In the Bible, God clearly speaks to people about remembering what happened when He shows up and where He shows up! He also asks His people over and over again in scripture, to retell the stories of deliverance, mercy, and His miraculous interventions.. Stones were placed in places where miracles happened, so when they would see the stones, or their children would see the stones, they would tell the story of the mighty works and wonders of God again and again.  This stone, that sits in my front yard, tells the story of God’s great love, mercy, and incredible power to save me and my family.

I will break this story up in a few posts, because looking back on this, there are so many details that are now vivid and important, that I will ponder them with you.

Brew and I and four of our children moved to Bend OR in 1998.  We kind of went on an adventure to see the Northwest, and did not come back for four years.  Well, not totally, we felt God leading us that way and really did not know more than that.  There are no waves in Bend OR, and Brew being the surfer he is, wanted to head down to Santa Cruz to meet up with his fellow surfers and the WindanSea surf team, to surf the annual Steamer’s Lane competition.  We had left San Diego that fall before, it was now Memorial Weekend 1999.  We had just purchased a used van, loaded it and headed south.

We camped and surfed all weekend and enjoyed being with friends.  We began our long journey back to Oregon Sunday afternoon.  We drove for hours until we reached a beautiful little town called Dunsmuir right before Lake Shasta.   We pulled in late, got the kids into the motel room and fell right to sleep.  The next morning was a beautiful morning.  I remember the feel of the sun on our faces, the slight breeze in the air… We went to a quaint little restaurant in town and had such a sweet memorable time together. The children were happy, the conversation sweet, the food was amazing and the coffee spectacular. It was as if everything was  perfect, so calm. It felt like our senses were heightened. We felt so peaceful.  We spent the day in a beautiful lush forest, hiking and enjoying each other before jumping back into the van for the rest of the trip home.

Looking back, It was as if the Lord was filling us up. He was preparing us, touching us, and filling our cup. It was so real to me, His presence was with us in a special way that day, preparing us for something that would change our lives forever.

I started the drive home, while Brew and the kids took naps in the van.  I ended up lost, on the wrong highway and what should of taken us about 6 hours to get home was looking more like 8 or 9 hours.  Anyway, long story short, we finally ended up where we needed to be to get home, Hwy 97, in Klammath Falls OR. We got out of our van at the gas station, stretched, got some snacks, and allowed our tired of driving children, to get out of their car seats and seat belts and allowed  them to lay down.  Brew jumped in the driver’s seat, and I in the passenger seat. I remember it was Monday, 5:30 p.m.on Memorial Day.  The sun shone brightly on beautiful Klamath lake,which was to the left of us and to the right, steep rock filled hills against the two lane highway.  My feet up on the dash, seat belts off, barefoot, all of us in shorts, windows down, radio on, kids happy.  Life was good and we are finally on the home stretch.

I learned later, that the entire weekend we were in Santa Cruz,  God was speaking to my little old Auntie Bettie, back in Los Angeles, telling her to get her Bible and write down a scripture for our family.  She felt a urgency and quickly obeyed  She got up out of her chair on Saturday night, and read what He told her, Psalm 91:10 “I will give my angels charge concerning you. They will bare you up in their arms, lest you dash your foot against the stone.”  She wrote out the scripture, put all our names on it and begin praying that over us.  She put it on her fridge and continued to pray that night, all through the next day, and all day Monday, Memorial Day.

God speaks to us. He is intimately acquainted with us and knows all our ways.

He asks us to pray and turn to Him and join Him where He is working.

The power of prayer is a mystery to me sometimes. God hears our prayers and is moved by the prayers and petitions of His people.

He knew what was going to happen. He knows the beginning to the end in all things, yet He asks us to pray.

I will share what happened next in my next post. But right now, I want to think about God’s voice calling to us to pray and to be vigilant to pray on behalf of our brothers and sisters. To be still and quiet at times, that we may hear the hush of His voice calling us to listen..

In awe of His mighty wonders,

Sheri