Some Reflections on Faith

In the Night


My quadriplegic son, Ron (Buddy), and I live alone, and have for some years now since my husband was called home to be with the Lord. There are different brothers from Bethany Chapel in Anderson South Carolina who have been of great help to us over the years. Each one of them has selected a night of the week and they come down and help me get him in bed. Ron's usually in bed but they help me get him dressed for bed and then have prayer and Bible reading and tell us good night and leave us until the next morning. We look forward to that every night. It's a great boon to have one of the brothers come in and read a chapter and spend some time with us; prepare us for the night and leave.

We had the latch on the back screen door fixed so it was very hard to unfasten, almost impossible, from the outside. One night, about 8:30 PM, we were getting ready for bed. The brother went home, which was Kent McGahey that night. After he had gone, I went to fasten the door, that back door. After I had locked the door, while I was out there, I turned to come back in. I don't know what happened, but I fell backwards to the floor. I could hear my leg bone snap inside. I more heard it than felt it.

I'm almost eight-five. The Lord's been wonderfully good to me, wonderfully good to me. He's always taken care of me and I expect Him to from now on. I expect to see Him in Glory. In fact, I know I'm going to because His Word has told me I will. That's what we got to call on; His promises; His words, His Holy Spirit, His guidance, His wonderfulness. He's just been so good to me. I don't know how to explain it.

When I fell, I heard my right hip shatter inside the bone. I heard it just crush. I knew that I'd broken my hip. It really hadn't started hurting me just yet. It hadn't been long enough yet to send a message to my brain that I was injured. I knew I had been injured but it didn't send the message right then, it didn't yet pain me.

I said 'Lord, I broke my hip, I know I did. Because I heard it when I fell, and I felt it. Lord, You know how it is here tonight. Now there's nobody here but my quadriplegic son and he's inside in his bed. I've got him prepared for the night and there's no one out here but You and I. What's done here tonight You're going to have to do. And I know You will because You've always been so faithful. And You've promised. I'll follow Your promises.

If I ask anything in Your name, doubting nothing, then I'll receive it. I'm going to ask a lot of things in Your name tonight, Lord. You said that up until now, in your writings, that we've not asked You for anything. I'm asking You, Lord for things tonight. I'm going to bring things before You that I've never asked You for before, because I never needed them, but I'm going to ask for them and I'm going to receive them because You said You would do it and I know You will. And I'm thanking You before I even ask for these requests. And I'm thanking you for Your marvelous love and grace to do that.'

So I started then. I had no way of getting in. I was lying on a plank floor and I had no way of getting across that porch into the kitchen. The door was left open. If I had closed it I don't know what might have happened. But the Lord knows all things. He knew what was going to happen. He had me leave the door open. We had been having some real cold winter nights. Just the night before it had been twenty two degrees. That would have been kind of chilly, lying overnight on that floor. The Lord saw to it that it had warmed up some this night. It wasn't as cold but it was still plenty chilly.

I worked part way through into the kitchen, still on my back. One leg, the one that was broken was opposite the way I wanted to go. I couldn't move the leg. By then it had started swelling. Pain had started in on it. I got closer. I said 'Lord I can't go much further the way this is hurting, the pain and all. In the meantime, my son heard me fall and he said "Mother, did you fall?'. I said, I'm OK , I'll be inside in a minute.' I couldn't afford to let him become excited and worried when he couldn't do a thing in the world for me. But I could pray. I scooted in there on the floor. I looked around and there was nothing I could put my foot against, that is, the one foot I could use. I did have my shoes on. I didn't have anything I could reach, no bedposts, nothing I could pull on to give me any leverage, nothing to let me scoot closer to where I wanted to go.

I stopped and told my son 'I have broken my hip and I'm lying here on the floor.' Naturally, he was excited and scared because he knew that we were alone. There would be nobody until the next morning. I told him 'you know we're going to be here all night, there's no one else coming.' He said 'Is there any way of letting anyone know?' I said 'no, there's no one. There's two telephones but they're both out of reach. I'm here on the floor and you are there, a quad, and unable to reach them.'

