All Who Will Listen

“Check on Dorothy” Sue P. On March 14, 2017, my neighbor, Dorothy, was ninety-two years old. I knew her from my church. She was sweeping her steps that morning when she fell onto her steep gravel driveway. She could not move. Dorothy began praying for someone to come and help her. She was conscious, lying in pain with a broken hip, for many hours. The weather that day was blustery cold with intermittent sleet and snow. That same morning, I arose and as usual, had my morning devotions and prayers. I had several appointments that morning, so I left home around 9:00 a.m. and returned around 1:00 p.m. Then I got busy working on crafts for my daughter's wedding. Around 4:00 p.m. I heard a voice, clear as a bell, in my head saying, "Check on Dorothy." I called her immediately, but there was no answer. I looked up the road and saw that her car was in the driveway. I assumed Dorothy was just resting and I thought, “She must be napping. I’ll just call her later.” Besides, it was so cold and nasty outside and I didn’t really want to get all bundled up to run up the long hill to her house. Waiting to call her also gave me more time to complete my crafts. I didn’t realize the urgency of the internal voice and I was totally distracted with my projects. Then, around 7:00 p.m. the voice came clearly again, "Go check on Dorothy, now!" My stomach sank! I felt sick as I realized that Dorothy may be in some danger and I had let so many hours go by. I called her again and there was no answer. Instantly I knew something must be terribly wrong. So, I got all bundled up to endure the weather and ran up to her house. As I got closer to her house, I saw her lying in her gravel driveway. Her head was facing down the hill, and she was covered in snow and frozen stiff. I immediately called 911. Then I got a pillow for her head and several blankets to cover her up as we waited for the ambulance to arrive. Parts of her body were purple, so the EMTs put her under heat lamps and a blanket warmer to raise her body temperature back to normal. I prayed she wouldn’t get sick. Praise the Lord, she didn’t. The paramedics told me if I had gotten there any later, Dorothy would have frozen to death. The two lessons that I learned from this experience are: 1) We can sometimes get so busy that we don't listen to God’s voice speaking to us. But when we slow down, we have a better chance of hearing His voice. 2) We always need to obey the voice of God. I heard a plain and clear voice, yet I pushed it aside, because I was busy doing my own thing! As I look back on it now, I ask myself, “What was I thinking? Why would His Spirit speak to me so clearly if Dorothy was only sleeping?” I should have obeyed that voice immediately! It was not a scream or shout; yet it was a loud, firm urgent voice. God was trying hard to get my attention! Yet, I was too busy to obey it. As a result of my negligence, my neighbor had lain on the cold hard gravel drive from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., helplessly enduring harsh exposure to snow and sleet! Now I listen and obey immediately when I hear that voice! God blessed Dorothy’s faithfulness by answering her prayer, and used me to save her life because He cares for His children! I praise the Lord God for using me, and allowing me to be a part of His plan to help my neighbor survive. The Car Anonymous My husband was a salesman for several companies. The biggest company was not paying him any longer, as they were going out of business. We were experiencing an economic loss. We had only one car. Well, it was not really a car; it was a truck with an extra-long cab with a back seat. It was a big one. My husband needed it to travel with all the products he sold. So, I would wait for him to come home on the weekends to care for our three small children, and then go to the grocery store. After a particularly stressful day, I came out of the grocery store and put the bags in the back cab of the truck. I sat inside and just “told” God, through my tears, that this was not working out. “I can’t drive this big thing around town, much less in parking lots, backing in and out of parking spots. The groceries get rolled all around in the back of the truck and it’s not good.” Then I “told” God, “I need a car! Please make it possible to have a car.” I pulled into the driveway at home and re-bagged the groceries, which had been all over the back of the truck by then, and carried them inside. The phone rang. I grabbed it, almost dropping the groceries. It was a friend of mine who said, “My dad just gave us his car and I don’t want to sell ours and have strangers walking on our property to buy it. Would you take our old car for me?” What? I thought she wanted me to buy her car. She said, “No, just take it. It’s free. I’ll probably have to charge you one dollar because of the license department getting the sale straight, but that should be alright. Right?” Really, I had just told God that “I need a car,” not ten minutes before she called! I told her my story, and she was so happy that she could participate in God’s work!