Proof The Bible Is True

One late spring day I worked in my garden. I called it my “salad” because it produced a bumper crop of lettuce, onions, radishes and tomatoes. Along with patches of blueberries and strawberries, this was an important food source for a 70-year-old widow like me living on Social Security.   As usual I looked up at the big old maple tree looming over me. It was dead, but I couldn’t afford to have it taken down. I worried constantly that the tree would fall and ruin my garden. Worse, the tree’s two main limbs leaned over the electric lines into [More]

Early one July morning I arrived by train in Salt Lake City eagerly anticipating a week’s camping trip with my son, Dan. We planned to explore the Oregon Trail. My great-great-grandfather had trudged West along that trail beside a covered wagon. Dan wouldn’t arrive for a while, so I stowed my gear in a station locker and walked into town. When I returned, the station doors were locked. A sign announced it wouldn’t reopen until ten o’clock that night. I peered in the window, but no one was inside.   We’d lose a whole day if I couldn’t get my [More]

It was my husband’s idea to celebrate my 34th birthday with a vacation trip to Yellowstone and the Teton Mountains—on our Honda Goldwing motorcycle. Steve lived and breathed motorcycles. In nine years of marriage, I’d learned to like them, too, but a three-day journey from our home in Wisconsin was proving to be a long ride. “We’ll finally get some time alone together,” Steve had said. “What more could you want?” For me, there was one thing more I wanted. A baby.   Tests showed that Steve and I were both capable of having children, but so far nothing had happened. And it [More]

Father of the groom didn’t quite have the same ring as mother of the bride, but I took my duties seriously. My oldest son, Josh, was getting married, and I wanted to do everything I could to make his wedding day the greatest, most perfect day of his life. Like my father did for my wedding.   Dad died years earlier and I still missed him. Maybe never more than I did now.   I stood outside the door of a shop I’d never been to and gave the shoes I was carrying another despairing glance. The shoes that went with my son’s [More]

His name, he said, was Nuke. Of course, I thought. He sure looked the part—a regular nuclear meltdown. His pants and shirt were disheveled. It seemed as if he hadn’t shaved—or bathed—in days. He tied up his old boat next to ours. Just the sight of him made me uneasy. Here we are, Bill and I, stranded on an old wooden dock in the middle of a remote state forest on Lake Michigan, with a crippled sailboat and no electricity or phone. Now comes this crazy person on top of everything else!   Much as we needed help, we weren’t that desperate. Or [More]

My husband, Luke, and I had decided to do some renovations on our house. Our latest project was installing concrete ceilings in our 12-year-old son Bernard’s room. Workers installed a metal framework, then smoothed wet concrete over it. That night, we suggested that Bernard stay in his sister Sammy’s room while the ceiling continued to dry, but he didn’t want to. So we put the kids to bed, each in their own room, and turned in.   Crash! I jerked awake in the wee hours of the morning. Oh, no. I thought. The ceiling collapsed! Read More: 3 Mysterious Stories of Divine Rescue – Guideposts

”You’re not getting any younger, you know,” Grammy said. “You’re 30 years old! For goodness’ sake, why aren’t you married yet?”   I winced. I’d come to this restaurant to have lunch with my grandmother, not to be interrogated about my love life—or lack thereof. I was painfully aware of my age. And my relationship status. Most of my friends were already married, some with children. I could feel my own biological clock ticking.   But the typical dating scene wasn’t me. I hated going to bars and trying to meet people. Really, I hated dating. The way things were going, I [More]

I’m the kind of person who likes to be prepared for anything that might go wrong. Even on vacation, it can be hard for me to relax. One weekend, we rented a condo in the mountains, a getaway for my husband, our two daughters and me. As soon as we arrived, I made sure to walk through the place and pray for protection over every room.   That still didn’t stop me from waking with a jolt during our first night there. I opened my eyes.   Where am I?   I looked around the dark room, trying to get my bearings. Oh, [More]

“When I die, I want to come back as a cat,” my wife, Sue, always joked. “And if I could choose, I’d come here!” True, there was no better place to be a cat than our house. We had spoiled all of ours rotten.   Boomie, our old Maine Coon, was the current king of the castle. Sue doted on him. It was a love he returned, especially on the days Sue wasn’t feeling her best.   For the past decade, Sue had been battling cancer. Through chemo, radiation and surgeries, Boomie was there. He joined Sue on the sofa while she [More]

