Although I was raised in a Christian home and accepted Christ as my savior at the age of 10, as I became an adult I wandered farther and farther away from God and the church. I never forgot the basic Christian doctrines that I had learned as a young person, but I did not always put them into practice. When life was not the greatest, I especially remembered how much God loved me and that all things happened for a purpose and for the good of His children. This knowledge got me through some stressful times and enabled me to overcome grief at the death of my parents and other loved ones. While God did not want me to stray from the protection of his arms, He was always faithful and kind to me in not letting anything disastrous happen. I realize now that He had a plan all along. He knew that He would use all of the experiences that I had in life (whether good or bad) to benefit others for the good of His kingdom. About two and a half years ago God spoke to me and told me that it was time that I returned to Him. He led me to a church that had a new pastor. Having met the greatest pastor I had ever known, and feeling the presence of God and the love among this congregation of believers, I knew that this was absolutely where God intended for me to be. He has allowed me to use my organizational and administrative skills to serve, and has used my knowledge of adverse situations to help others. My spiritual growth under this pastor far exceeds all of the growth that I experienced previously in my life. Praise God for my pastor! I knew that Jesus was the Son of God and had died so that my sins could be forgiven and forgotten. However, I didn’t realize that He also died so that by believing in Him, I could have direct access to the Father. As a young person I knew the power of prayer. However, I believed that because I had sinned after my salvation, that God probably had prayers of more righteous people to listen to and answer. I thought that my prayers were probably way down on His list of priorities, since that was where I had put Him for so many years. Was I ever wrong. I had to come to the realization that “there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” (John 15:7). God wants all of His children to approach Him with confidence, knowing that he hears and answers every prayer. God has been so faithful to answer ALL of my prayers. The most miraculous of all is the next part of my story: About 13 years ago my step-daughter, who had been living in east Texas, was pregnant and came to us for help. She was 17 years old, scared, not wanting to be an adult yet and actually wanting an abortion. She did not want to marry the father of the baby because he was “too nice”. While the father was ready to settle down and start this family, that was not what she wanted. She would not even tell us who he was for fear that we would make her marry him. We talked her out of having an abortion and helped her financially until after the baby was born. Thank God that there was no abortion. We had a precious, blond haired, blue eyed grand- daughter named Kelli. When Kelli was six months old, she and her mother moved back to east Texas. Her mother made a lot of bad choices in her life, and when Kelli was 3 years old she came to live with us. She has always been a blessing to us. She is a wonderful child whom people are drawn to because of her loving nature and outgoing personality. When Kelli started elementary school and saw the other typical two-parent families, she started to get curious about her father. She wanted to find out who he was and meet him. Her mother finally told us who he was, but by this time no one could find him. When I returned to a close relationship with God we started praying for the desires of Kelli’s heart (1) that her mother would change her life for the better, (2) that her mother would move back to Katy so she could be with her and still be near us and, (3) that she could find her dad In the last two years, Kelli’s mom did a complete turn around in her life, all for the better. Kelli is now 12 years old and at the start of school this year, we decided it was time for Kelli to be living with her mother again. Her mother did not want to move to Katy, so Kelli moved to east Texas. Everyone was adjusting to the change and things were going smoothly. One Saturday, Kelli and her mom stopped at a garage sale and saw an old friend of Kelli’s dad. (You find the neatest things at garage sales!) The friend knew where her dad was and they were able to get in touch with him. He was absolutely thrilled. He had tried numerous times to find them, to no avail. He said that he had been waiting for that phone call for years. He immediately went to see her and start a relationship with her. He told Kelli that he had always loved her and her mother. Kelli and I then asked God to bring her mother and dad together, that they would get married and Kelli could be raised by both of her parents. Within two weeks Kelli’s mom called to tell me that she now realizes what she had run away from 13 years earlier. Seeing what a loving, caring and forgiving person that this man is, she has fallen completely in love with him and they are planning to be married. They plan on moving to Katy to start their new life together. Kelli had great faith and all of her prayers were answered. She has no doubt that God made all of this happen. We know that this was God’s plan all along and that in all things (good or bad), He has worked for our good. God is so loving, good, kind and compassionate. There is no end to the positive adjectives to describe our wonderful Father in Heaven. He wants only what is good for his people; He is faithful to answer EVERY prayer.