Beautiful Story

Recently I received an e-mail from a great friend. I am attaching the content of that e-mail to this post. It is such a beautiful story and I love the prayer at the end. Hopefully you will enjoy it too.

This is a beautiful story…. It makes you understand that things happen for a reason and that there truly is a God watching over each and everyone of us.

A brand new pastor and his wife, were newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn. They arrived in early October excited about their opportunities.  When they saw their church, it was  very run down and needed  much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service  on Christmas Eve.  They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc, and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished.  On December 19 a  terrible tempest – a driving  rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.  On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.  His heart sank when he saw that the roof had  leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the  sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. The pastor cleaned  the mess on the floor,  and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.   On the way he noticed that a local business was  having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in.  One of the items was a beautiful,  handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth  with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front  wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An older  woman running from the opposite direction was  trying to catch the bus.. She missed it. The pastor  invited her to wait in the warm church for  the next bus 45 minutes later.  She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor  could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and  it covered up the entire problem area.  Then he noticed the woman walking down the center  aisle. Her face was like a sheet.. ‘Pastor,’  she asked, ‘where did you get that tablecloth?’  The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there..they were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria. The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the tablecloth. The  woman explained that before the war she and  her husband were well-to-do people in Austria   When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.  Her husband was going to follow her the next week.  He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.  The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth;  but she made the pastor keep it for the church.  The pastor insisted on driving her home, that  was the least he could do. She lived on the other  side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas  Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the  pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man, whom the pastor recognized  from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the  pews and stare, and he pastor wondered why he wasn’t leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on  the front wall because it was identical to one  that his wife had made years ago when  they lived in Austria before the war and how  could there be two tablecloths so much alike.  He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was  supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and  put in a prison.. He never saw his wife or his home  again all the 35 years in between. The pastor asked him if he would allow him to  take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor  had taken the woman three days earlier.  He helped the man climb the three flights of  stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas  reunion he could ever imagine.

True Story – submitted by Pastor Rob Reid

Who says God does not work in mysterious ways?

I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for you today, to guide you and protect you as you go along your way. His love is always with you, His  promises are true, and when we give Him all our cares you know He will see us through.So when the road you’re traveling on seems difficult at best.. Just remember I’m here praying and God will do the rest.

Father, God, bless all my friends and family in whatever it is that you know they may be needing this day! May their life be full of your peace, prosperity and power and HEALTH!!!!! as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship with you.

Amen