Dr. Mike Murphy
March 19, 2023
Anna sat in a panic. From the driver's seat, she sat fighting back the tears. The last thing she wanted was to upset her three young children who filled the back seat. As she watched the traffic hurrying by from the restaurant parking lot, she began to wonder what to do next. The only thought that filled her mind was how else could her life go wrong?
Earlier that day, Anna’s life had forever changed. She had looked in the eyes of a familiar face, and for the first time she had seen that face, not the image she had convinced herself she had been seeing for years. As she had stared at that face, she was suddenly filled with fear. She suddenly came to realize that the face she thought she loved, was the very face of evil that filled her nightmares.
For the last eight years, Anna had devoted her life to her boyfriend and their three children. She worked forty hours each week at a job she hated only so her kids could have the things they needed. The minute she walked into the house, her time became their time, preparing meals and attending to the needs of each. As for her boyfriend, parenting had not been his strongest suit. He had suffered from the effects of alcohol for years. His idea of watching the kids was to lock the doors and make sure they did not escape the house. What the kids did was of little concern, just as long as they did not bother him or spill his beer.
The alcohol had also cost her boyfriend many jobs. With each paycheck he would find his way to a local bar, and remained there until the doors closed or the money was gone. She would watch as he stumbled into the house each morning, either too late to go to work or too drunk to even function With the lose of each job his anger grew, and more often than not, she found herself the focus of that anger. The bruises had become an everyday part of life, something she had grown to accept and attempt to forget. A few times she had tried to stop him, even threatening to leave on a couple of occasions. But the threats just made the anger worse. He would make it clear, he would find her wherever she would go. And if he could not have her, no one would. It became easier to just remain silent than to anger him more. She had come to accept the circumstances she found herself in, the greater the anger the harder it had come to cover the bruises.
As Anna sat in that restaurant parking lot reflecting on what a mess her life had become, she remembered the events of earlier that evening. The events that had brought her to this moment. A single event that would no longer allow her bruises to be covered.
Before she could open the doors, she could hear the screams. As she fumbled with her keys trying to hurry in the house, she could sense the panic. But what she saw was something she was just not prepared for. Her boyfriend was holding their five year old son in the air, cursing at him and shaking him violently. As she saw her son being jerked around like a rag doll, she immediately ran to his defense. Grabbing her son and the rest of her kids, she locked all of them in their bedroom. As her boyfriend tried to break in the door, she told him that she was calling the police. Even in his drunk state, the fear took hold. He cursed and threatened her the whole way out the front of the door, and soon wandered off to a local bar to feed his anger.
As the door closed, Anna knew what she had to do. She immediately grabbed as many of the children’s clothes as she could and stuffed them in the first bag she could find. She quickly gathered all three of her children and made her way to the car. The thought of just where they would go suddenly became clear. For years her parents had be pleading with her to come home. To bring the kids with her, and escape the horror that had become her life. Now was the time she would swallow her pride, and take them up on the offer. It was no longer about her, it was now about her kids.
As she made her way out the door, she realized she only had two dollars to her name. Hopefully she would have enough gas to get them to the town her parents lived in, about ninety miles away. As she placed the kids in their seats, Anna began to notice that a neighbor was watching her closely. A neighbor that was related to the family of her boyfriend. A neighbor that would quickly tell what she was seeing.
Anna hurried out the driveway of the small house, and made her way to her parents with the utmost urgency. Anna was beginning to breathe again as she found herself on the opposite side of town. She was now about a hour away from the safety of her parent’s house. But in that moment, panic again came to Anna. She suddenly felt the car begin to bounce, and soon realized that her old car had a flat tire. Without a spare, she steered the car in a restaurant parking lot trying to buy her the time to figure out what to do next.
Doug was running late. As he arrived at the restaurant, he knew his friends would already be waiting on him at the table. As Doug hurriedly opened his door to rush out of his car, he noticed a twenty dollar bill on the ground next to him. He looked around to see if anyone had dropped it, and saw no one. So he stuck the bill in his pocket, deciding to ask someone in the restaurant if it might had been lost. As he closed the car door, he noticed a young woman sitting in her car with three kids. He quickly noticed that the car had a flat tire, and the young woman was sitting behind the wheel with a lost look on her face.
Doug thought to himself, that he was already late so a few more minutes could not make it worse. As Doug approached her car, the young woman rolled down her window, and Doug could see the tears forming in her eyes. The young woman told him she had just fled out of fear from her boyfriend. And as she was escaping to her parents house, her tire had gone flat. She told Doug that she did not have a spare, and did not have the money to buy a new tire or get that one fixed. Doug did all he could to calm her, and soon realized that he would not be meeting his friends that night.
