The Johnsons: God's Amazing Grace

The Johnsons: God's Amazing Grace - Amazing Stories | CBN.com

The video and following excerpt is from CBN.com:

By Audra Smith

CBN.com – “We couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas gift. That was the greatest gift God could have ever given us.”

Dawn Johnson’s Christmas miracle really began with a promise she made as a 19-year-old girl. During a mission trip to Haiti, she visited a small, third world hospital.

She tells The 700 Club, "I remember going to this hospital with this gentleman, and I had asked that gentleman, 'What is in that room?' I remember him opening the door, and there were rows and rows of babies. I was horrified when he said, 'This is our dying room.'

"I locked eyes with one infant. I remember my eyes and my heart speaking back to that child, saying, 'One day, one day I promise I will make a difference for children like you.'"

As she grew older, Dawn never forgot her promise. She started her family with her husband Tom and had four biological children. They began to foster and eventually adopted Hailey in 1996. In 2004, they felt led to adopt again, this time a baby named Grace from Ethiopia.

"We knew immediately, just at how God has spoken, that this was the little girl we were supposed to have."

In May of 2005, Tom and Dawn traveled to Ethiopia to pick up their daughter.

"We walked into this room. It was lined up with these little cradles, and I remember passing one by one. Little Gracie’s eyes were wide open and instant connection. She looked at me and I looked at her, and it was such a beautiful connection because the last time I had stared into the eyes of an infant like that was in the devastation of Haiti. All of the sudden, this grin that took up her whole face exploded."

The next day, Dawn and Tom learned the hard truth about Gracie’s background.

"I remember the instructor sharing with us that our little girl had been found. She had been abandoned in a field underneath a little nook in a bush with a rope placed around her neck. She had been left naked, no food, no water, for two days. They couldn’t even get her birth date exactly on. They had to make a guess."

On May 23, 2005, Gracie came home to the States to her new brothers and sisters. But the Johnsons had more hard news waiting for them. When they took Gracie in for routine blood work, their doctor called with a sobering report.

Dr. Liebert says, "She did have an active Hep B infection that she probably ended up getting at the time of birth. For children that are chronic Hep B carriers, there is not a lot of treatment available and these children can go on to have cerosis when they are older. That can go on to have cancer."

Dawn says, "I didn’t know at that point how devastating Hep B can be, but I knew that she could be a very, very sick little girl. So after hearing the news, immediately we went in our bedroom and we prayed. We took our little girl and we prayed over her."

Just days later, the Johnsons felt God leading them to attend a healing crusade.

"At the healing crusade, I remember the pastor saying, 'People, pray, ask God anything and just believe. I remember placing her hand on her head, closing my eyes and just praying, 'Lord, just heal her. That is all I ask of You.' A beautiful vision came before me. I saw the side of Jesus had walked up in front of me and I just saw from His shoulder down. He was taking her disease, which He died on the cross to do. He was giving her His purity, His life, His healing through this circular blood flow. It was the most powerful thing I have ever witnessed, and I said, 'Father God, You are healing her. I claim this for her.'"

In December, the Johnsons took Gracie back in to have her blood retested.

"My cell phone rang, and it happened to be our doctor. He said, “Dawn, I have great news for you. I have a special gift for you.' It was just before Christmas, and Gracie’s blood came back clean and pure and Hep B negative."

Dr. Liebert confirms, "Her liver enzymes were back to normal. All evidence of the Hep B virus within her blood completely disappeared. She is the first one I’ve seen that has actual been able to completely clear the Hep B."

"What a beautiful time to give us for Christmas," Dawn says. "That Christmas was the most special Christmas we will ever celebrate. It is the gift that He gave us of her and her healing and all that she has been since!"

Today, Gracie is five years old and healthier than ever. She even has a little brother, Joseph, from the same orphanage in Ethiopia. Dawn says, "Everyday is such a miracle day. I am reminded everyday when I see her and the joy she has in her heart and in her spirit of God’s grace and love. He hears our cry and He wants to save us just as He saved that little girl. He is waiting for you."

Read More: God's Amazing Grace

Image of Virgin Mary Appears in Candle Wax



Candle wax forms into image of Virgin Mary


Virgin Mary in Candle: Image of Virgin Mary Appears in Candle Wax - ktla.com

The following excerpt is from KTLA.com:

ALHAMBRA, Calif. ( KTLA) -- A woman in Alhambra says she made an astonishing discovery when she finished praying the rosary earlier this month. She noticed an image of the Virgin Mary formed in candle wax.

