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Catching the Fire

by John Thompson

…for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29

 

Annette and I were members of what some called a “Holy Roller” church in Montevideo. We never saw anyone roll on the floor. Still, we experienced others in the church speaking in tongues and saw unexplainable acts of the Holy Spirit. We joined because we were hungry for God wherever He would be found. I was working in the community and, through a Bible study, became friends with a Baptist pastor who invited me to a Holy Spirit conference in St. Louis, Missouri.

The morning we drove to Sioux Falls to catch a plane, we turned south from a US highway onto a state highway. After driving about half a mile, I saw a fence post – “on fire.” I saw the flames, looked around for a person or vehicle because it wasn’t near anything, and thought of the burning bush in the Bible. I was afraid my friend would mock me or think I was crazy, so I said nothing.

The conference theme, “Catch the Fire,” was associated with the Toronto and Pensacola revivals of the 1990s. It increased my awareness of the unseen world and the power of the Holy Spirit. 

On the trip home, as we were waiting on the St. Louis runway for our plane to take off, the captain announced we were returning to the terminal to get an instrument problem fixed. My friend and I quickly prayed. Moments later, the captain announced the instruments were working, and we took off.

On the drive home from Sioux Falls, when we drove past the fence post that had been burning, I started to ask the pastor, “You know what . . .” Before I could finish the question, he responded, “I saw it too!”

Our new experiences increased our faith in God, forever changing our lives. We saw these and other miracles, and God was certainly with us at the conference.

 

Holy Spirit, thank you for always being with us.Help us to catch the fire, always trust You, and be open to Your leading. Amen.

 

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Accident Prone

by Barb Buer

Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 

 

-- My sister Soni was a very accident-prone little girl. She loved to stand on her head and do handstands and all kinds of gymnastic moves in our living room. She had many goose eggs on her forehead in her young life.

-- One Sunday afternoon, when she was almost 4 years old and I was 6 and a half, we stayed with family friends Eric and Ingrid because my parents had a church activity. Their daughter and I were diving for quarters in the deep end of their backyard pool. Suddenly, I noticed Ingrid and her friend pulled Soni out of the water, and Soni was blue! I started screaming!

-- The two women, both nurses, had been visiting in the shallow end. Soni remembers chasing a beach ball beyond the shallow end to a spot where she couldn’t reach the side of the pool, touch the bottom, or get their attention. They did some CPR at the side of the pool, and I remember them turning her over. She threw up and started breathing. She remembers being concerned that her vomit might get in the pool. When the paramedics came, Soni was sitting up. When they tested her cognition by asking her what she had done that day, she said, “I went to Sunday School.”

-- While I was in college, I got a call from my mom in the middle of the night. Soni was being prepped for emergency surgery. They had been to a Covenant Bible Camp in Washington for a Winter Retreat. Soni and her childhood friend Lynn had been sledding on the same sled and hit a tree. Lynn had some noticeable bumps and bruises, but Soni had internal injuries. She spent the night in the Leavenworth Hospital. The next day (even though Soni was still very nauseated), the hospital staff released her since her vitals were stable. She vomited many times on the 3-hour drive home and had a rough night. The next day, my dad took her to a clinic, and they referred her to Valley General Hospital. Soni remembers that the nurses surrounded her and prayed for her. At the hospital, the radiologist noticed on the x-ray that Soni's diaphragm was elevated, and she was rushed into surgery. When they opened her up, they found that her liver was lacerated, and a large blood blister had formed (that was what had lifted her diaphragm). The blister burst as soon as they made the incision. There could have been a very different outcome if it had burst before surgery. As it was, she recovered after four or five days in the hospital, and extra time taking it easy.