Doug removed the tire from the car, and spotted a tire store a couple of blocks down the road. He took the tire to the store, and was able to quickly have it repaired. A simple nail had caused the flat, and a quick plug in the tire soon had him on his way back to the young woman. He arrived back at her car, and placed the tire back on. As he went to tell the young woman that all was taken care of, she reached out her hand to grab his. Realizing just how dirty his hands now were, he reached into his pocket to pull out a paper towel he had picked up at the tire store, As he reached for it to wipe his hands, out came the twenty dollar bill he had found earlier. Doug handed the twenty dollar bill to the young woman, insisting that she take it with her. Doug could not see any better purpose for it, than to be placed in her hands.
As Anna sat in her parents house a couple of days later, she began to reflect back on all that had happened. As she did, she remembered the twenty dollar bill that she had stuffed into the pocket of her jeans that evening. She quickly found the jeans, and pulled out the twenty dollar bill. As she did, she noticed something written on it,,Deuteronomy 31:6. It had been years since she had opened a Bible, but at that moment something was drawing her to read the verse. She searched the house and found a Bible her parents had, and soon found her way to the Book of Deuteronomy. The words she read sent chills up her spine. “ Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”
As Anna read the passage, tears again filled her eyes. So many questions now filled her mind. How did this verse come to be written on this bill? Had God been there for her in the car that day? Was it God who brought the man that helped her? Was God protecting her that day, watching over her and leading her to the safety of her parent’s house? Anna did not know the answers to these questions, but at that moment she was determined to find them.
She continued to read the Bible that day. And over the next month, she read that Bible everyday. Each day she would read the verses, and she would talk to God about what she read. As she read the pages of that Bible, she found her way to the Gospels, and for the first time read about Christ. The words in red changed Anna’s life forever, and as she read the words, she gave her life to Christ.
The story of Anna, is not a fictional story, it is true! Anna’s story is very much real. Anna experienced what I call an “unthought of prayer”. A prayer the Lord is already answering, even before we know the words to say. Times in our life when the Lord is already there to calm the waves, even before the storm hits and the sea rises. Before we even knew we would have the need, the Lord was already providing for us a way.
Praise the Lord that He puts so much thought into our unthought of prayers! The mercy and love that He puts into each. The desire to share that love with each of us. We have all watched as a new father gleams with joy at the birth of his son. Often times we will watch as that father will rush out and buy a baseball glove, a football, or some special gift for his new son. He knows it will be many years before his son can use these gifts, but he buys them because he so desires the joy that he knows this gift will one day bring. I believe God feels the same with each of us. Our Heavenly Father so desires to share His love with us and to keep us from harm, that He sends things our way before we even know to ask for them.
God Word tells us, “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.” In a future day, during what the Bible describes as the New Heaven and the New Earth, the Lord uses this verse to describe to us how He will care for each of us. I believe that God likes to share the joy this future time will bring with us a little early on occasions. Just like the new father, God desires for us to share with Him the joy that day will one day bring. Isaiah describes that future time as a day of complete joy. One without tears, and a time when crying will be heard no more. Only the Lord could have possibly foreseen that a verse marked bill could lead a young mother of three to share with Him in that future day!
The Lord changed Anna’s life in ways she could have never imagined. Anna not only found the Lord, she served the Lord. For several years Anna headed a Christian Women’s Ministry, and helped develop Christian shelters for women. She desired for other women to see what she had seen, that no matter the situation they may find themselves in, the Lord was always there. She devoted her life to helping other abused women find the love that only He could have shown her.
As for the man who helped Anna, she would one day meet Doug again. After speaking at a church one day, she watched as a familiar face from her past approached her. She quickly recognized Doug, and the story he told her brought the tears to her eyes once again. Doug told her that shortly after that evening, he shared what had happened with a friend of his. Doug told his friend just how much the incident had moved him, and that he could not shake it from his mind. Little did Doug know, but his friend has recently come to know Christ. As Doug told him the story, it opened a door for his friend to share Christ with him. Before the day was done, Doug found himself on his knees, accepting Christ as his Savior. After Doug shared the story, Anna reached into her purse, and handed Doug the twenty dollars she still owed him. She gave him a twenty dollar bill she had keep with her for years, the same twenty dollar, Bible verse marked bill, that had been slipped into her hand so many years before. I can picture the smile that must still come to the Lord’s face, as He remembers that twenty dollar bill, and the lives that were forever changed through one “unthought of prayer”!
Praying each of you will give a little thought to all the unthought of prayers the Lord has sent your way!
