--WHAT PRAYER CAN DO~~
--(From- GUIDEPOSTS)

--GETTING THE MESSAGE~~

"Danny's not home right now," his mother told me. "I don't know where he went."

"JUST tell him I called," I said, hanging up the pay phone. What was the point in leaving him a message? Nothing I said got through to him. We had been seeing each other for years, me a nurse in Chicago, Danny living and working in Massachusetts.

I didn't realize a long-distance relationship would be this hard. I walked back across the street to the hospital. Danny knew I was going to call him during my break. Why didn't he make sure to be home? Letters were no better. When I asked questions about his feelings, plans for the future, things going on in his life, he didn't answer them--even when I underlined them in red ink. 'We're not connecting,' I thought. 'Maybe it's time to end the relationship for good.'

But I didn't want to make a big decision like that without praying over it. In the Bible, Gideon placed a fleece on the ground and asked for a sign. If it was God's will for him to lead the Israelites into battle, the next day the fleece would be dry despite the ground being wet. God answered Gideon's request, why not mine?

'I need a clear answer', I prayed that night. Danny was coming to visit in a few weeks. 'If we're mean to be together, let him bring me a gift.' It wasn't my birthday or any other holiday, so he'd have no reason to give me anything. But just to be sure, I added, 'And make it be a gift-wrappd.'

Truth was, I already knew what the answer would be. Danny was not a gift-giver, except when the occasion specifically called for it. It was as if I was looking for a way out with the demands of my prayer. I had no reason to expect that Danny would arrive in Chicago bearing a gift. Even when he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. "This is for you," he said. He handed me a little box, wrapped with a bow. Inside was a bottle of Channel No. 5.

"I don't know why I even went in the department store," he said sheepishly. "I just felt like I had to get you something. I was halfway out the door when the saleslady asked if I wanted it gift wrapped. So I said, 'Why not?'"

-Message received! Danny and I have been married for 46 years. ~~ Miracles still happen. 'Amazing Grace' / Chris Tomlin
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbe7OruLk8I>