Unless the LORD had helped me, I would soon have died.  I cried out, "I'm slipping!" and your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me.  When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.  Psalms 94:17-19 (NLT)

Well, I always knew this would happen.  The Note has exploded around the world, now reaching 61 countries.  Each week more people ask to receive it while others forward it on to those who need encouragement.  And we’re receiving record numbers of responses.  Many tell how God used the Note to speak to them, others just thank us for this rather odd ministry.  Some will disagree with something we’ve written, which is good because that helps us grow spiritually.  And then there are the few who become so upset they feel the need to question whether my parents were married at the time of my birth.

But such growth has its down side.  While I read each and every response, I can no longer reply to them all.  Someone here will, but the time is no longer there for me, though I’ll still answer as many as I can.  And for me that’s sad because for 5 years I’ve answered them all and enjoyed doing it.  So when this finally hit me the other day, I was pretty down about it and found myself thinking things like, “But if I don’t answer, how can I help this person?  What if they need my wonderful wisdom and I don’t give it?  If I don’t…If I can’t…”  Notice all the “I’s” in there?  Then I got this email.

I was so depressed yesterday, close to the holidays, my dad died December 15 about ten years ago, my granddaughter died December 31, two years ago, and I’ve been overwhelmed with all that has been going with my son and grandson, feeling low about my weight and health as well.

Short testimony about me...My name is Madeline.  I'm 50 years old.  I have a son, Miguel.  He has never seen his father, who left me when I was three months pregnant.  I have a wonderful grandson and his name is Michael.  I came from a home where I was physically and verbally abused, was molested by a baby sitter, was raped by two men, almost raped by another man at knife point, was molested by a family member, almost molested by another family member.

One thing I know for sure…no matter what, God hears our prayers from the moment we cry out to Him and in His perfect timing we will have our answer.  No matter how bad things look or seem, nothing is impossible for Him.