-- In the summer of 1982, Soni and her boyfriend Rob decided to drive out to visit Mike and me. I was so excited. They were to be our first overnight guests since we married and moved into our little house on Diamond Lake in Minnesota. I had even bought a watermelon! They never made it. I got a phone call from my dad saying they were in a severe car accident near Anaconda, Montana. Driving through the night, Rob had followed a motorhome, pulling a pickup truck. Rob nodded off, and when he caught himself, he saw the motorhome to his right and thought he was in the wrong lane. To adjust, he pulled over, but the motorhome had pulled off and stopped, so Rob's vehicle went right underneath the pickup truck. I was shaken and sick with the news of the accident, so I can only imagine how Rob felt.

Soni had the worst injuries. She had a traumatic brain injury and severe facial injuries. She was in a coma for 13 days. The plastic surgeon said he needed to perform her facial surgery by day 10. He couldn’t wait until she woke up, but sending her deeper into unconsciousness was very risky. When the surgeon finished, he came out to the waiting room. He told my parents, “I’m a gifted surgeon, but (I) hadn’t done Soni’s surgery. God did it.” He worked on lepers while in the mission field, but at the time, he worked in the little hospital in Butte, Montana. What a miracle -- God provided a gifted, God-fearing surgeon since moving Soni wasn’t an option.

On one of the Sunday mornings, while my parents were sitting at Soni’s bedside, they got a call from Kent Covenant Church, where my dad was the pastor. The congregation sang “Great is Thy Faithfulness” over the phone. I imagine the quality over the phone wasn’t terrific, but it sure meant a lot. To my parents, they sounded like a heavenly choir.

-- I’ll never forget the call I received when Soni finally opened her eyes! As soon as I hung up the phone, I drove to the farm to find Mike, to tell him the good news! I saw Mike’s dad first; he hugged me and cried with me. He was so happy to hear it! Soni spent three weeks in the hospital, but she wasn't herself for a long time after being released. My mom, dad, and Soni came to visit us that September. She did (and said) some goofy things. We laugh about them now, but at the time, I wondered if she would ever be her old self. Soni was able to go back to college for the winter semester and chose to transfer to be near Rob. The accident had brought them closer together.

-- I am so grateful for answered prayer and miraculous healing. I don’t understand why Soni had to go through such hard things, yet I have seen God’s hand and goodness in many ways in each situation. At Soni and Rob’s wedding, we sang, “Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies, I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”

Thank You, heavenly Father, for Your great faithfulness. Grant us eyes to see Your mercies, which are new every morning. Amen.

 

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Another Prayer Answered

by Robin Iverson

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

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-- In the summer of 2015 (after I moved to my new apartment), I was walking outside and met a woman named Sandy. I invited her to my house and learned that her husband had died a few years earlier. I asked her to come to church, and she came for several years. Lately, she hasn’t been attending because of health issues.

-- Sandy was an answer to prayer. When I moved in, I prayed for a friend. Sandy has been a good friend, and she became a fellow member of First Covenant Church. We’ve gone back and forth to each other’s apartments for coffee and meals and have enjoyed riding our three-wheeled bikes together.

-- Sandy has always loved my two dogs, Solomon and Mocha, and even threw a baby shower when Mocha was a puppy. Eight ladies came and brought puppy gifts, and we had tasty food and a lot of fun. Mocha was a good boy and looked stylish in all the new puppy clothes he received. It impresses me how faithful God is to answer my prayers. He will answer yours, too, as you believe and trust Him!

Thank You, heavenly Father, for Your faithfulness in answering our prayers.

Help us remember and dare to call upon You for small and great things. Amen.

 

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Ask, and You Shall Receive

by Peter Stadem

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

 

-- I was at our son David's home in Grand Forks, in February, 2025. I was hurrying to get the car warmed up and ready to take Kari and our grandchildren to the church where David and his wife Callie would be providing special music. I slipped on the sidewalk ice and my hand came down on a fence post with a nail on it. I could tell from my experience that my ripped palm might need stitches, but it could also be harmful if it didn't get cleaned well or if I was overdue for a tetanus shot. 

