Congratulations to Giovanna Kranenberg, winner of The Joys of Christmas 2010. Quite a Christmas present! This week, we’ll be giving away the 2011 One-minute Devotions Page-a-Day Calendar, with true, bite-sized inspirational stories every day of the week. It’s a better way to wake up than morning coffee.
Speaking of wakeups, one of our readers, Shirley Gilbert, from Ringtown, Pennsylvania, recently had a dream that opened up her eyes… to a hidden danger that lurked in her home around the holidays:
“For the last twenty years, I would always hang Christmas wreaths on the bedroom windows when I would decorate.”
“One night, I had the most terrifying dream. I was outside and noticed our house engulfed in flames. My son and daughter were in their bedrooms looking out through the wreaths, screaming. I frantically yelled to them to open up the window and jump out. But neither of them could.”
“Both of them were trapped. The string that held the wreath to the window was tied around the lock and prevented the window from opening.”
“I was abruptly awakened. Immediately, I went to those windows and found out my dream was right. I could not open the window.”
“Never in twenty years had I known this. How could I possibly dream something that I didn’t know?”
Shirley wrote that she believes God was giving her a warning she needed to share with others. And now she is. Colorful decorations are part of what make Christmas such a joyous time of year… make sure they don’t turn your home into a deathtrap.
Thank you, Shirley, for sharing your story. This week’s Mysterious Ways newsletter tells the tale of a family hopelessly lost in a snowstorm… until a guiding light appeared in the darkness. Check it out, if you haven’t already.
Have you encountered any “Mysterious Ways” this holiday season, or in years past? We’d love to hear about them. Email us at mw@guideposts.org, or share your story right away in the comments below.
