Proof The Bible Is True

I was a college student in Illinois that Thanksgiving, and I couldn’t wait to get home to Massachusetts for the holidays. A friend’s mother offered me a lift as far as upstate New York, where my parents were going to pick me up.   Mrs. Case and I drove all through the chilly night. Just after sunrise on Thanksgiving morning, the engine quit and we rolled to a stop on a deserted highway somewhere in western New York.   Mrs. Case said calmly, “God doesn’t get you just halfway. Let’s pray, Richard.” After we prayed a little, she turned the [More]

We ate a big breakfast at a local restaurant, like we did every Father’s Day. Then off to church. Pastor talked about how God is a father who never lets his children down. I wanted to be a father like that. One of the presents my daughters gave me was a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “World’s Coolest Dad.” That was good enough for me. After church I put the shirt on. Then we’d leave for a car show the next town over. That was also our tradition. Just like any other Father’s Day. That’s what made it so great. [More]

My employer’s words struck terror in my heart: “I’m sorry, Jock, but we have to let you go. We’ve got to downsize to stay afloat.” Just like that, my 14-year career with a marketing agency was over. The chances of my finding another good job at age 51 were minuscule. How would I support my wife and four-year-old son? Panicked, I prayed, “Lord, please lead me to a job.” Then I signed up for unemployment and scoured the want ads. Read More: Prayer to Find a Job | Guideposts

I don’t know who was happier to be out hiking that beautiful autumn day, my dogs—Sophie, a nine-year-old white standard poodle, and Tex, a five-year-old parti-color miniature poodle—or me. We were out in the Sierra foothills on one of our favorite trails, by Feather Falls, the sixth highest waterfall in America. A mile down a wooded canyon to a creek, then two miles back up to where I had parked the car. A good, vigorous hike. We were almost to the creek when a squirrel darted across the trail and into the trees. Sophie bolted into the canyon, hard on [More]

Anybody who asked me about babies when I was a little girl got the same answer: I would rather have puppies. I’ve sure changed since then, I thought as I stepped into the pre-dawn darkness one September morning. My job started at 6:00 a.m., so this time of year I made the 45-minute commute in the dark. The drive gave me a lot of time to think, and lately all my thoughts were the same: Would John and I ever have a baby? I pulled onto the country road that led to the office. The sky was still full of [More]

The old wooden shed in our backyard was falling apart. “We could get one from the store,” my husband, Fred, suggested one afternoon. “The ones you put together yourself. DIY.” I groaned. Do-it-yourself never appealed to me. Too many things could go wrong. But that weekend we bought a new shed. The assembly was even harder than I imagined. By the time we put it together we were exhausted. All we had left to do was anchor it to the ground. “We can do that tomorrow,” Fred said. But when I looked outside the next morning, the night wind had [More]

“You kids get to decide what we’ll do this weekend,” my wife, Tina, told our three children at dinner one Friday evening. “Can we play mini golf tonight?” our oldest, Rose, asked. “I want to ride a train,” five-year-old Matthew piped up. “What about you?” I asked Lauren, our eight-year-old. “I don’t know,” she said. “We’ll just have to surprise you then,” I said. Tina and I worked hard to make sure all our kids felt equally included in family activities, but I knew Lauren often felt overlooked as the middle child. And she was by far the most sensitive [More]

“How many times does God want to help us if only we would ask.”  Admin There were two ways I relaxed: quilting and smoking. Quilting was my passion. Smoking was my addiction. I was a nurse. I knew cigarettes were slowly killing me. But I just couldn’t stop. My good sense couldn’t stop me. My husband couldn’t stop me. My kids couldn’t stop me. I was a smoker, and that was that. Read More: The Angel That Helped Me Quit Smoking | Guideposts

“God’s timing is always perfect, we just have to be patient if our timing does not line up with His.”  Admin My husband and I had a house-sale prayer that had never gone unanswered. We’d prayed it often for friends: “Father, You know that Jim and Marge need to sell their home. You also know the particular family who needs this particular house. In Your perfect timing, Lord, we ask You to bring these needs together.” And soon the friends would call to say they’d found the perfect buyer. So when the time came to put our own home of [More]

