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Inspirational Stories and Videos
A Great Example of Importunity
Leslie Lemke was born prematurely and not expected to live. A nurse by the name of May
Lemke agreed to adopt him. She worked diligently with him and prayed for 16 years that God
would show her something that Les could do. Those prayers were answered when she was
awakened one night by what she thought was the television set. It was not the television;
it was her invalid son playing Tchaicovsky's piano concerto # 1. I hope that you enjoy hearing May tell this story about a miracle in her own words.
A True Story About Healing
Marolyn Ford's Testimony
As a young lady, Marolyn began to lose her eyesight, and it progressively got worse
and worse. The Doctors told her that she had an irreversible eye disease called "Macular
Degeneration." They also told her that this would eventually result in blindness, and it did.
She lost her eyesight at the age of nineteen, and she had to go to a school for the blind
and learn how to tap with a cane and how to read braille. In spite of her condition, she decided to attend Bible College, and her Professors agreed to let her use a tape recorder
in their classes. While she was in school there, she met a young ministerial student by
the name of Acie Ford. They fell in love, and they got married; but of course, Marolyn
was never able to see the face of her loving husband. Eventually, God gave them both
a beautiful baby; but of course, Marolyn never got to see the face of her little baby. God
also gave them a small church to serve with some wonderful church members; but of course,
Marolyn was never able to see their faces. Because this was a small church, Acie had to
work a secular job to make ends meet, and this began to place an incredible strain upon
both of them. One night as they both prayed together and asked God to help them, God
performed a miracle, and this is how Marolyn describes the experience.
“That evening both of us were exhausted. Acie picked up a religious periodical,
and climbed into bed. After reading for a minute, Acie put the magazine down, got
on his knees for our nightly devotion, and began praying. We both began to cry as
he prayed with great feeling and boldness, ‘Oh, God! You can restore Marolyn’s eyesight
tonight, Lord. I know you can do it! And God, if it be Your will, I pray You will do it tonight.’
Perhaps neither of us was quite prepared for what happened. After twelve blurred and dark
years, there was sharpness and light. “Acie, I can see!” I exclaimed. “You’re kidding!”,
he answered I repeated, “I can see! I can see the pupils in your eyes!” Acie thought that
perhaps just a little vision had come back. I said, “Acie, it’s 12:30 at night, and you need
a shave! I can see!” Acie still couldn’t believe the miracle that had really occurred.
He grabbed a newspaper, pointed to the large print at the top of the page, and asked,
“Can you see this?” “I can do better than that!” I exclaimed, “I can read the smaller print!”
Acie got excited, “Marolyn, can you see the dresser? Can you see the bed?” We shouted
and praised the Lord for what He had done! Such a miracle was overwhelming… Jumping
off the bed. Acie asked the question again, “Marolyn, can you see!” “Yes!” I Said, “Praise
God! Praise God! Praise God! Glory, glory, glory to God! It can’t be!” Acie exclaimed. We
were beside ourselves with happiness. “This is heaven!” Acie shouted. “It has to be! Oh,
God why did It doubt You?” Then Psalms 116:12 came to Acie’s mind, and he quoted
it, “What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits toward me?”
A few days after this experience, Acie and Marolyn Ford went to see the eye Doctor
in order to let him confirm that a miracle had, in fact, occurred. The Doctor who had
examined her before her blindness put the eye charts in front of her, and she read them
with ease. He said to her, "I cannot doubt or deny that you can see, now, let's look into
your eyes." When he did, he gave a gasp, he said, "I don't understand it. There is really
no change." He said this was a bigger miracle than he would have believed, because,
medically speaking, it was impossible for her to be able to see; and yet, she was now
able to see perfectly.
Mama's Happiest Day
The Pastor R.G. Lee is best remembered for his famous sermon "Pay Day Some Day"
and for being the Pastor of the prestigious Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
He told this story about something that happened to him as a child that I find to be very
inspirational. When he was a little boy, he asked his mother this question; he said, "Mama
what would you say was the happiest day of your life?" He thought she was going to say
that it was the day he was born; but instead, she told a story about something that happened
to her when she was just a small child; she said,
"R.G., one day, when I was just a little girl, I was sitting on the front porch with my Mama
just after the Civil War had ended. We had gotten the news that my Daddy had died in
the war; and so, Mama had a sad look on her face as this group of young soldiers began
walking past our house on their way back home. We were snappin beans, and Mama had
a big bowl of beans in her lap. She looked down the road, and she said, 'Elizabeth, that
soldier way over there with only one arm looks a lot like your daddy.' But I said, 'No Mama,
you know that can't be daddy, because he was killed in the war. Then, a little bit later, she
said, 'Elizabeth that soldier with only one arm walks like your father.' Then, as the man
got closer, all of a sudden, she jumped to her feet, the beans went flying through the air,
and she began to shout, 'Elizabeth, it's your father! It's your father!! It's your father!!!
And it was. The news of my father's death had been erroneous, and we stood on that
front porch, and we hugged each other, and we laughed and we cried for hours.' Then,
R.G. said that his mother smiled, and she said, 'Yes, R.G. I do believe that was the happiest
day of my life.'"
