the book.)

If you desire to see your prayers answered, fasten your seat belt and prepare yourself for some incredible and miraculous things to happen in your life. If you’re ready to experience something transformational, turn the page, and we’ll begin that journey together!

Everyone Needs a Miracle

What Miracle Are You Seeking?

In the United States and around the world, countless numbers of people are looking for miracles in their lives. When some people say, “I’m praying for a miracle,” they are really talking about wishful thinking or a vague hope that things will get better. Others, however, mean that they are asking God to intervene in their lives based on the reality of His promises. There’s a big difference! Over the years, my ministry has received numerous reports of miracles that have come through prayer and holding on to God’s Word, miracles such as:

My eight-year-old son had leukemia. I called for prayer for strength to go through the treatment. That wonderful prayer partner rebuked the disease and prayed that he be healed in Jesus’ name. Now my son is healed! There is no leukemia in his body! It was such a testimony to the doctors and nurses.

***

I had a nervous breakdown [and when I was feeling the worst I would] listen to you say, “This is the best day of your life!”…Little by little the joy I felt began to increase.…I want you to know that my mind is healed now. I was sick for seven years. I feel the peace of God and the joy of the Lord again.

***

I recently requested that you agree with me to lose weight because I had reached a whopping 203 pounds. Well, praise God, the Lord has done a miracle for me. I went on a diet and have lost 53 pounds, and I’m not through yet.

***

You prophesied that a child who had been kidnapped by his father was going to be returned to his mother. I claimed that word as mine! I had stood in faith for 2 1/2 years before that word; and in less than one month, my son was returned to me. I was tired and weary…ready to give up—your word from God renewed my strength to stand.

***

Everyone needs a miracle of some kind, whether it is one of healing, financial provision, restoration of broken relationships, open doors of opportunity, favor with another person, or another intervention of God. I have experienced many miracles in my life, and I am still experiencing them. Miracles are available to us today because God’s Word promises them. What miracle are you seeking?

Our heavenly Father is a God of the miraculous. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is a miraculous book. It is a supernatural gift, a revelation from God, which He has given for our instruction, comfort, and guidance in life. It tells us of many miracles God has provided for His people over thousands of years. Yet the Bible doesn’t talk just about past miracles; it tells us how we can experience miracles in the present and the future. God hasn’t changed. He desires to do miracles for us, too!

For I am the Lord, I do not change. (Malachi 3:6)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
A Miraculous Sign

A miracle is something that, without the intervention of God, would never have happened to the person who received it. A miracle may also be defined as something that occurs outside the natural processes of life that we would ordinarily experience in our physical world.

In October 2000, I took a group of travelers on a ministry trip to La Paz, Bolivia, and held a series of citywide meetings in the stadium there. There are many indigenous people in Bolivia whose cultural roots are steeped into idolatry, witchcraft, shamanism, and the like, and who need to hear the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of the travelers accompanying us told me she’d had a unique dream. “I dreamed that there were three rainbows in perfect arches in the sky,” she said. “I don’t know what it means, but it could be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit or some special visitation while we’re in Bolivia.” I didn’t share this conversation with anyone but kept it hidden in my heart.

While we were in Bolivia, we would hold three nights of healing meetings in the stadium, as well as two days of meetings with Bolivian ministers, because we like to pour the knowledge of God’s Word into the hearts of ministers. We had brought books printed in Spanish, and we had special times of instruction and fellowship with them.

The president of Bolivia invited me to join a breakfast meeting he was sponsoring, and I was asked to speak to some of the key leaders in the government. This was an unexpected and wonderful open door for ministry.

Little did I dream what God the Father would do to prepare the hearts of the people for that breakfast and our healing meetings. The first morning of our ministry training school, we were in downtown La Paz teaching the local pastors. About one thousand Bolivian leaders were there, plus the one hundred and twenty-five people from the United States who had accompanied us on the trip. One of our staff people passed a note to me while I was speaking, saying that there were crowds in the street and that traffic was stopped because there were three rainbows in perfect arches over the building we were in. I said to the people, “There is something very unusual happening outside. We must go out and look.”