I said 'Lord, you know the position we're in, the condition we're in. You know that You're all we've both got. We both love You, and You love us. You died on Calvary for us. And we're coming to You with a need now that only You can supply. We're depending on You to supply it. Lord, we're asking You a lot of things and laying a lot of things down before You tonight and wanting you to do for us.' I said 'I believe I am going to get every one of them, because you promised me. You said, 'I'll never leave you or forsake you'.' 'Now, Lord, I'm lying here on the floor, with not a thing in the world I can do for myself. But I thank You I can look up, because I know You're up there and right around close to me, because I feel Your presence now. Lord, I know that You have to be here, because I know I couldn't otherwise have this sensation of pleasure of knowing the closeness, nearness and warmth of Your love such as I've got right now.'

While I was talking to the Lord I had a sensation of not lying on the floor. It didn't give that sensation. It had been hurting very painfully, lying on that cold floor. At once, I just had a sensation of comforting warmth and I had a sensation of being suspended gently, very gently. I was just on the floor, but there was no pressure, just as if I was suspended. Why, I don't know. But the Lord knows. He was there. He did it.

I said 'Lord, you know the position we're in. And You know what you've done for us. And what You're going to do for us. We're asking You now to help us get through the night until someone comes in the morning to help us to get up. I know it's going to be a long night but I know what happened when one of Your people had his boat stuck in the sand at night. Part of it broke off and he was being washed around and He said he wished for the day. I have a feeling we are going to wish for the day, the morning, before it gets here. You let this man see the day and he floated out on his boat and You saved him. You're going to let us see the day and You're going to let us come out of this. I know You are because Your promises are not broken. There are some things I need and You know it."

I turned to Ron and said, 'Buddy, can you see the clock?' He said 'Yes, ma'am' and he told me the time. I moved my head back and I could see the same clock on the wall that he could but we couldn't see each other. We had no way of getting any water or anything to eat the whole night or whatever period of time we had to stay there. Ron asked again 'Mother, do you think some body will come tonight?' I said 'I don't know if they will or not, but I know the Lord is going to be here. He's here right now. I know He's going to be here all night. Who else do we need?' Ron said 'I guess you're right.'

Naturally, I know Ron had a feeling for my lying there on the floor and not being able to get covered up against the cold. but the Lord knew about all of that. 'Lord, it's going to be all night before anyone's here without You sending somebody. Ron asked again 'Do you think He will send anybody?' I said 'Yes, honey, somebody will come. The Lord won't just let us lie here, with nobody coming. It may be in the morning but He's going to comfort, sustain, and keep us in the hollow of His hand until in the morning. In the morning when it's time for anyone to come, we'll be right here. Don't worry. The Lord's here and He's going to be all night.'

We laid there all night. It was getting on towards morning. I said 'Buddy, I'll tell you what we will do to pass the time. We're not going to lie here all night and worry. We're going to lie here and pray. Something tells me this is going to be one of the greatest nights in our lives. We will spend it with the Lord. And He's going to spend it with us. It's going to be us and the Lord. There's not very many people who have the opportunity to spend the night with the Lord. And there won't be anyone breaking in on our meditation and our discussions. I think this night is going to be ours and the Lord's. Ron, you pray. You can see the clock . You pray five minutes and close. Then I will pray for five minutes and close. Right on through the night. If we do that then we will have several hours of good time to pray. That's what we're gonna do. Quote scripture to the Lord because it's His Word.'

I said 'Lord, recall it to our minds, so we can talk to each other with it (scripture). We prayed back and forth for two or three hours. After a long while, Ron asked again 'When do you think anybody will be here?' I said 'I don't know but the Lord knows and as long as we are in His care, what are we worrying about? We know He's going to take care of us. I'm not worried.