After reading this story, I hope you will try to envision what it is going to be like when those
of us who are believers in Christ get to heaven, and we see our loved ones in the Lord again.
And then, we will get to see our Lord Jesus face to face. I do believe that will be the happiest day of our eternal life.
Old Eddie = A Story About Miraculous Provisions and Thanksgiving
It happens every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembles a giant orange and is starting to dip into the blue ocean. Old Ed comes strolling along the beach to his favorite
pier. Clutched in his bony hand is a bucket of shrimp.
Ed walks out to the end of the pier, where it seems he almost has the world to himself. The glow of the sun is a golden bronze now. Everybody's gone, except for a few joggers on the beach. Standing out on the end of the pier, Ed is alone with his thoughts....and his bucket of shrimp.
Before long, however, he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a thousand white dots come screeching and squawking, winging their way toward that lanky frame standing there on the end of the pier. Before long, dozens of seagulls have enveloped him, their wings fluttering and flapping wildly.
Ed stands there tossing shrimp to the hungry birds. As he does, if you listen closely, you can hear him say with a smile, 'Thank you. Thank you.'
In a few short minutes the bucket is empty. But Ed doesn't leave. He stands there lost in thought, as though transported to another time and place. Invariably, one of the gulls lands on his sea-bleached, weather-beaten hat - an old military hat he's been wearing for years. When he finally turns around and begins to walk back toward the beach, a few of the birds hop along the pier with him until he gets to the stairs, and then they, too, fly away. And old Ed quietly makes his way down to the end of the beach and on home.
If you were sitting there on the pier with your fishing line in the water, Ed might seem like
'a funny old duck,' as my dad used to say. Or, 'a guy that's a sandwich shy of a picnic,' as
my kids might say. To onlookers, he's just another old codger, lost in his own weird world, feeding the seagulls with a bucket full of shrimp.
To the onlooker, rituals can look either very strange or very empty. They can seem altogether unimportant....maybe even a lot of nonsense. Old folks often do strange things, at least in the eyes of Boomers and Busters. Most of them would probably write Old Ed off, down there in Florida.
That's too bad. They'd do well to know him better. His full name: Eddie Rickenbacker. He was
a famous hero back in World War II. On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived, crawled out of their plane, and climbed into a life raft. Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No water. They were hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were. They needed a miracle.
That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle. They tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged. All he could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft.
Suddenly, Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a seagull! Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he managed to grab it and wring its neck. He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal - a very slight meal for eight men - of it. Then they used the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait......and the cycle continued.
With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until they were found and rescued. (after 24 days at sea...)
Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the sacrifice
of that first lifesaving seagull. And he never stopped saying, 'Thank you.' That's why almost
every Friday night he would walk to the end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart
full of gratitude.
(Max Lucado, In The Eye of the Storm, pp.221, 225-226)
PS: Eddie was also an Ace in WW I and started Eastern Airlines.
About This Video
Charles Kuralt said that there was no lesson to be learned here except that the family is not
necessarily a dying institution. I disagree. It is obvious that Alex and Mary Chandler had
a deep faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they passed their faith on to their children.
Have You Ever Heard of David Ring?
David's testimony is truly inspiring. I have heard it many times, and it still makes me
cry and praise the Lord for what He has done for and through this great man.
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THE SURPRISE RESURRECTION OF FRANK CLEMENTS Bob Russell The Lookout 6/1/97 p. 14
When Frank Clements turned 18 he joined the Air Force and soon became a 2nd Lieutenant. He flew bombing missions across the English Channel during WWII. One day a message from the military came to the Clements' home in Big Spring, Texas. It read, "Frank Clements, missing in action." Frank's parents left their home and their little repair shop and hurried to the E. 4th St. Baptist church to inform their minister, Elmer Dunham. They wept and prayed together that Frank's life would be spared.
Two weeks later the dreaded telegram came that read, "Frank Clements killed in action in the English channel. Our deepest sympathy." Frank's parents were overwhelmed with grief. The town of big Spring had a memorial service to remember Frank. Someone placed a red rose on the empty casket. The entire community mourned his death.
But Lt. Frank Clements from Big Spring, Texas was not dead. Another Frank Clements with a different middle initial had been shot down and killed over the English Channel. Frank from Big Spring was shot down also, but had survived the crash. He took a small boat back across the channel and returned to the Allied base.
Since he'd gone through such an ordeal, Frank was given a leave of absence and permission to take a furlough back to the States. He was a young man and decided it was not necessary to call in advance. He wanted to surprise his family and was not aware of the premature notice of his death and the grief that his loved ones were experiencing at home.
Frank flew to New York, then to Dallas, and then took a Greyhound bus to Big Spring. He walked home from the bus depot. He approached the little repair shop in the back of the house and stood in the doorway watching his dad fixing a small appliance. His dad's back was turned when Lt. Frank Clements simply called out quietly, "Dad... Dad."
When the old man turned and saw his son he couldn't believe his eyes. he raced to his son and uncharacteristically embraced him. Then Mr. Clements raced toward the house shouting, "He's alive! He's alive! Frank's alive!" Then next day the headline of the local paper read "LT. FRANK CLEMENTS RETURNS - ALIVE!!!"
