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Personal Journey With Jesus

A Praying Woman is Powerful

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My mom, younger brother, and I lived with my grandmother from the time I was five years old until I started the 5th grade at ten years old.  As my two cousins will testify, “Mamaw” knew The Lord in a very special way.

My sweet Grandmother had a habit of kneeling beside the bed at night and praying to her Savior. She often prayed softly but loud enough so that I heard my name being presented to the throne room of Heaven. There were times I felt if I opened my eyes, I would see Jesus and her having a cup of tea while they talked.

Her prayers affect me to this day even though she died Christmas Eve 1976. This was only four months after my conversion from atheism to a follower of Christ. My first wife, who had just given her life to the Lord, challenged me to study her notes and prove her wrong.  After months of study, I proved myself wrong and gave myself to the work of the Lord Jesus.

As my dear grandmother lay in the hospital bed that silent night, I asked The Lord to let her sleep so she would not be in pain and the confusion of Parkinson’s disease.  I got news of her death after I left the hospital and arrived at home, where my wife and 2-month-old daughter waited for me.

That exact prayer for God’s mercy would be repeated years later for my saintly mother, who died from a lung infection.  My prayer was, “Lord, let her sleep to escape the pain of death.”  The doctors asked the family to say our goodbyes.  When it came to my turn, I trembled.  My mother had been praying for ten years for my return to the Lord.  After eighteen years of service and following Jesus, I asked God to go away.  I had lost faith due to tragedies in my life in 1994. 

Mom often asked me when I was going to come back to the faith I once knew.  Lately, I had begun to feel that familiar pull of the Holy Spirit to repent of my sins and receive forgiveness.

 The Lord was knocking hard on the door of my heart. A lump the size of my fist was stuck in my throat as I approached this beautiful woman who had given me life.  Like my Grandmother, my Mom knew the Lord and was close to HIm.    Icema Pappas was the sweetest, non-obtrusive woman I had ever known. She was only moments away from the penalty passed upon all….death.  We would be separated, perhaps forever.

Years earlier, after my conversion, she and I had studied the Bible about the resurrection and the coming of Jesus.  It was in this study we saw the plan for those who die in Christ.  The clearest verse is found in 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18 (GW)

The Lord will come from heaven with a command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the dead who believed in Christ will come back to life.  Then, together with them, we who are still alive will be taken up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In this way, we will always be with the Lord.  So then, comfort each other with these words!

When I leaned in close to my Mom, who seemed to be at peace but under the influence of the drugs to help soften the sting of death, I said these words through wet tears dripping on her hand. I held her soft, sweet hands close to my face.

 “Mom, I will see you resurrection morning.”

Immediately, I felt a squeeze of her hand! Twice! That tightening of her hand had strength despite the drugs and impending death.  It communicated the unspoken words,

“You better be there.”

Even in death, her humor and concern for me came through loud and clear through that grip!

Like those who see their life pass before their eyes when they think they are about to die, I recounted my fall from grace.  My fall had been dramatic, just like my conversion.  When converted, I was compelled to teach others about what I had learned.  I became a Bible teacher with a very large class.  I got involved in prison ministry and a world-wide magazine did a story on my ministry.  A Christian brother (Charlie) and I began a radio ministry called Answers from Scripture.  When Billy Graham came to town, I participated in training to become a counselor.  For several nights, I had the incredible experience of working next to Jesus and the Graham team to help people start their “Jesus Journey.”

Jesus did things through me I never dreamed possible or likely.

But, a series of events in 1994 had me shaking my fist at God.  I felt He had forsaken me.  I turned back to the world and began to drink for the first time in my life.   After several years,  I became an alcoholic after feeling the deep pain of a sick child with a rare disease, a surprise divorce, losing my job unexpectedly, and the death of my father in a car wreck. Looking back, I should have pleaded with God, but I took the self-pity route.

I was so low that I could not feel God’s presence any longer, but He was there protecting me and hearing the prayers of these two powerful women in my life….not to mention many others in my church and my family.

This experience with my dying mother would only make that “still small voice.” louder.    Later that year, I would return to the Lord like the prodigal son…dirty, broke, and doubtful.  That is a story unto itself.  My God had not forsaken me!  He allowed me to waste my inheritance for the salvation of my soul.

My experience with my Creator is now stronger than ever before….in Christ, but I know that the prayers of these two beautiful women (and my ex-wife) interceded for me and stood in the gap by praying in my stead when I could not or would not do so.

(For my three-part conversion story, click here:)

A Clean Pig Returns to the Mud-Part 1

A Clean Pig Returns to the Mud-Part 2

A Pig Washed A Second Time-Conclusion

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Last night (New Year’s Eve 2015), I had the same feeling of hearing my name being presented to The Lord just like I heard from my grandmother and my mother years before.

