Honoring The Miracle Of Friendship!
If we could only see into the Supernatural….Wow, that would sure change a lot of things….however, knowing Jesus we believe in the Supernatural Eternal that dominates our world and the ‘here-after.’
Lots of things to pray for, especially the families affected by the recent earthquake. However, please allow me to bring something a little closer to our realm. MaryAnne Butler, Vice-President of Blessed Abundance Ministry and friend since 1978, graduated (as my son, Greg would say) to be with the Lord on Mother’s Day, 2015.
This email is to honor her and share the miracles I saw God work in her life. She has been one of my heroes for years because she fought to be rid of an allergy that caused all her skin to itch. She prayed, sought medical doctors, alternative doctors, nutritionists, etc. She would get better, but never completely free…..the hero part is that she could not dye her hair, wear make-up or jewelry, and even some fabrics were irritating….. so the ‘hero’ part is that she never lost faith in Jesus and her attitude was always great! Oh, she had her down times, but her ability to keep on, keeping on was awesome!
We don’t think much about friendship as a ‘miracle’ but it is. The blessings we receive from others, the prayer partnership we share, is part of the Kingdom of God within us, and many lives are changed by our prayer agreement–more than we ever know.
Transition is the word the Lord gave me about the anointing He gave her. As she was continually in the middle of changes in business, relationships or friendships she was praying for smooth transition for all who were involved. And, most of the time the recipients had no idea they were being blessed. Now, how many of us would think of that or even do it (unless of course we were ask to) ?
Last August MaryAnne (she liked MerryAnne) was told she had liver cancer. We all began to pray, she chose to do chemo-therapy. As she went through three attempts to handle this she had to have a ‘pace-maker’ installed in her heart, lost her hair, and was unable to eat very little. She had her down times but still held her faith for healing and prayed for everyone around her. She would stop the technician when he gave her blood transfusions and say, “Wait I have to pray this is the blood of Jesus you are using.” She inspired other patients around her and helped them though their transition as she went through hers.
One night a couple of weeks ago, I watched a episode of NCIS Los Angeles. One of the detectives brought in a huge cactus. At the end of the show as he returned to the office there was a beautiful large white flower on the top of the cactus. That next morning as I prayed for MaryAnne I had a vision of a beautiful tall cactus with a gorgeous white flower at the top and the Lord said to me, “MaryAnne is like this cactus, taking in hurts and pains all her life and now she is like that beautiful flower blessing all who know her.” I shared this with her and she was in tears, it touched her heart–ten days later she was gone. The miracles she was responsible for through her prayers only God knows, and now she may know too. The vision was a miracle, especially since God seemed to use a TV program to set it up.
If there is one word to describe MaryAnne, it would be KIND. She had a few distant relatives however, no children, never having married, she was family to everyone around her, one of the most generous, kindest person ever–and oh, yes she was just a young 67.
Thrilled to think of her in heaven, but sure leaves a hole in our heart–we will all miss her–the world was a better place because of her. And, we will have to pray more to fill the gap because we are now missing a great prayer-warrior!
Pressing in, and on pressing on in her memory…..