Every family has a favorite story. The one they tell over and over. In my family the story begins in Springfield, Ohio, where Paw-Paw lived in the 1940s. Growing up, spending summers with my grandparents, I never tired of hearing it. I can still see myself sitting out on the porch, listening to Paw-Paw intently, though I already knew every word by heart. Paw-Paw was a tough man. Men of color weren’t given a lot of opportunities back then, but he started several successful businesses, including a company that provided windows for commercial buildings, and a popular neighborhood grocery. He [More]

I drove north on California’s Pacific Coast Highway after attending a work conference in Santa Cruz. It was roughly three hours away from where I lived in Pismo Beach, and I’d decided to make the most of the trip by hitting a new beach to surf. I was an avid surfer, and I was excited to try out a different spot.   It was a miserably gray day with intermittent rain showers, but the waves looked fun. I pulled into the parking lot to search the stretch of cliff-lined coast. My truck was the only vehicle. The beach was empty.   Surfboard [More]

I’ve seen a lot of miracles in my life. After all, I’ve been talking to God since I was a little girl! But there is one event in my life that I keep going back to. Many times. An occurrence that even now still leaves me amazed. A moment back in the summer of 1964…   At the time, I was a young wife and mother. I’d met my husband, Perry, a few years prior. Those twinkling eyes and Marine physique were hard to resist. After he proposed several times, I accepted, and we were married. We spent a year on the Marine [More]

I was sitting by my mother’s hospital bed, comforting her in her last moments. It was bittersweet. I was glad to be by her side—a chance I hadn’t had when my father died three years earlier—but I was heartbroken at the same time. I looked in my purse for my cell phone to find some soothing music to play—a request she’d made while she was still lucid. It took me a minute to find the device. I dug it out of my bag and opened the music app.   When I had the music playing softly, I took Mom’s hand. “I’ll always [More]

Richard Wayne “Dick” Van Dyke is best known for his groundbreaking 1960s TV sitcom, his roles in Mary Poppins, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and Bye Bye Birdie, and as star of Diagnosis Murder.   In January, he received the Screen Actors Guild’s highest honor, the Life Achievement Award. He couldn’t help but remember the day his life was almost cut short.   Dick was an avid surfer when he was young. The way he tells it, one summer day he paddled out into the Atlantic to catch some waves on his 10-foot longboard. But the ocean was too calm. Lying flat on his board, the [More]

At the end of my first semester of college, my dad and two of my high school friends drove from our hometown in Ashtabula, Ohio, to my school in Richmond, Indiana, to pick me up and drive me back home for winter break.   When I saw Dad’s car pull into the dorm’s parking lot, I felt a flicker of fear. Don’t worry about the dream, I told myself. Dad will be driving for sure. The car was Dad’s pride and joy. It was the first new car he’d ever bought and only three years old. I grabbed my bags and walked down to meet [More]

Just a little further. Just a little further…   I reached up to push the plastic box just one more centimeter to the left to reach something in my crafts closet. One centimeter too far, it turned out. Avalanche! Everything came crashing down—scrapbook paper, glue sticks, beads, unfinished projects, markers, yarn, all scattered across the hardwood floor.   My husband, Alan, came running in. “What happened?”   “I was getting something out of the crafts closet,” I said. “I thought I needed a project to give me a lift.”   Alan looked at the mess. “I guess you found one,” [More]

Whether it’s a squirrel inspiring hope or an injured dove bringing heaven-sent comfort, these critter tales will encourage and entertain you.   Read More: 5 Heartwarming Stories of Animal Angels | Guideposts

The envelope immediately caught my attention as I opened the day’s mail. The stamp revealed it had been sent from a state prison. I’d been a pastor here at the Church of the Master for 22 years. Not many letters came to me from prisoners.   Curious, I opened it. A few postage stamps spilled out onto my desk. I pulled out the letter, handwritten on notebook paper. “I came to your church 14 years ago, asking for food and money,” it began. “I told the preacher my house had burned down, but that was a lie.”   I knew exactly who [More]