My beautiful wife of almost two years (Judy) has a tradition of praying at midnight each new year. (What a contrast to the parties and drinking that I once indulged.)  I tried to stay up till midnight, but we both fell asleep.

I was awakened by a soft touch on my arm and the sound of my beloved wife praying for me at midnight. She said The Lord woke her at 11:55 PM to pray.

There is nothing more powerful than a praying and believing woman! During Christ’s time on earth, it was the women who were closer and more loyal than the fearful men.  These women dared the enemy of man and his agents by standing at the foot of the cross to comfort the dying Savior.  Except for John, the disciples had all fled.

I am blessed by the prayers of four women in my life:  My Grandmother, Mother, first wife (Mother of my children), and now my wife of two years, who encourages me along in my “Jesus Journey.” Also, those two female cousins I mentioned at the start also pray for me as I do for them!

Thank you, Judy, for carrying the prayer torch into another year and for praying for me…and my children.  May I come to know the Lord like the women in my life!

Yes, I am blessed by the women who love me.  But I bet you are, too!


“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous (woman) avails much.”

James 5:16

Inspiration, Prayer

A CHILD’S PRAYER

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Daddy, I’m going to pray my cat comes home.”

This morning, I was reminded of my daughter’s prayer when she was only 5 or 6 years-old. Some things in your memory just stay with you. This is one of them.

On a bright fall day, before my children were born, I was finishing up a bicycle ride that started at my Grandmother’s house and meandered through a local park. As I stopped at a four-way stop sign, I heard the weak sound of a kitten. I looked around and saw nothing until I heard the “plop” of a little black kitten fall from a small tree growing in the median of the two-lane parkway leading to Shelby park.

The desperate meowing grew louder as she came towards me. Her little skinny body and the pitiful sounds melted my heart! When I picked her up and cradled her in my hand next to the warmth of my body she began to purr loudly. I rode the last mile to my Grandmother’s house with the little furry sweetheart close to my heart in my left hand and the other hand on my handlebars. A very dangerous situation that prohibited me from shifting gears.

We feed her. She lapped up the milk and anything else we pulled from the refrigerator. Once she was feeling better, she showed-off her tree climbing skills. We were impressed that such a little kitten could race up the big oak tree so fast! She seemed at home in the tree.

From that day forward, Puss (from the story of Puss N Books) became a member of our little family. She grew to become a sleek athletic cat who preferred the outdoors. She was there waiting when we brought home all three of our children. She was always curious and protective of the new babies. As they grew older, the girls would dress Puss in doll clothes and push her around in a baby buggy. She endured her role as their infant for a while but eventually would jump out and run off…The girls would giggle and laugh as Puss shook her legs to kick off the remaining doll clothes!

During any holiday requiring fireworks, we kept Puss indoors because fireworks would frighten her, but on one 4th of July, she escaped to her beloved outdoors early in the day and we couldn’t find her as the day grew darker and the fireworks began. But, we didn’t worry because she always showed up.

The next morning, Puss did not scratch on the front window of the living room wanting in as was her usual custom. Sadly, one day turned into a week and a week into a month. My heart sank as I imagined a hawk or coyote snatching her up!

I was surprised that my oldest daughter said nothing about her missing furry sister. Almost three months later, I gave up and decided to put away Puss’s food bowl that was left out just in case she came home. Her food had long since been thrown away.

As I was thinking about this, my 5 or year-old daughter asked,

“Daddy, where is my cat?”


“I don’t know. Sweetheart. I think she may have found a new home.”


“Well, I”m going to pray she will come home.”

So she, her Mom, and I knelt at the foot of the floral-design living room couch where my doubting heart heard the simple precious words of my sweet little girl petition the God of the universe to send her little cat home. As she prayed I wondered how to tell her that Puss would probably never return. But then I thought I heard a familiar desperate meow. My heart jumped as the scratching at the back door began, accompanied by another weak meow. My wife and I looked at each other in unbelief, but my daughter jumped up and exclaimed as she ran, “My cat is home!”

We fed the skinny cat who lapped up the milk and anything else we could find in the refrigerator, just like the first time I brought her home!


Coincidence? I think not. Had the cat been living in the woods off mice or fed at someone else’s home? Probably. But, God in His great wisdom anticipated the sincere prayer of a little girl and sent Puss home.

God’s omnipotence is a hard thing for us to understand, but examples of the simple faith of a child demonstrate He knows our desires and needs before we ever ask for them.

“And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Isaiah 65:24