On the Wings of Prayer (Part Two)

Posted by Tia Ciferno and filed in Encouragement for Daily Living

“Pray and ask Me to get you on THIS flight.” In the last entry you might have read the story I shared about the prayer God asked me to pray while I was stranded due to weather in an airport in El Paso, Texas. I did pray, and God did place me, beyond all odds, on that very plane.

My seat was next to a window. A pleasant middle-aged woman with short brown hair sat beside me. “Lord,” I prayed, “I am all Yours! Let me impact this lady for You.”

Little did I know that Jesus was planning to use that lady to impact me!

Polite and measured small talk began quickly. We talked about the storm in Houston and the flight cancellations. She told me that she was not scheduled to be on that plane, but managed to board, like me, at the last moment. Then she asked me why an Ohio girl was visiting Texas. Ahhh. That was the open door I was looking for. I told her that I was in El Paso to share music and speak to women in different churches there. She asked me what kind of songs I wrote. “Christian,“ I said with a smile. Immediately her face lit up and she began to tell me her story.

My seatmate’s name was Beverly, and she was a nurse at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. After marrying her husband, she gave her life to Christ and was enthusiastically growing in the Lord. Though her dear husband did not want to attend church they lived happily together despite their differences…though in her heart Beverly asked the Lord to give her husband two things: a passion for Jesus and a passion for people.

Years went by until one day Beverly’s husband surprised her by attending a men’s bible study. She was astounded! Soon afterwards, the Lord answered Beverly’s prayers. A passion for Jesus and for people overflowed from her husband’s heart…so much so that he told Beverly that he wanted to give his whole life to the Lord by using his flight training to become a Mission Aviation Fellowship pilot, flying supplies to missionaries who were in remote locations all over the world.

Beverly’s husband was now the happiest he had ever been. He loved serving the Lord by serving His servants in the mission field. Then one day Beverly received the news that her husband’s plane had crashed on the way to Haiti.

Now our sister was filled with questions. Had she prayed for her husband’s salvation only to have his life cut short because of his surrender to the Lord? How was she to live without the love of her life? What was God doing? Depression overwhelmed her. She didn’t want to get up in the mornings and face another day without her soul mate, her best friend.

Then one day Jesus challenged His grieving daughter with a question. If her husband was willing to give all he had for His Lord, then how could she give any less? Beverly prayed: “God, all I have is yours! It’s not much. A nursing degree and now this big empty house. But it’s all yours. Show me how you can use me.”

Soon afterwards while Beverly was at work, the Holy Spirit opened her eyes in a new way to her patient’s needs. They and their families had come from all over the country for cancer treatment; they spent their evenings in cold, sterile hotel rooms and ate at local fast food restaurants. It was at that moment that the Lord gave her His Vision. These dear ones were in need of comfort and encouragement…a friend, a good meal, a warm home. She found His call on her life!

Since her husband’s death in 1995, Beverly has opened her home to over 900 patients and their families from the M.D. Anderson Hospital. They stay for weeks or months and have received not only warmth and nourishment for their bodies and emotions, but also for their spirits. She shares the love of Jesus at a time when they are searching for the very Hope that He alone can give.

Now you know why the Lord asked me to ask Him to make a way to be on that plane. He needed me to meet His daughter Beverly, and to hear her remarkable story…not only for my own encouragement, but to share her story with the hundreds of people I encounter in my own travels.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5