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{Straight From the Heart} *The Music Box Miracle* 5/30/00
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Welcome to "Straight From the Heart!"
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The Music Box Miracle
By: Karen Briggs
Our friendship began with Joni's penpal ad in a monthly magazine. When I
answered that ad several years ago, I never could have imagined the
journey I was setting out upon! My first letter to her, one of
introduction, went unanswered for three months. I'd long since forgotten
writing it when her response finally arrived.
In spite of that slow start, we soon discovered much in common -- a
shared love of writing and music and gardening and needlework -- but in
many ways our lives were vastly different. She was thirty-three and
recovering from a second abusive marriage and divorce; I was ten years
older and had been married since I was a teenager to the love of my
life. Joni had routinely endured abuse I could scarcely imagine. She did
not believe in God; I had a lifelong faith which, while shaky at times,
had a firm foundation.
Our friendship flourished by way of the inky trail. We exchanged recipes
and cross-stitch patterns and garden seeds. Our lives became happily
entwined as our frequent letters traveled across the many miles between
us. The friendship filled a need in both of us for that special
relationship neither of us was fortunate enough to have with our
biological sisters. She poured out her heart to me, as though the simple
act of telling me the horrors of her life would somehow cleanse her soul
and put her shattered hopes and dreams back together again. I listened
and prayed and tried my best to help her find the peace she was so
desperately searching for in her life. The long letters soon were
interspersed with equally lengthy phone calls. We laughed and cried
together, and though a thousand miles separated us, we became sisters of
the heart.
In the summer of '96, Joni's world once again came crashing down around
her as a relationship she was involved in abruptly ended. She became
suicidal and many times in the wee hours of the mornings to follow, I
found myself on the phone with her, reassuring my precious friend that
she was loved and that her life could again be worth living. My
insistence that she seek professional help fell on deaf ears. It seemed
as though there was little I could do as I beseeched God to show me a
way to help her.
One day I was walking through the mall with Joni very much on my mind. I
wandered into a card shop, where my attention was immediately drawn to a
music box on a shelf among many other music boxes. It was a small box
with a short poem of friendship in its lid. As I opened it, my mind was
filled with good memories as it played "You Are My Sunshine," a song I'd
often sung to my children in their childhood years. I listened to the
melody and then closed the lid and continued on my way. As I once again
resumed my shopping, I felt the gentle touch of an unseen hand on my
shoulder guiding me back to the shop and an urgent need to send that
music box to Joni. I bought it and mailed it to her the following
day.
Three days passed before I answered my phone to find Joni there crying.
She managed, between her tears, to explain to me that she had decided to
end her life and had made a list of ten things she needed to do first.
One item on that list was to hear the song "You Are My Sunshine" one
last time. It was a song she'd loved as a child and brought back happy
memories of those days. Having it come to her as it did reminded her of
the love of her faraway friend and prompted her to add one more thing to
her list -- she wanted to come meet me.
Two very long days later, Joni arrived on my doorstep. What a joy it was
to finally meet this friend I'd come to love so dearly. We talked and
cried and laughed a lot in the next five days and through the miracle of
our friendship, she discovered a desire to live again. As for me, my
faith in God was strengthened as I watched in amazement the way He used
a simple childhood song in a music box sent to a friend. I learned never
to doubt the stirrings of a small still voice or the touch of an angel's
hand.
God truly does work in mysterious ways, or perhaps His answers to His
children's heartfelt prayers are not so mysterious at all. Whatever the
explanation, I thank Him for my friendship with Joni and for that tiny
treasure of a music box.
Karen Briggs
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Karen writes from a small town in upstate NY where she lives with her
husband and adult son. With her kids grown, she is now pursuing a
life-long interest in writing. E-mail is welcome at kjbriggs@angelfire.com
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REQUEST:
From: CJ010740@aol.com (CJ)
Michael I have never requested anything like this before but felt compelled to do
so...a very good friend and dear man and I have both been diagnosed
with cancer....he has cancer of the spine and I have lung cancer....
we both need God's intervention to help us during this trying time ...
we need your prayers and those of your friends...thank you in advance.
You and your precious family are always in my prayers...
Just me CJ
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Thought For The Day:
"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch
what they do."
(Andrew Caregie)
Verse for the Day:
"Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by
what I do."
James 2:18
Kid's Thought for the day:
"If splashing in puddles means you have to wear wet shoes the rest of
the day, sometimes it's worth it."
Parent's Thought For The Day
"Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope."
(Bill Cosby)
Coach's Thought For The Day
"I have had players who are good, and know they are good; I have had
players who are bad and know they are bad; I have had players who are
good, but who don't know they are good; I have had players who are bad,
but who don't know they are bad. It is this last group that has won
more games for me than the first three groups combined."
(Paul "Bear" Bryant)
Deep Thought For The Day:
"I'm not saying that the customer service in my bank is bad, but when
I went in the other day and asked the clerk to check my balance...
she leaned over and pushed me."
_
/_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\ / THUNDER27@aol.com http://members.aol.com/Thunder27/index.html
/_/ \ "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \ Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live for the Son
\_\/ of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20
Video Imagery (Michael's Video Production Business)
"I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch the video
we gave them. They loved it, to say the least! Within thirty
seconds my mom was crying and my dad did too. They said it was
the best Christmas gift we could have given them!! You did such
a beautiful job! They were so suprised and so touched---they
really, really, really loved it. Thanks for helping to make it so
special to us all. My mom mentioned how the songs were perfect for
the video too! Thanks again!"
Kelli (RKaGe@aol.com) College Station, TX
Let me make you a video from your pictures or home movies!
Check out the web page for Michael's video production business!
Video Imagery
http://members.aol.com/Videoimg/index.html