-- I wondered whether to go to church or head right to the emergency room. I didn’t want to go to the hospital if it wasn’t necessary, as we had just paid $2,000.00 for an ER visit that our insurance didn’t cover. I decided to buy iodine and soak it at the church and prayed that there would be a nurse I could consult with before the worship service. 

-- When we finally got to church (after bandaging my hand as best we could), it was too late to find a nurse since the service had started. I left Kari and the kids there and went out to find iodine. I filled a bowl and soaked the wound through the rest of the service (I did get to hear the beautiful special music). As we were visiting during the coffee hour, a guy in tennis shoes who looked like he could be homeless (but was dressed pretty well), asked what happened to my hand. When I told him, he responded, “Mind if I look at it? I am a doctor.”

-- He counseled that if it was his hand, he would put a stitch in it. But he said I could use superglue and bandage the hand well, and it should heal just fine “as long as you're sure you’re current on your Tdap shot. It’s OK to get a booster when you get back.”

-- That was just what I needed for confidence in my self-care. I immediately praised God because it answered my prayer beyond what I had imagined or thought. I saved at least $1,000.00 by avoiding the ER and had a full-fledged doctor who helped me.

-- I am currently praying for my wife’s healing from breast cancer and through this experience, it was as if the Lord said to me, “I will look out for you in the same way, beyond what you can imagine.”

Thank You, Lord, for Your answers to prayer. Help us ask, seek, and knock, knowing that You are always paying attention. Amen.

 

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Right Where I Was Supposed to Be

by Beth Broberg

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."  Isaiah 30:21

 

-- On a Thursday in January 2025, as I was getting ready to leave for my daughter Brooke's house, I got a call from my other daughter saying, "I tested positive for COVID." I'd been with them the day before. Sighing, I called Brooke. "What do you think?" I was supposed to go to Walker, MN, and care for my granddaughter, Ellie, on Friday because Brooke and her husband had work commitments. Then we were all going to a baptism on Sunday where they were sponsors.

-- Brooke thought about it for a few minutes and then said, "You know what? Ellie (or any of us) could get COVID going through the doorway at the grocery store. Please come anyway."

Friday morning, I left early, and when I was halfway there, my phone rang. Brooke informed me, "Ellie has a fever." I said, "Well, I'm halfway there already, and maybe I'm going to get COVID - I'll come anyway."

--I enjoyed caring for Ellie, who didn't feel too bad despite her fever. On Saturday, we played all day. Ellie was still sick on Sunday, so I stayed home with her while Brooke and her husband went to the baptism. Clearly God had me there for very good reasons. My husband Don, who had stayed home without really knowing why, could take care of his grandson, Luke, whose dad also got sick that weekend. It was meant to be.

-- PS – None of us got COVID!

Thank You, all-knowing God, for guiding our steps and empowering us to serve when it's

most needed. Help us trust in Your provision when we can't see the reasons or when we can. --Amen.

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One Last Gift

by Beth Nordstrom

 

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart;

yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  Ecclesiastes 3:11

 

-- I gathered with my family in the Chicago area in January 2025 to celebrate the life and mourn the death of my mother. All my siblings and all our children were able to attend and we praised the Lord for our wonderful mother.

 -- Mom was a quilter and a prolific writer. She wrote plays, changed words to songs for our celebrations, and wrote her family history, my Dad's family history, and our family stories. She put them all together in the “Patchwork Pages.” Here is a quote:

 -- "I am thinking of this story like a patchwork quilt with many different pieces and colors. There are dark colors, sad and regretful memories, light and cheery ones, and pieces that are dull, faded, and almost forgotten. The picture of my quilt emerges in my mind with many little pieces that are stitched together with hundreds and thousands of tiny stitches. This is the most special part of my quilt...Stitches representing God's love put all the pieces of my life together. Perhaps I would like to take some of the dark pieces out of my quilt...no, that would destroy it. Every piece is a part of my journey and has a story to tell."

