During World War II a famous author was in trouble with the
Nazis. Accordingly, he and his wife fled southward through Germany
and into France, hoping to make the Spanish border.
The Gestapo was one step behind them, and capture meant a
concentration camp or worse. Traveling by night along deserted back
roads and across unfamiliar farmland, they finally achieved their
destination.
Spanish officials at the border, however, would not let them
cross. Bribes and pleading alike failed they were turned back.
Unwilling to give up, they took lodging for the night in the
little town in the Pyrennees called Lourdes. They would try again the
next day.
Before retiring for the night, the author took a walk and soon
found himself in front of the famous shrine. He paused for a moment,
then knelt down and said: “I do not believe in you I must be honest
and say so. But my danger is great, and in my extremity, on the
chance that you might after all be real, I ask your help. See my wife
and me safely across the border.”
He paused, tears in his eyes, “Do this,” he said, “and when we
reach the United States, I will write the story of this place for all
the world to read.”
Having finished his prayer, he returned to his hotel. A strange
feeling of peace had come over him. ”We will make it,” he told his
wife. ”I don’t know how, but we will make it.”
Within a week Franz Werfel and his wife did cross the border, and
less than a month later landed in the United States. The first thing
he did, once safe in this country, was to write a book, The Song of
Bernadette, the story of Lourdes.
Your prayers can be a source of strength, but with faith in
Christ, they are very powerful!
A VERSE TO REMEMBER
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not
depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he
will direct your paths.
Presented by Jonmarc Morgan