Ron said 'Are you not uncomfortable?' 'Sure, I'm uncomfortable, but I'm not worrying about it cause it's in the Lord's hands. There's not a thing I can do. I've already done what I can do. There's nothing I can do but trust Him, and I'm trusting Him. That's for you to do also. So we did that for two or three hours.

I reminded the Lord of His promises and how He had taken care of His own in the lion's den and others when put into the fiery furnace. I knew He was a far greater God than to leave us like we were, because we belong to Him too. We were owned by faith in His Word, because He said 'I will in no ways cast you out.' I prayed 'We come in full faith and honor of Your Word, in full expectations, Lord. We're begging for deliverance, because we know you're gonna do it. In Your own name and in Your own time, for Your own purpose, our Father.'

We prayed a while longer, then I began to get a little bit sleepy but I wasn't comfortable at all. I knew Ron was a bit sleepy, and he wasn't comfortable either. We told different stories in the scriptures, different things the Lord had done, how he turned water to wine, different things he had done. We know He is able to do far greater things than we can ask or think.

I said to Ron, 'You know it took the Lord six days to make this whole earth. He made it in six days and rested on the seventh. We're told in the scriptures that He took His fingers and heaped up the hills and the mountains, took time to make them beautiful. When He went ahead to leave us He said 'I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there may you be also'. I know he did that. If He promised that, what can we expect after almost two thousand years? He's been working on Heaven for us. He's getting it ready for our homecoming and He's getting ready to welcome us home. What can we expect when this whole earth was made in six days?

I prayed most of the time with my eyes closed because I can talk better to the Lord with my eyes closed. There's nothing to hinder my line of thought and I like to think as clearly as my eight-five year old mind will let me think when I'm praying to the Lord. I looked over and saw that it was about eight to ten feet distance to anything that I might reach. 'Lord, you see how far I am from that bar in the kitchen. If I get anything for Ron myself or you get anything for him, you are going to have to get me over there because I have no way of getting there and You have. You're going get me over there. Lord, I'm gettin' cold. I can't wrap my self, it's chilly and after midnight. I'm puttin' my faith in You to wrap me up. Lord, I'm just asking You to cover me up and make me warm. I know you can do it. I know You will do it. And I am thanking You for having already done it, because You said You would answer my prayers. You said 'the reason you have not is because you ask not.' I'm asking You now to wrap me up.'

I closed my eyes and prayed maybe five or ten minutes or longer. I opened my eyes and stretched my arms as far as I could and it was 6-8 feet to where I could touch anything. 'Lord, You see how far it is from where I can reach anything, to the corner of that bar where I can grab hold of it and drag myself. I know You can make up the difference and make my arm reach there. I can't do it but You can. I have full confidence and faith that you're going to, that you're going to reach there and cover me up and make me warm and comfortable here tonight because You are able, Father. You said you would answer my prayer and I am asking you, believing I'm going receive it.'

I lay there a few minutes and opened my eyes and stretched my arm as far as I could. I was so far from it. 'Lord, You know the distance between here and there and who's go to reach it. You've got to. I can't. But You can easily do it and I believe in my heart you're going to do it, because of the promises You made to those who ask You in faith, doubting nothing and I'm not doubting a thing, Lord. I know You can do it.

I talked with Him just like I would talk with anyone. I could feel His presence. I was talking with Him and I said 'Well, I'm going to close my eyes and then I'm going to reach as far as I can and You will help me get over there to where I can pull myself. I stretched my arm as far as I could and I drew it back when I saw the long distance. After I prayed again, I opened my eyes and stretched again. I was at least a foot closer to that bar than when I closed my eyes the last time. I hadn't felt a single move. I hadn't felt a thing in the world. But the Lord had definitely moved me. I said' thank you, Lord, you've moved me at least a foot and I praise Your name for it. Now I am going to ask You to move me some more because I can't reach it from here but you can because you are all powerful. Everything is in Your hands.'