We walked outside, and, as had been reported, there were three rainbows in the sky above the building. All three were shaped in perfect arches, and each one was a different color. We were able to capture this sight on video. No one knew what to think. I was shocked that God would perform such an unusual miracle right then and there.

We went back to the meeting and praised and worshipped God. Following the meeting, we boarded our buses to go back to our hotel. When we arrived, we saw that the three rainbows had followed us and come to a stop over the hotel. We also found that witches had gathered outside, protesting by ringing bells and banging pans. The president of the country had called a leadership conference of witches, and these witches were very upset with our being there and with the rainbows that were positioned over the hotel, and they had come to speak curses against us. But let me tell you something: You cannot curse what God has blessed.

In both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible says that Jesus took the curse of our sins on Himself on the cross so that we could be blessed. (See, for example, Isaiah 53:4–5; Galatians 3:13–14.) Knowing this, we rebuked Satan and asked God to bring these witches to salvation in Jesus.

When I went to the breakfast, oh, what a breakfast it was, because of all the news that had been on television and in the newspapers regarding our visit and the manifestation of the rainbows. What timing the Lord has! He had given a woman on our team a dream and then brought it to pass as a sign to us and to the people of Bolivia. Because the three rainbows had appeared over the city, I knew what to say to all those attending the breakfast. I asked them, “What is God saying? He wants to bring revival to La Paz, Bolivia. God wants to move on this country, but He can do it only as we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ.”

The breakfast was a wonderful opportunity to praise God. He had already sent a sign of His presence in the form of the three rainbows. The Bible says that miraculous signs will follow those who believe. (See Mark 16:17.) That was a time when signs both went before us and followed us! I built on the sign God had sent by calling the people to repentance. Then, at the stadium meetings, people were Spirit-filled, and literally thousands of people were saved and healed. There were an unusual number of people healed from growths and tumors. People also came and threw their eyeglasses onto the platform because they could see perfectly without them.

We were able to broadcast these meetings over satellite to all the Spanish-speaking countries in the world. It was an awesome time, a time when God showed up and “showed off.”

Why Miracles?
Why does God do miracles in the lives of His people and in relation to situations that concern them? Our experiences in Bolivia draw attention to five significant reasons God does miracles.

1. God’s Miracles Reveal His Power as Creator-King

When God created the earth and everything in it, including human beings, it was a miraculous event that reveals to us His power as Creator, as well as His sovereignty over the earth. The created world continues to reveal God’s nature and power.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (Psalm 19:1–4)

The three remarkable rainbows in the sky demonstrated that this same powerful Creator God was involved in our visit to Bolivia. God spoke the world into existence at the beginning of time, and He not only continues to create wonders that glorify Him, but He also brings the things we need into existence as we speak His Word to the circumstances and problems in our lives. As He does so, He manifests His nature and His ways to us.

2. God’s Miracles Reveal the Spiritual Reality Supporting Our Physical World

Miracles make known the existence of an invisible spiritual reality that is the true or ultimate reality in life. Most people live only according to what they can experience through their five senses, but there is a spiritual realm that undergirds, and is greater than, the physical reality of our world, and within which our physical world exists. The Bible tells us that Jesus, who is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, both created and sustains our world: “All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist [“hold together” niv]” (Colossians 1:16–17).

A miracle sign such as we saw in La Paz, and the resulting outpouring of supernatural healings and other manifestations, revealed to the Bolivian people the presence of God’s spiritual realm and His desire to intervene to meet both their physical and spiritual needs.

3. God’s Miracles Convey His Compassion for His People
God the Father does miracles to bless and deliver His people, because He is loving and compassionate. For example, when He sent Moses to deliver the Hebrews, who were enslaved in Egypt, He told him,

I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. (Exodus 3:7–8)

In the course of delivering the Hebrews, God performed many miracles, including the manifestations of the pillars of cloud and fire, which were signs of His constant presence with His people, and the parting of the Red Sea, through which He rescued them from their enemies. (See Exodus 13:21; 14:21–30.) And God still saves and delivers today.

God loves all the people of the world. He created them in His image and sent His Son to redeem them. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). When Jesus came to earth, His healings and other miracles were prompted by His compassion. In one instance, when two blind men called out to Him, asking for mercy, “Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him” (Matthew 20:34).