Just thirty-two cents in our bank account , I thought when I awoke one breezy fall morning, my stomach tightening. How am I ever going to pay the babysitter today? My husband, Boyd, and I had just moved back to South Carolina from Tennessee with our five-year-old, Mindy, and baby, Meredith, to be closer to my mom. Boyd had found a good job as a HR manager, but wouldn’t be getting paid till the following week and the moving expenses had drained our bank account. I was taking a class in the afternoons to renew my teaching certificate since I’d [More]

Every Friday for three years I baked for our church’s staff. They enjoyed the homemade cookies and cakes during coffee break, and I loved showing my appreciation for their hard work. While I was at home recuperating from knee surgery, a friend telephoned one Friday and offered to take the weekly treat to the office for me. “I don’t know if I can send anything,” I replied. “My supplies are low, but if I can, I’ll bake an apple pie.” It was one of the specialties I could do in my sleep. However, a search o Read More: God’s Help [More]

Finally, in 2008, after eight years of hard work, Tinsel Time Christmas Tree Farm opened for business. It was a family affair just like we’d imagined. Our kids, along with my brothers, my parents and our nieces and nephews helped out. We dressed like elves and stood by the side of the road waving a banner that read, “Chop down your own Christmas tree!” We drew people in with marshmallow roasts and hayrides in a red-and-white sleigh.   Business was great! After the first year, Karen and I both took early retirement and sunk all of our spare time and [More]

My son and daughters are all grown now, but as their mother I still worry about them. Especially when Gina, my youngest, told me about the car trouble that she’d been having. “I turn the key in the ignition, but it just won’t start,” Gina said when I was down in Texas visiting her and her sister for a month. It sounded to me like battery trouble, but Gina told me that she didn’t have enough money to get a new one right away. Her sister had given her a charger to keep in the car. It fixed the problem [More]

“Dear Heavenly Father,” I scrawled, crouching in the dim hallway light at the top of the stairs. My diary looked blurry through my tears. I’d been waiting for a boy to call. I’d hoped he would ask me to the prom, but the phone never rang. At 2:00 a.m. I was wide awake and depressed. So I crawled out of the bedroom I shared with my sister and began a letter to God. Fights with siblings, worries about school, issues with friends—I told God all of it. “Will a boy ever want to ask me out?” I wrote. “Will I [More]

Visits with my grandchildren were precious, but lately it seemed like every time I saw them they were distracted by their gadgets. “Please, God,” I prayed as I pulled into their driveway, “help me find some way to entertain Paul and Jill. Help us make good memories together.” Soon we were chatting about middle school and summer camp. It almost seemed like old times—until Jill slipped her phone out of her pocket. Beside her, Paul was casting longing looks toward his computer. “Let’s go on a hike!” I announced.   “What for?” Paul asked.   I said the first thing [More]

“Facing an impossible situation, try doing what he did.”  Admin I watched it, though I didn’t think I would (or maybe didn’t think I could). I’m talking about Nik Wallenda’s epic and incredibly inspiring high-wire walk across the Grand Canyon Sunday night, broadcast live on the Discovery Channel. Right up until a few minutes before he stepped out on the wire 1,500 feet above the canyon I wasn’t sure I could bear to see the legendary aerialist (and father of three) flirt with catastrophe. This has been troubling me ever since we decided to publish Nik’s piece in our June [More]

Dollywood, the highlight of our big trip to Tennessee with my daughter and her family. Just as I walked through the entrance gates I patted the pocket of my jeans. My wallet was gone! “I was sure I put it in there after I took out the tickets,” I told Jewel, my wife. I checked my fanny pack. No dice. Credit cards, driver’s license, military ID—not to mention $300 in cash. All gone! “Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll help you find it,” my daughter, Teresa, said. “I’ll check the ticket counter,” I said. “Probably left it there.”   I retraced my [More]

My husband, Bill, and I weren’t expecting an evening to ourselves. It’s a rarity, raising three kids. I’d just put a chocolate cake in the oven for after dinner when my sister dropped by, unannounced. “I’ll watch the kids,” she said. “You two enjoy a fun night out.” “What should we do?” I asked Bill. He picked up a newsletter from a Catholic charity we supported. “Well, there’s a potluck tonight,” he said. A church potluck? That wouldn’t have been my first thought. And the church was an hour and a half away. “We don’t have anything to bring,” I [More]

