This past week, I received two letters from readers of Abundant Gifts .
One was from Nigeria. A young woman said she had picked up my book when she went to a pharmacy to get drugs for a sore throat. (A pharmacy in Africa! You never know where your book will show up.) She picked up the book, leafed through it, and put it down. Her fiance, who was with her, bought it for her as a gift. “I was so thrilled and I cherish the book so much,” she wrote.
(By the way, the letter was dated 12-04-07. Am I in the Twilight Zone?)
The other letter was from a woman who prayed daily for me as I was writing Abundant Gifts , way back in 1997/98. She said she is still reading Abundant Gifts and–get this–still praying for me and my family every day!
I want to honor this dear saint. Her name is Barbara Kuehn, we met through a mutual friend, now deceased, who also told Barbara about my book and my writing. Barbara started praying for me every day as I wrote, and–wonder of wonder–she has prayed for me every day since!
I am humbled and honored beyond words.
Folks, this is why I write.
Isn’t this why we do anything we’ve been gifted to do? When we do, we touch lives, and they touch our life back.
Barbara Kuehn’s gift is, in her own words, “the gift of intercession and encouragement, and that’s what I want to do.” Her gift has blessed others and it’s blessed her: “God is so good that he gave me these to do because of my circumstances and it has been awesome.”
Awesome, indeed.