The sign of the three rainbows in Bolivia was a symbol to the people that God knew them and loved them and wanted to move among them in compassion, healing, deliverance, and the outpouring of His Spirit.

The apostle Paul wrote that if God gave His Son to die on the cross for us, “how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). “All things” includes miracles.
4. God’s Miracles Promote Faith in the Truth of the Gospel
Miracles are also a way in which God the Father confirms people’s faith in the legitimacy of the gospel message, helping to bring them to repentance and into a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

[Jesus said to His followers,] “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature….And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;…they will lay hands on the sick, an they will recover.”…And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.” (Mark 16:15, 17–18, 20)

Likewise, God opened the door and validated our ministry in Bolivia by the manifestation of the rainbows, which drew the attention of the people as they saw the sign personally or heard about it through the media. Then, during our meetings in Bolivia, thousands of people were saved and healed. The healings, including those of growths and tumors, were further signs—“accompanying signs”—that confirmed the ministry of the gospel God had given to us for the people.

Please remember that Jesus said we are not to seek manifestations of signs as a substitution for belief in God’s Word. (See Matthew 12:38–39.) And we are not to seek signs for their own sake, as a form of entertainment. However, God will use miracles to promote faith in His Word so that people will believe and be saved, healed, and experience abundant life in Him.
5. God’s Miracles Reveal Genuine versus False Spirituality
The signs accompanying our preaching of the gospel in Bolivia were a testimony to the people of true, godly spiritual activity in contrast to counterfeit spirituality. The witches who had protested our presence there had gathered for a conference in La Paz at the request of the president, who had also invited me to speak to governmental leaders at a breakfast, so there was obviously confusion in that nation regarding what kind of spirituality should be practiced and promoted. To some people, witchcraft or shamanism may seem innocent and helpful, but these things are false and destructive. The witches had tried to cause a commotion and disrupt our ministry, yet God showed that He is greater than counterfeit spirituality. He poured out His Spirit in a powerful way according to His love, bringing salvation, healing, and deliverance to the people.

Please be aware that false teachers and prophets can exhibit counterfeit signs and miracles. Jesus said, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). And the apostle Paul wrote,

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

(2 Thessalonians 2:9–10)

Genuine miracles from God, however, are recognized by those who know His ways and are enlightened by His Spirit. One of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day named Nicodemus told Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). And the Corinthian believers to whom Paul ministered were aware that the message and work of an apostle from God will be confirmed by signs and miracles: “Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds” (2 Corinthians 12:12).

Remember that true miracles bring glory to God—not to a “miracle worker.” They confirm the truth of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection and triumph over the devil and all the forces of evil. (See, for example, Colossians 2:11–15.)
How Do God’s Miracles Come to Us?

God’s miracles—His supernatural interventions in our lives—come to us in different ways. While there may be similarities between these ways, and they may overlap, each is important in itself. Throughout this book, we will explore various avenues through which God brings miracles into our lives. We will also discover what we need to know and act upon in order to receive our miracles. Miracles usually don’t just “happen” in our lives, for, as we have seen, God does miracles for various reasons and gives them as we seek Him through faith in His Word.

Think of yourself as on a pathway to receiving the miracles you desire from God. I invite you to take a journey with me as I relate the adventures of miraculous living that I have experienced in my life, knowing that you, too can experience the same kinds of miracles and live in the realm of the miraculous. The path to miracles is an ongoing one, and we can experience miracles of various kinds throughout our lives.

Let’s be sure not to miss out on all that God has for us. There are consequences of not accepting and receiving the miracles He wants to give us through our faith in Him. The Scriptures say that Jesus “did not do many mighty works [in His hometown] because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). We don’t want to forfeit our miracle opportunities, which are part of the spiritual wonder and destiny God has planned for our lives.

If someone witnesses God’s miracles but observes them only as a spectator and stays in unbelief toward Jesus and His offer of salvation, there is a high cost to him.

Then [Jesus] began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.…And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.”