Mari Valenzuela says she has been saying the rosary every night for the past several months, but nothing unusual ever happened until the night of December 4th.

That's when she pulled out her rosary, lit a candle and began praying. When she finished, she noticed that the candle had melted and formed an image that looks amazingly like the Virgin Mary.

She says her priest says the image proves that all that praying is a message of faith and that "she's on the right track" in her life.

Valenzuela says she doesn't know what to do with the figure but wants to share it with as many people as she can.

Read More: Image of Virgin Mary

U.S. Catholic universities seeing influx of Muslim students

U.S. Catholic universities seeing influx of Muslim students

The following excerpt is from The Washington Post:

By William Wan -Washington Post Staff Writer

On a quick break between classes last week, Reef Al-Shabnan slipped into an empty room at Catholic University to start her daily prayers to Allah.

In one corner was a life-size painting of Jesus carrying the cross. In another, the portrait of a late priest and theologian looked on. And high above the room hung a small wooden crucifix.

After her more than two years on campus, though, it has become routine and sacred in its own way. You can find Allah anywhere, the 19-year-old from Saudi Arabia said, even at the flagship university of the U.S. Catholic world.

In the past few years, enrollment of Muslim students such as Shabnan has spiked at Catholic campuses across the country. Last year, Catholic colleges had an even higher percentage of Muslim students than the average four-year institution in the United States, according to the Higher Education Research Institute. The influx has astonished and sometimes befuddled administrators. Some Catholic campuses are creating prayer rooms for new Muslim students and hiring Islamic chaplains to minister to them. Others are unsure how to adapt.

Muslim students say they enroll at Catholic schools for many of the same reasons as their classmates: attractive campuses, appealing professors and academic programs that fit their interests. But there is also a spiritual attraction to the values that overlap the two faiths.

"Because it is an overtly religious place, it's not strange or weird to care about your religion here, to pray and make God a priority," said Shabnan, a political science major who often covers her head with a pale beige scarf. "They have the same values we do."

Muslim students find themselves immersed in what can seem at times alien iconography. Almost every classroom is adorned with a crucifix. Statues of the Virgin Mary and Holy Child dot the campus. Professors often open their classes with an appeal to Jesus. Courses in theology are an undergraduate requirement.

That's how Shabnan found herself buying her first Bible, for a required Old Testament class. It's also the reason, she said with a smile, that she registered for an introductory course on Islam.

"I was looking for an easy course," she said. "I learned a lot that was new to me . . . and just seeing how someone completely outside our religion views it was fascinating."

During his more than four years as a graduate student at Catholic, Ali Basiri has become one of the regulars at the small chapel in Caldwell Hall, the oldest building on campus. Basiri, 27, has spent so much time in the chapel's pews that he has befriended the organist who practices there.

In Iran, Basiri said, all schools run by the Islamic government are religious. The Iranian university where he studied for his bachelor's degree was named after a Muslim cleric, and his engineering department had detailed rules for praying and a dedicated room separated for men and women by blankets.

But at Catholic, he has forged new ways to connect spiritually. Several times a week, the electrical engineering student makes his way past the marble statue of the Virgin Mary at the Caldwell chapel entrance and listens in the pews to Islamic prayers on his MP3 player.

"I feel there is something powerful here because people are thinking about God all the time and not just about their own life or studies," Basiri said.

He has struck up friendships with equally fervent Catholic believers.

"We do this thing where he teaches me his prayers in Arabic, and I share with him the prayers I say as a Catholic," said one of his friends, Kenny White, 20, a sophomore from Annapolis. "I've learned about God by learning about him and his own faith. It's been a really important and beautiful part of being here."

"I think there's a lot of benefits to having students of other faiths here," he said. "They bring the grace of many of their own religious traditions."

Muslim students there say they have benefited as well. In his years at Catholic, Basiri said, he has experienced a long list of firsts: meeting a nun and priest, celebrating Mass, witnessing Easter and Thanksgiving.

Read More: U.S. Catholic Universities See Influx of Muslim Students

Intercessory Prayers to St. Michael the Archangel



St. Michael the Archangel
Photo by Loci B. Lenar


Prayers to St. Michael the Archangel


Novena Prayer to St Michael

Saint Michael the Archangel, loyal champion of God and His people, I turn to you with confidence and seek your powerful intercession. For the love of God, Who made you so glorious in grace and power, and for the love of the Mother of Jesus, the Queen of the Angels, be pleased to hear my prayer. You know the value of my soul in the eyes of God. May no stain of evil ever disfigure its beauty. Help me to conquer the evil spirits that tempt me. I desire to imitate your loyalty to God and Holy Mother Church and your great love for God and people. And since you are God's messenger for the care of His people, I entrust to you this special request: (mention your request)

St. Michael, since you are, by the will of the Creator, the powerful intercessor of Christians, I have great confidence in your prayers. I earnestly trust that if it is God's holy will, my petition will be granted.

