I was very tired one day and feeling rather lonely. Divorced for several years now, I began to think back to the time when I prayed for God to give me a husband. I was only a high school student then, but I felt I needed him.

God did give Mr. Right to me, but I didn't recognize it at the time. So I ended up married to someone else and found myself mothering seven biological children.

As my special-needs daughter sat on the sofa next to me, I began to think what life would have been like had my high school fiancé been my husband. My mind quickly shifted to whether or not he would still accept me now after all this time, and better still if he would accept my special-needs daughter.

I considered that he might not accept her and she might be in my way.

You see, I was raised around women who would sacrifice anybody and anything to be in a relationship with a male partner, even one not necessarily the father of her children. So the loneliness I felt was as deep in my past as it was in me, and the cause of much mental struggle.

As I continued with my What-If thinking, I looked at my daughter and was shocked to notice her face turning pale. Something dreadfully wrong was happening to her. I could see her slipping into unconsciousness before my very eyes.

Although my daughter is light-skinned, she was a ghostly white. Her eyes turned to mine and her head slumped back into the cushions. Her tongue slowly moved in her mouth as though it was very dry. She gave me a sullen, eerie half-smile through drooping eyelids. It almost seemed as if she knew what I was thinking.

I stared at her for a moment, then my spirit jolted. I realized as surely as I walk this earth that death had crept upon my daughter.

I had to make a decision. Would I allow the imaginings of a weak soul and fleshly desires drain the very life from my child?

Or would I rebuke my thoughts and act quickly enough to save her? She was helpless, as are so many people in our society, and God had given me the power to help her.

Immediately I repented, asking God to forgive me for my selfishness and to restore my daughter to life and health again.

I continued to pray as I ran to the phone and called a prayer partner and friend of faith, explaining the situation as quickly as I could. We prayed according to Matthew 18:19:

Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.

I watched as the Hand of God restored my daughter's life. Together my prayer partner and I worshipped and praised God.

I was both relieved and amazed, but most of all my faith in God increased. Hallelujah!

I have learned not to play games with people's lives, just as I have learned that life is a precious gift given to us by God.

There are many lonely women in this world today and at times we feel we would give anything to have a man's love and his warm embrace. Although I have always been a woman of principle, this was a difficult pattern for me overcome. I give God the glory for making this happen. I'm glad He taught me the important lesson of how real love, God's love, is far greater than passing desires.

Because of His mercy and His grace and because He has saints like Minister Cassandra M. from Detroit, standing ready to intercede and to help others, my daughter is now 22 years old and living in the grace, mercy and power of God.

Tenya W.

Detroit, MI