“Mike, we found a match,” my doctor said over the phone. “You’re getting a new set of lungs. I’ll see you in surgery early tomorrow morning.”   I stared at my wife, Patti, in shock. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. This was the call we’d been praying for. I hung up the phone, and Patti swept me into a hug.   Five years before, I’d been diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a disease that causes scar tissue to form in the lungs, making it hard to breathe. There is no cure and, in some cases, like mine, no known [More]

Gas. Brake. Gas. Brake. My foot was starting to cramp from switching between the pedals. Typical for prime rush hour.   My office was 30 miles from home. Before my first day, I’d mapped several routes. I discovered that no matter when I left or which route I took, my commute ended up the same—a total nightmare. Aggressive drivers, bumper-to-bumper traffic, construction delays. Evenings were the worst. After a long day at work, I wanted to relax, not inch along the highway while car horns blared.   I’d taken to praying during my drive. I asked God for traveling mercies—the tranquility to stay calm [More]

“Mom, can we go down to the beach now?”   My 13-year-old son, Jesse, was holding his beach supplies. His 10-year-old twin sisters, Elizabeth and Emily, stood next to him, their eyes expectant. We were staying at a beach house that we vacationed at every summer. I didn’t feel up to going down to the beach. The weather was nice, and the kids weren’t going to go in the water. Jesse was old enough to chaperone. I decided I’d stay behind and sit by the window overlooking the shore to watch them.   “Stick together and be safe,” I told them. Smiling, [More]

Miracles come to us in every shape, size and even color. God’s blessings flow across a spectrum, from everyday reassurances of his presence to out-of-this-world experiences; each divine mystery as vibrant as the colors of the rainbow. These stories sent to us by readers like you show us why God says in Genesis 9:13, “I have set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be the sign of a covenant between me and the earth.”   Read More: 5 Miraculous Stories Across The Color Spectrum | Guideposts

Hebrews 3:4 tells us, “For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.” This collection of house-hunting miracles reveals the work of the ultimate architect.   Read More: 3 Miraculous Stories of Heaven-Sent Houses | Guideposts

‘‘You don’t want that one,” the shelter volunteer said. “He’s broken.”   “Broken?” I asked. Had I heard her correctly? I looked down at the black cat sitting on my foot. He trilled softly. The minute I’d walked into the animal shelter’s cat room, he’d been one step behind me, my shadow. I wasn’t an expert, but this cat seemed friendly.   “He’s been a stray since birth,” the volunteer explained. “He doesn’t like anyone—not other cats, not dogs, not people. Sometimes they’re out there way too long. He’s already three years old. At a certain point, it’s nearly impossible [More]

Job Search Solution, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Getting to Yes. The more I flipped through the titles on the shelves at the mall bookstore, the more depressed I got.   Why had I migrated to the self-help section? I’d come to the mall for an escape, a few moments to not have to think about the job I desperately needed, my dwindling bank account, my wife’s medical expenses. But everywhere I looked I was reminded of my troubles.   I’d done everything I could. Tried every way I could think of to get my name out there, sent out dozens [More]

Shoppers at the antiques show in Columbus, Ohio, milled around, but I stood still, mouth agape. Was I seeing things? It seemed impossible, but there it was. A genuine 1920s era Berkey & Gay bedroom suite was being unloaded from a truck by a couple about my age. For me this was like discovering a treasure, one I’d been looking for since junior high school. The furniture was deep green, with hand-painted twining pink roses.   “Like it?” the woman asked as I studied the fine detail on the dresser.   “You don’t see these where I’m from,” I admitted. Or anywhere else [More]

Suzie, my terrier, lay down on the rug in my parents’ living room and looked at me with her sad, brown eyes. “She misses her doghouse,” I told Mom. “She loved it. I could barely drag her out of it to come inside, even when it was raining. It was her favorite place in the world.”   I sighed. Suzie’s doghouse wasn’t lost. I knew exactly where it was. Sitting in the backyard of the apartment house where my ex-husband lived. When Suzie moved into my parents’ house, I hadn’t realized how much she’d miss her old hangout. But when I [More]