So, I lay there. After I prayed I stretched my arm as far as I could, I was yet three or four inches closer. I prayed 'Thank you Lord. You moved me three or four inches this time. Thank you and I praise your name. Now, I need to go a little further. You're going to have to help me a little more than this and I trusting you're going to do it for me. I know it in my heart You're going to do it because You promised it. You've never broken a promise and You never will.'

I prayed and reached again. Buddy had been praying five minutes and me five minutes. I reached again and I was a little bit closer. I prayed again and after a good while said 'Lord I don't know how far I'm from that which I need to reach, but You are able. I stretched as far as I could and opened my eyes. I so was near to it I had to stop and think. Is this thing real? Has the Lord really done this thing for me? Has He really answered my prayer right here in the middle of this cold damp night?

I closed my eyes and prayed some more. 'Now, Lord I've got to have something to wrap me up because I'm getting cold and stiff.' I reached my hand up as high as I could and saw that I was just inches from that bar where I could get a hold of it. 'I'm so near there, Lord, but You can reach the difference. You have reached the difference, far more than that. I'm going
to reach my hand again and again because I know You are going to give it to me.'

I stretched as far as I could and I was just about an inch from the bar and I prayed and thanked the Lord for what He had already done and what He was going to do. 'Now Lord, You know I need something to cover me up, cause I had warmth on my mind then. I knew my son was wrapped up and warm in bed, for I had already tucked him and fixed him for the night. So I stretched again as far as I could and looked up to see what I could reach. There was a high-back chair sitting there. 'Now, Lord, there's an afghan there that can wrap me up. I'm asking you to let me get a hold of it, to pull it down here, to wrap me up with it so I can get warm.'

I stretched a last time and was about a quarter inch short but there were some little threads hanging down. 'Lord, its just a very tiny little space. I'm asking You to reach it down to me. You can do it.' I caught the little ends of the threads and twisted them around my fingers and gave a quick jerk. The afghan slid off the back of the chair and landed on top of me. A large afghan and a smaller afghan that had been given me for Christmas. I had laid it there and it slipped right off on top of the other one. I said 'Thank you, Lord for my cover. You've given me everything that I've asked for so far and I just praise Your name for it. Lord, I know your are able, You are capable, and You are willing and I thank You right now.'

I took the big afghan and threw it around me with the arm I had free. I was getting where I could use my right arm some. It was my right hip that was injured. I got that afghan and spread it down over my legs and body. It was so comforting and warm. 'Thank you Lord for covering me up. I asked You to and You have.'

So I laid there and put the small afghan up across my shoulders. There was also a heavy shirt that I had laid out on top of it for the nurse to put on my son when she came to help me in the morning. 'Thank you, Lord for this shirt'. I put my arms through it, put my head through. I never could get my shoulders down in it. I had to lie on the floor the entire night. When I got that over my head I said 'Lord, I just need a pillow, if I just had a pillow.' I put my head back where I was now on the floor and there was an artificial sheep skin that I had washed the day before. I had laid it there to put under my son that morning. It had fallen off right at my head. I reached again and said 'Thank you, Lord, for my pillow.' I took it and folded it up four ways and put it under my head. 'Lord, You have done everything I ask you, and I thank you for doing it.' I never had such a warm comforting feeling in my life. My entire body had this warm comforting feeling.

I laid there a few minutes and then I said 'Lord, you've done all this but I am going to ask more because I still need it and You have what I need. You have salvation for me. You gave blood on the cross for me. You've got promises for me. And you're coming back to get me. Whenever you're ready to take me home, I'm going, because You promised me. I know when You brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, you passed over them. When You went over, You saw the blood. You passed over those houses unharmed. The rest of them had dead bodies in them. I know that when you come back again, You will look for the blood that was shed on Calvary's cross for my sins. You say that if I accept thee as my savior and take that as propitiation for my soul, then the things that You have prepared for my salvation, that if I will accept if by faith, then I will receive them. I know that you've saved my soul. I know you've done so many wonderful things for me and I know there are more You are going to do before this nights over.'

