A Prayer Answered

1000 Dollars

There I was sitting on the front porch of my house, while my cat was inside taking a nap. The wind hit my face and I called over my dog. I remember first getting her. I was about seven or eight years old and my dad was in the military, so he wasn’t there. My mom noticed that I was really depressed and decided to do something that would make me smile like never before. She is a kind woman.

But one day she got a telegram. She started crying and looked dead in my eyes. She looked back at the man. Closing her eyes, she shook he head and told me something. She told me something I would never forget. She said, “Emily, we are going to get through this together. We will stay strong, and work our way through this.” She took the telegram and read it. “Deeply regret to inform you” she started. “That your husband Josh Bryant died February 17, 2015 of wounds received in action of his performance and duty of his country.” My mom was sobbing and I was stuffing my face in my hands. She had more tears in her eyes than the stars in the sky, and I had more in my hands than water in the ocean.

I looked up at the sky and prayed to god. I prayed that everything would be okay and that my mom and I would do okay by ourselves. I continued to pray every night for what seemed like an hour. I would pray for things that made sense and for things that even god wouldn’t be able to put together. But I just kept on praying. Soon I was starting to wonder if I was even doing anything. So, and this sounds insane, but I threw in a little something. “Dear lord Jesus, please help my daddy in heaven, and please help my mom and I survive. Oh, and granny too. She is always trying to help. And she makes good pies. And Jesus, could you throw in a thousand dollars? We really need some money right now. We aren’t doing so well now that my dad is gone. Amen.”

Now I know that sounds crazy, but it didn’t when I was nine and had the idea. Then something happened one day that I will not ever forget in my life. Something that made me want to jump in the air and scream. My mom went out to the mailbox and guess what she found. $2000, plain as day. My mom ran inside and called her brother. He still lives with his mom but I won’t go too far into that. “Answer me answer me please.” She panted while waving something in her hands. I tried to get a glimpse of it. I saw some money in her hands and wondered what the big deal was. Then I saw it, there were thousands on each bill, and she held what looked like a hundred of them. My jaw flew to the floor. I sat there and prayed to god. He has answered my prayers. The funny thing though, was that my mom had no clue I knew so she thought I was having a seizure or heart attack or something. She picked me up off the ground and cried. I started yelling at her and she stopped. “What honey? We have to go!” “Mom, I’m fine! I was praying!” “Ah child you scared the living hell out of me!” We sat there for a while laughing and then made brunch.