Hey, Filthy Felthy!” It was a guy called Chim. I was in junior high and he was in high school. I didn’t know Chim’s real name, or why he’d picked me out for bullying, but it didn’t matter. I knew he played on the football team and that he took perverse pleasure in shoving me into the dirt. Why, Lord, why? I asked. “Hi, Filthy Felthy,” Chim called one day. “Ready for your daily dusting? Why don’t you run?” I was a decent runner for seventh grade, but Chim could easily catch me. That was probably what he wanted. To [More]

Winter mornings in Michigan were often cold and bleak, especially now that I was getting up earlier than usual to pray. The quiet time with God helped keep me inspired at my job as an elementary school teacher. Some mornings, though, waking up in the dreary darkness, I couldn’t help but wish I had someone to wake up with. I loved my job, but more than anything I hoped to be a wife and mother. So far I hadn’t met the right guy. “Lord, you promise that if we delight in you, you’ll give us the desires of our heart,” [More]

Last year I joined San Francisco’s City Impact, a nondenominational group doing outreach to inner-city residents. This was my first day visiting a public housing complex. The leader put me and another newbie in charge of handing out groceries. My partner and I agreed we had the best job. Who didn’t love food, especially when they couldn’t afford much of it? “Not everyone will need some,” our leader reminded us. “We’re also just here to talk, check in with people, pray with them if they want. It’s aboutshowing our love.” The people on our assigned floors seemed happy to see [More]

I’d been a widow for eight years. I was used to being alone on Valentine’s Day. Or so I thought, until I woke up feeling blue. Before my feet even hit the floor I said to God, I don’t have anyone to love me this year. I really need a Valentine. I mean the works. Roses, a card and dinner out tonight. But no chocolates, please. I’m trying to diet. By the time I’d had my coffee I felt more like myself. I went to work, my prayer forgotten. Then I found a giant Valentine’s Day card taped to my [More]

My daughter, Katelyn, had received a first-class wedding proposal. Her boyfriend popped the question under Christmas lights in Philadelphia’s historic Rittenhouse Square Park. But could we afford a first-class wedding? “I’m going to try to scrape together twenty-five hundred dollars,” I told Katelyn. Even as the words passed my lips, I didn’t know why I’d chosen that amount. I had some jewelry I could sell, but that wouldn’t do it. I worked part-time while caring for a relative,so a second job was out of the question. Lord, you know my needs, so it doesn’t seem right to pray for an [More]

“They’ll hire some young college grad,” Dave told me. “Not an old guy like me.” I’d never seen my husband so discouraged. He’d been doing great work as a field applicator for a farming co-op for 10 years, but when a higher position opened up, the company said they were looking to make an outside hire. After a few weeks of searching they finally let him take a skill test to be considered. Dave felt sure he’d passed, but didn’t think it would change their minds. “If it’s meant to be, God will open the door,” I told him. “All [More]

In this story from August 1949, the beloved singer reveals the role faith and prayer played in her life. I was sitting calmly in a beauty parlor having my hair set when it happened. A spark flew out of a defective hand-cooler and ignited the cotton wadding around my head. In an instant the cotton flared up—my hair was on fire! The frantic operator flailed at the flames, but before he could put out the fire, my eyebrows, eyelids, face and arms were badly burned. For weeks I lay in bed with my head completely bandaged. Around me I kept [More]

Out for some fun spelunking, he now was trapped. Was this the end for him? They didn’t think I could hear them but I could. Every word. “He’s dead weight,” one voice said. “Exhausted, oxygen deprived, dehy­drated. He’s got nothing left.” “I don’t know how we’ll get him out before the rain comes,” another man replied. “God help him if that tunnel floods….” The cold cavern walls stung my cheeks. My lips were caked with dirt, dry and cracked. My empty stomach growled. I strained every muscle in my body, twisted left and right, ex­haled every cubic inch of air [More]

“A child’s faith and persistent prayer brings results!”  Admin Missing: One mouse named Bianca. Wearing a furry blue cap and matching shawl. If found, please return to heartbroken little girl. Bianca was my 8-year-old daughter Caroline’s beloved doll, her favorite mouse detective from the Disney movie The Rescuers . Every morning, as I combed Caroline’s hair, she’d comb Bianca’s fur. Wherever she went, Bianca followed–from the dinner table to her bicycle basket. Even on a weekend trip to Chicago. That’s how we lost her. The morning of our departure, as we packed the car, Caroline set Bianca down on a [More]