(Matthew 11:20–21, 23)

Not to experience a healing or deliverance God desires for you would be tragic enough, but to lack repentance and refuse to receive Christ would lead to a grim penalty. We don’t want to fall short of God’s purposes for our lives. In this book, we’ll see how to both receive Christ into our lives and enter into the realm of the miraculous. Let us be able to say with Paul, “In [God] we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Receiving Your Miracles

Through Your Pathway to Miracles, I want to show you how to gain a deeper relationship with your heavenly Father and learn how to live in the miraculous according to His plans. He has spectacular episodes for your life as you hold fast in faith. Get ready to be liberated from frustration and defeat as you set your eyes continually on His positive truths and principles, even as you contend with negative circumstances and situations. You will discover…

how miracles begin
the reasons and seasons for miracles
the roles of faith, expectation, positive affirmation, and prayer
the importance of claiming your miracle
how to recognize the miracles in your own hands
keys to removing mountainous problems blocking your miracles
how to access “giant” miracles for big needs
ways in which God gives favor and opportunity
the nature of “miracle packages”
how to persevere to receive God’s miracle when there seems to be no solution for your problem and all seems hopeless.
My friend, whatever kind of miracle you need, read on!

Girl Meets Kitchen, or Not

Necessarily a Love Story

“Happy and successful cooking doesn’t rely only on know-how;
it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate and needs enthusiasm and a deep love of food to bring it to life.”

Georges Blanc, from Ma Cuisine des Saisons

I was not the kind of kid who grew up at my mom’s knee, helping her chop carrots for Sunday night’s chicken soup. I never really helped with any meal preparation, preferring to turn my attention in the kitchen to baking. There was always some social event with friends or a youth group party where I needed to bring brownies. The one memorable time I tried to make instant potatoes? Instead of the specified one-quarter tablespoon of salt, I used a quarter cup salt. That incident happened over twenty-five years ago, and I have yet to stop hearing about it from my loving and encouraging family.

Suffice to say, I was a bit ill-prepared for the cooking adventures that lay ahead as I lived on my own for the first time. And to complicate matters? My first apartment was in Uji, Japan, approximately seven thousand miles from my mother’s loving embrace and her pot-roast recipe (as if I could afford beef in Japan).

The recipe cards were stacked against me. No cooking skills to speak of, living in a foreign land where most of the time I couldn’t identify what I was eating much less figure out how it was prepared, a kitchen the size of my coat closet back home, and an oven so small it made me long for the Easy-Bake one of my childhood.

I was terrified going to the supermarket without an escort and a translator. I didn’t speak the language (as a short-term missionary teaching conversational English, speaking Japanese was actually a disadvantage in my job), and as unfamiliar as I was with food shopping in the U.S., shopping in Uji was like watching a foreign movie without subtitles and then having to write a paper on the plot.

Oh, and eating out? So not an option. While my cooking skills were limited, my food budget was near nonexistent.

A few things were easy to recognize. The bread in Japan was amazing. It was buttery and flaky and perfect. And there was some really lovely cheese and ham. So, for the first three months of exploring this exotic new culture, I ate ham and cheese sandwiches every single night for dinner.

As I started to get to know some of my students and coworkers better, I had this urge to invite them over to hang out with me. But I had a sneaking suspicion they would want to be fed. I knew that my students would love some authentic American dishes. The question was, Who would I get to cook them?

Another short-term missionary, Diana, had a cookbook called More-With-Less. This wonderful little book produced by the Mennonite community had tons of recipes that used simple ingredients most cooks would have in their kitchen. While I didn’t have a lot of pantry staples in my four-story walk-up, I was now armed with a grocery list as well as an English-to-Japanese dictionary for my trips to the store.

I started to look for simple things I could make: salads, sandwiches, curries, and mini-pizzas out of English muffins and ketchup. (I promise, my culinary skills and taste have gotten better over the years.) As I grew braver in all things cuisine, I started to ask my mom to send some of my favorite recipes from back home.

In fact, when I threw a Christmas celebration with my friend Spenser in my micro-sized apartment, we managed to make a fondue-potless version of my mom’s Pizza Fondue. Shopping for the ingredients proved challenging, even for Spenser who spoke near-fluent Japanese. After several attempts to translate cornstarch into the native language (One would think corn + starch = cornstarch, right? Wrong. It’s pronounced korunstarcha.), we headed back to my kitchen and made one of the best meals I have ever eaten—lots of tomato sauce, some ground beef, loads of cheese, and just the right amount of korunstarcha.