It was about 4:30 in the morning when I had gotten myself wrapped up. I didn't wrap myself up. The Lord did after I asked Him to. He just dumped it down on me. All I had to do was spread it out.

I laid there a while and said 'Buddy, we are going to have to get together and fix something up so somebody will find us in the morning. He said 'Who will be the next people who will be here?' I said 'The way I got it figured out, there won't be anybody unless the Lord sends somebody, but He can send anybody any time he wants to.' But I said this is ours and the Lord's night. He will send when He's ready and we will be pleased, happy, and thankful when He sends. Then I said 'Lord, it's been a long night, and the first person that I can think of that might be here in the morning is the man who brings Meals on wheels.' Buddy asked what time he would come. I told him they don't start sending out the meals until 9 AM and its usually about 10:30 AM when they get here and it was 8:30 PM when I had fallen. That night we had spent in prayer and praising. It was about as much as we had ever praised. We couldn't but help thanking Him between each answer.

Jonah stayed three days and nights in the belly of a whale, yet the Lord brought him out. He was with him all the time. We'd been there just a few hours, far from days and nights. I told Ron 'that when the man comes from Meals on Wheels, there is one thing that we are going to have to do. We're going to have to holler in unison three or four or five different things before we can expect them to understand. They may not hear us at first.'

I always had the back door open when they came. The screen door is latched. They will think something is wrong when they get to the back door and find it's fastened and they can't get in. I said 'Together now let's practice saying 'We need help, we need help' three times in unison.' By this time we were hoarse because we had prayed and praised the Lord so much during the night. 'We need help!' When he shakes the door again, and he will, we will we shout that. Ron interrupted and said 'What if he doesn't hear us?' He will. I said 'Let me tell you what I just now thought of. The man that comes this morning wears a hearing aid and I have no way of knowing how well he hears. But he will hear because the Lord made deaf people to hear, blind people to see, and lame people to walk, dead people to rise. The Lord knows how to do it. When they get here, don't worry about it.'

I said 'The next thing for us to call for is 'ambulance' three times together. Then we will say 'kick the door down!' We practiced that three or four times together in unison. 'That's what we are going to do.' Ron said 'What if he doesn't hear any of them?' I said 'The Lord can make him hear.' The man did show up from Meals on Wheels at the appointed time. We called out the first thing four times and got no response. We then told him to kick the door down. He knocked on the wall and indicated he had heard us. He said he would get us some help.

The thing that had come to my mind before was that the man probably would not hear us. I wasn't sure how well he could hear. How easy it is to doubt. It would have been so easy to have been fearful that he would not hear us because he wore a hearing aid. It proved a real test of faith to believe God could make him hear us.

In time help did arrive, several police officers, and an ambulance. I was taken to the hospital and had surgery to repair my hip. I was assured that Ron would be taken care of while I was in the hospital.

*****

Only people who have ever had a hip surgery can understand the pain it is and only the Lord can help them bear it. The Lord was wonderfully good to me and I thank him for it and am still praising His name. For the Lord has done wonders for me. The first time I went down for my check up in the doctor's office he showed me where I had grown some new bone in there since he operated. He said that I was doing fine and was to come back the next month.

I went back the next month for my second check up and he came out and said 'Ms Rice, you are healed.' I said, 'Thank the Lord for that. I asked Him for it. Now you know who the best doctor in Anderson is. I asked the Lord to pick one out and you know who He selected. So you know it has to be you.' He just smiled and went on out without saying anything. I don't know what he had on his mind, but he didn't say anything. He's done a good job for me as far as I can tell and I am just waiting for the next step. He told me that he hoped to have me up on a walking stick in three or four weeks. I wondered how it would be possible to be up in that short of time. Then I thought that the Lord has done things more wonderful than that for me. So I am waiting to see what the Lord really does have in store for me.