 -- And at the end, there was a little surprise. As the grandchildren were milling around my mother’s apartment, trying to decide on mementos to bring home, one of them lifted an Indian brass plate off the wall. Hidden behind that plate were five notes from my mother, one to each of us siblings. We were all so surprised and sat together with tears streaming down our faces as we each read our notes. Mine expressed Mom’s joy in the person I had become, thanked me for visiting and caring for her in her last years, and ended: "See you in heaven. Love, Mom.” It was just like my sweet mother, and just like our kind heavenly Father, to give us one last unexpected blessing.

 

Thank You, Father, for making all things beautiful in Your time. Thank You for the sweet surprises

You give us. Help us to recognize them as from You. Amen.

 

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Trials & Tribulations

by Melissa Thomas

Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close. Psalm 27:10 

 

-- My parents called me their "miracle baby." When I was born, I had fluid on the brain, which caused my heart rate to drop with each contraction. I had low blood sugar, and the doctor dislocated my hip by pulling me down when I got stuck. The doctors were able to drain the fluid and fix my hip, and I went home on my father's birthday three days later. 

I grew up in Oklahoma, and every year, my dad and I celebrated our birthdays at the Golden Corral with the rest of the family. When I was 15, my parents moved to Willmar. They left me in the care of friends of our family so I could finish high school. They didn't tell me in advance, and my living situation was unclean and miserable. On my 18th birthday, I told this family I would be leaving, and as soon as the school year ended, I moved up here to be with my parents. I was angry with them but forgave them because I loved them. I was very close to my mom. Just two years later, Mom (who was a type 2 diabetic) developed pneumonia. She went to the hospital on New Year's Eve. I was praying hard for her recovery, and I heard a voice say, "I'm ready for her now." I didn't know what it meant.

-- On Jan. 4, 2006, I didn't want to leave Mom's side, but Dad and I went home to take showers. As we were getting ready to return to the hospital, we got the call that she had died. In the hospital, I clung to my mother's body, sobbing and wailing: "I want to go too!" It took Dad and two others to pull me off. For two weeks, I completely shut down. I couldn't pray or read the Bible. I couldn't even eat. Finally, my friend, Allison, showed up and said, "It's time to move." Other friends told me, "Your mom wants you to live a good life."  

-- When I went to read my Bible again, it dropped open to Psalm 63:1-3. "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you." I realized that the Lord was with me and that He was the one I needed. At a young adults retreat in 2009, I received the exact same passage. To me, it confirmed that God loved me and would take care of me. In September of 2006, I went to live with my sister in Oklahoma to help her with her 5-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son. One November day, I talked to my dad on the phone for about three hours. We had a pleasant conversation, but he kept mentioning his life insurance policy. He asked that one of our favorite songs, (Daddy's Hands) be sung at his funeral. It was strange talk for a 59-year-old man. The next day, my sister got a phone call. When she came out of her room, she couldn't speak. She just kept repeating, "Da…da….da…" I cried, "What's wrong with Daddy?"  Back in Willmar, my father's car ran out of gas and he walked home in the bitter cold. He made it to the parking lot of the apartment complex, had an asthma attack, and died before anyone found him. I was an orphan at age 21. I stayed with my sister for another month and then moved back to Willmar. 

-- I lived with my dad's sister and her husband for a year and a half. When I would cry about my losses, my Aunt would say, "Just suck it up. No one wants to hear your problems." When it got too overwhelming, I called Allison and she would pick me up. The minute I got in her car, I would start bawling uncontrollably. Eventually, I moved out on my own, started meeting with a counselor, and began to heal. 

-- I'm grateful for the Lord's mercy and provision as I've endured many trials. He sent many friends and my church family to help me. My dad's brother promised my dad he would take care of us girls if anything happened to my dad, and he has kept that promise. My friend Heidi's family has practically adopted me, treating me like one of their own. 

 

Thank You, Father, for caring for the fatherless. Help us all to be part of your plan to love and serve others, especially the most vulnerable. Amen.

 

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p us realize Your presence always. --Amen