Pray for me St. Michael, and also for those I love. Protect us in all dangers of body and soul. Help us in our daily needs. Through your powerful intercession, may we live a holy life, die a happy death and reach heaven where we may praise and love God with you forever. Amen

In thanksgiving to God for the graces bestowed on St. Michael: 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Glory Be


Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen

***

Devotional Prayers

(The statue of St. Michael can be seen inside the Church of St. Ann in Hoboken, NJ.)

Healing Mass Celebration Scheduled for 2011 at World Apostolate of Fatima, USA



Blessed Sacrament Chapel
Photo by Loci B. Lenar

By Loci B. Lenar

The World Apostolate of Fatima, USA, will celebrate a Healing Mass every month throughout 2011 with Father Paul Ruge. The next scheduled Mass will begin with Divine Mercy Prayer at 3:00 PM on Sunday, January 6, 2011 in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and include the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. 

The National Blue Army Shrine is located in Warren County on the grounds of the World Apostolate of Fatima at 674 Mountain View Road, Washington, New Jersey. 

I would recommend calling the Catholic shrine at (908) 689-1700 for any changes or updates on the Healing Mass schedule.  The schedule will be posted on the shrine's website after Christmas.

I would recommend to anyone that has a medical condition to attend the Healing Mass at the shrine. If you cannot attend, consider calling or visiting your local church and request a copy of their annual mass schedule. Most Catholic churches will have at least one Healing Mass during the calender year which includes the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

Other Christian denominations hold various healing services as well. Check with the local church pastor.

Holy scripture says the following about God's healing grace:

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. -James 5:14-15

With those words from scripture in mind, please consider joining Father Paul Ruge as he celebrates Mass at 3:00 PM (EST) in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.

Healing Mass Schedule

January 16
February 13
March 12
April 10
May 15
June 19
July 10
August 14
September 11
October 16
November 13
December 11

Please consider visiting Christian-Miracles.com and reading Father Paul Ruge's interview with Fr. Hubert Schiffer. Father Schiffer miraculously survived the atomic explosion on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima, Japan. To read the story and to view a documentary trailer, please visit the following link: Rosary Miracle at Hiroshima

The Peace of Saint Francis of Assisi

This is a guest post by Kenji Crosland of TeachStreet.  TeachStreet is a website dedicated to providing online and local classes, as well as classes on religion.

I remember the first time I had visited Assisi Italy, the home of St. Francis in the Summer of 2003.  Before we had even entered the town where St. Francis preached, we witnessed the fields sweep by our bus windows, radiating gold in the sun.  It was no small wonder that it was in this place that St. Francis found his calling, forsook his father's wealth, and took a vow of poverty to pursue his devotion to God.

Golden Fields near Assisi in Umbria

Photo Source: Un Raggazo 


As we passed through the quiet cobblestone streets, we met the Franciscan monks who had, just like the founder of their order had done centuries ago, taken a vow of poverty and donned the brown robes.  I can still remember to this day how the monks had such an aura of peace about them.  Just being in there in that beautiful place was enough to feel divine peace, and through them it shined.

From the sunlight and the peace of the Assisi streets we entered into the Basilica of St. Clare where we saw the copy of crucifix of San Damiano.  Although only a copy of the original crucifix that had spoken to St. Francis with a mission from God, the feeling that the icon would speak to any of us there at any moment was palpable.

The San Damiano Cross

Also, equally impressive was the Basilica of St. Francis, with the walls adorned with frescoes from the master artist Giotto.  However, I was more impressed by the simple hedges that spelled the word "Pax" (Peace) in front of the Basilica.  Although St. Francis was a fierce follower of the Church, he recognized the value of peace and how it could bridge the gaps between faiths.  So important this was that the Franciscan order had made "Peace" part of the landscape as a reminder of what the Saint had striven for and what they should strive for as well.

"Peace"

Photo by: Sacred Destinations


Of the many places that one can make a pilgrimage, this is one of the most extraordinary. In Assisi you can feel the peace the simplicity and the faith of St. Francis everywhere you go. If you ever have a chance to visit Rome, be sure to plan a day trip to Assisi.  You won't regret it.