April 13, 1997

At The Hospital

Dear Lord as I sit here,
and look up at Your moon,
I think of You up there,
and may You come very soon.

When I look at my patient,
somehow I can see.
In a very short time,
this well could be me.

Lord, You saved me and kept me,
for lo these fifty years.
I’m living on Your time
and I have no more fears.

You've kept me in sickness
and given back my health,
a wonderful family.
I know I have Your wealth.

You give to me now,
as You have before.
I thank You, Dear Lord,
and I still expect more.

You've showered down Your goodness,
at a wonderful pace.
You've poured our Your blood,
Your love and Your grace.

You just keep on giving,
and giving to me.
and one day quite soon,
Your dear face I'll see.

And then I can thank You,
through eyes filled with tears,
for Your leading and guiding me,
down through the years.

I'll sit down besides You,
in Your wonderful land.
And all mysteries You've hidden,
I'll now understand.

When I see Your pierced hands
and Your dear smiling face,
I'll say thank You Dear Lord
for Your wonderful grace.

1973

Into His Face

He laid me down to look awhile,
straight up into His face,
and while I rested in His care,
I learned His loving grace.

It hurt, o yes, so much at times,
I scarce could hold back tears,
while with His word He comforted one,
and quieted all my fears.

“You’re mine” said He, “I bought you,
Don’t you know?
Remember you were born again,
long many years ago.”

“I've watched along the path you've walked
through all these many years.
I've comforted, guided, cared for, loved you,
regardless of your fears.”

“I've watched your children, each one grow,
I've saved them very young.
I've heard each prayer you've ever prayed,
each hymn of faith you've ever sung.”

“Your dear mate I've chose for you,
my watchful eye hath kept.
He’s very dear to me, you know,
I've guarded him with love.”

“But now its time to rest my dear,
for just a little while.
The cares are great and you are tired
my own dear blood-bought child.”

I closed my eyes and thanked Him then
for his tender loving care.
I dared not open wide mine eyes,
for I knew he was still there.


Elva Mize Rice
August, 1952

In hospital following hysterectomy


Ninth Birthday

When you were born that night to me,
God gave to you a boat,
to sail upon life’s rugged sea,
and you were set afloat.

God gave the helm direct to me.
He said don’t ever fear.
When trouble comes or sorrows too,
you know I’m always near.

We’re guides, lo, these many years,
His keep I've often sought.
Before you came to live with us,
your soul with blood He bought.

You’re just a boy today, my son,
Someday you'll be a man.
The years will pass by, one by one,
and then you'll understand.

Life’s road is rough and long and steep,
that leads up to Success,
and you must plod along the Way,
until you reach the Crest.

Now you've reached the summit’s peak.
My lord is your Lord now.
Today you took Him at His word.
By faith you became his own.

Now down the road of life we tread.
There’s not just we two, rather three.
The same One waits for all of us
that hung upon the tree.

He’s Coming back to take us home
we know not the day or hour.
But this one thing we surely know,
we’re in His keeping power.

Will I be here or gone above,
Just now I cannot know,
but when He gives my Home call,
I'm ready and off I'll go.

Elva Mize Rice
March 1, 1951


My Morning Prayer

Good morning Lord, a brand new day,
you've given just for me,
to see what I will do with it,
especially for Thee.

Lord, help and show me and guide me
to what I now must do,
to walk upon the narrow way,
in harmony with You.

Please keep my eyes, my ears, my mouth
and guide my footsteps too.
Please guide my hands to find
something I can do for you.

Thou died’st for me long years ago
that I with Thee might live.
A Heaven Thou hast prepared for me.
O what more could You give?

I go to prepare a place for you
You told them on the mount,
“and if I go, I'll come again.”
Still on His word we stand.

Dear Lord, each morn when we awake,
we pray to Thee and sigh,
we’re one day closer to Your call
than we were yesternight.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Elva M. Rice
September 21, 1979