Pizza Fondue
(Connie Richerson)

½ lb. ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

2 10½-oz. cans pizza sauce (I use marinara sauce)

1 T. cornstarch (or korunstarcha, if you prefer)

1½ tsp. oregano

¼ tsp. garlic powder

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 loaf French bread

Brown the ground beef and onion; drain. Put meat, sauce, cornstarch, and spices in fondue pot. When cooked and bubbly, add cheese. Spear crusty French bread cubes, then dip and swirl in fondue. This is also delicious with breadsticks. Serves 4 to 6.

From that point on, I was hooked on collecting my favorite recipes. I bought my own copy of More-With-Less when I got back to the States, and when I got married a few months later, I received my very first copy of everyone’s favorite red-and-white-plaid Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, with every recipe an emerging home cook could want.

I think most of us home cooks have a similar story to tell. OK, you probably didn’t have your first significant cooking experience in Uji, Japan, but I bet the first few times you got dinner on the table all on your own, you might as well have been in a different country.

Maybe your mom had you peeling potatoes before you could walk. Maybe you have a rich heritage of recipes passed down from your grandmother. None of our cooking histories are going to look the same, but we do have one thing in common: We all need to get dinner on the table.

I am not a professional cook. Tom Colicchio will never be critiquing my braised kale and chocolate with bacon foam on Top Chef. But over the past twenty years I have put dinner on the table almost every single night. And while my family still likes a pizza from the neighborhood shop, our kids who have left home really look forward to coming back for a home-cooked meal.

That is all the reward I need.

Why This Book?

So, you discovered my deep dark secret—I’m not a professional chef. I don’t have my own show on Food Network, my own brand of spatulas, and I’m not going to be appearing on any morning show making a frittata for Kathie Lee Gifford.

Still, I’m required to feed our large family almost daily. So when I come across a cookbook, I have an unnatural need to own it. I’m always looking for new recipes to keep dinner interesting at our house. I have an entire bookshelf in my kitchen for my ever-growing collection.

But to be honest with you, most of the money I’ve spent on those cookbooks could have been better spent on a good set of knives or a heavy iron skillet.

I have found that most cookbooks are aimed at the fantasy life many of us aspire to—entertaining regularly, having unusual and exotic ingredients on hand, and hours and hours in the kitchen to create these masterpieces, from scratch.

And then there is my reality. Yes, sometimes I like to spend a Saturday afternoon cooking up a big feast for friends and family. But most days? I want to get a delicious, healthy meal on the table quickly.

My test when I’m purchasing new cookbooks? I flip to a half dozen or so recipes throughout the book and ask myself, Can I imagine cooking this recipe in the next couple of weeks? If most of the recipes fail the test, the book stays at the store.

I want the reality. I want dinner on the table every night without being seduced by pictures of stylist-arranged food that—let’s be honest—I’m never going to prepare.

While those books offer up a lot of grilled-chicken-in-a-peanut-sauce-in-the-sky dreams, I need some reality. It’s not just about the recipe; it’s about all the aspects of getting dinner on the table.

By the end of this book, my hope for you is that you will be able to:

save time, money, and energy when it comes to
preparing meals
have less stress when it comes to shopping
get your kitchen prepared for battle
learn some stress-free ways to get dinner on the table
get out of your cooking rut
This book is all about the process, the how of getting dinner on the table. It reflects the collective wisdom of hundreds of women who don’t have prep cooks or a crew of interns trying out new recipes. We are the women who spend a significant part of our days thinking about, shopping for, and preparing dinner. And all these wise, wonderful women are going to show you a better way to get dinner on the table no matter what your cooking background or skill level.

This is the book I wish I’d had when I first started cooking, as well as when I was raising my brood of pint-sized food critics.

Don’t worry, there will be plenty of recipes. We all love to find that one recipe that is going to become a family favorite! But this book has much more than that. My hope is that you will be able to use the recipes you already have, the ones in this book, and the new ones you find along the way to set a big, bountiful table for your family.