Just an old Book

It all began with me asking my friend to pray for me for some direction. That was a week ago and it sure set some things into motion. God very unsatisfactorily answered that prayer with only the title of a book that I was supposed to read.
I was so disappointed when I got the word; God knew that I had the hardest time reading books, especially the ones that I didn’t pick. But, not only was that little booklet available at the one and only bookstore in town, there was one used copy, waiting just for me. I’m talking about a book written in the 70’s by Merlin Carothers, somebody I had never heard of, sort of a biography. The name of the book is ‘Prison to Praise’.
So Tuesday morning I started reading the first chapter; it captured my attention and after just a few minutes I felt like I knew the guy. Late that afternoon I had my appointment for a MRI, so I decided to wait and continue reading it then to kill time in the tube.
So I did, laying there I read on about Merlin’s journey through World War II, not necessary my favorite subject, but a fascinating story. When he came to the part of his life where he received Christ as his Savior I was even more captured.
Merlin’s life seemed to have taken a very familiar turn and I felt like the Spirit was leaping inside of me following this brother. The Spirit was leaping so much so, I couldn’t stop shaking. I had to slam the book down on my chest and hold my breath, praying that my shaking wouldn’t mess up the MRI.
So I was lying there thinking, “Great! This is going to be a long hour; all I have is a book that I cannot read.” After a while I settled down and gave the book another try. About three pages down I ran into the same problem, my body started shaking again. For the rest of the time I just lay there and marveled at this brother’s life, my life and the greatness of our Lord.
I couldn’t wait to get home to continue reading; my husband said he wasn’t hungry so I gladly retired with my book. I didn’t get through one page before the dog, then the cat, and then my husband interrupted. “Fine”, I said to myself, “soon I will find out what the enemy is trying to steal from me right now; I will read in the morning.”
Well ‘in the morning’ never came, things happened and I got busy. That night I tried reading and I was able to read a couple of pages, but the magic was missing. So I said to myself, “All right then, Thursday morning it is, I will keep this day open.” Thursday came and went, but I could not get myself to open the book. I was totally lethargic all day and tried to find any explanation as to what was wrong with me. Why couldn’t I get myself to read this book again?
Friday and Saturday were busy, Sunday morning came around and we were having church at home, just my husband and me. It’s a new thing we had just started the week before and we were trying carefully to test our way. All the songs picked were about praising God and we had no message yet.
Mu husband started with a phrase he had read about focusing on the ordinary instead of the extraordinary. He added a few lines from C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters and off we went, Spirit lead; I wished I could have taped our conversation. I’ll try to rephrase:
I started with, “Even a bird is extraordinary when you realize it is created by God and it is doing His will.” Wow, where did that come from?
My husband:  “Every morning I get up and brush my teeth, then I feed the cat, then I pet the dog, then I drive to work and have another ordinary day at work. Then I come home and repeat the same ordinary day tomorrow.”
I:  “I believe a person who doesn’t know Christ only knows this kind of ordinary life. He lives his life and focuses on the problems and never really finds a way out. When you know Christ you are able to enter into the extraordinary life and it goes like this. You are still doing the same thing you did before, but with a different attitude. You get up in the morning and look in the mirror and you say, ‘Thank You, Lord, for creating me. Thank You, Lord, that I have teeth I can brush’.”
I was feeling really stupid at that point about what was coming out of my mouth, but surprisingly my husband encouraged me to continue even though he didn’t know my thoughts. He was saying, “Go on, go on!”
“Thank You, Lord, for my cat friend You created and gave to me. Thank You, Lord, for this dog you gave me, that You wonderfully created. Thank You, Lord, that You made him just like You want me to be towards You. Thank You, Lord, for reminding me every day by giving me this beautiful creature. Thank You, Lord, that I can drive to work and that I don't need to walk. Thank You, Lord, that I have a job. Thank You, Lord, that You provide situations for me where I can grow to be more like You want me to be. Thank You, Lord, for sending people my way to whom I can testify to. Thank You, Lord.”
My husband jumped in and spoke about swimming in water God created and more.
I: “When we set our minds on God like that, we have done our part and the next step is on God. He then will fill us with some extraordinary thoughts, give us wisdom, lead us in a certain direction, show us new things, will teach us more about Who He is.”
We were having a refreshing time and felt like the Spirit of the Lord directed our every step through the Service. At the end, my husband told me that when I started the funny talk about the mirror and so on, that he saw two white butterflies rising up in front of our window and symmetrically turning left and right at the top of the window. That was the moment when he told me to continue talking.
After church he went out to take care of some business and I sat down to finally continue reading the book.  So far I hadn’t read anything that I expected to find in this little book.
As I picked up where I had left off, Merlin is still in Vietnam and the story is interesting, but I was still waiting for my answer or direction. A couple of pages left on Vietnam and then Merlin reveals some extraordinary things to me….. As Merlin woke up in the morning his conversation with the Lord went like this: “Are you thankful that you can move your big toe?” “Yes Lord.”  “Are you thankful that you can sit up?” “Yes Lord.”  “Are you thankful that you can walk?” “Yes Lord.”  “Look in the mirror. Are you thankful that you can see?” “Yes Lord.”
I think it was the word mirror that really hit me. I read a couple more sentences before I was just crying too much to read on. I took the book to my husband and read it to him. I’m not quite sure it impacted him like it did me, but it wasn’t for him in the first place, right?
I did finish the rest of the book that afternoon and every word was just confirmation of and so similar to what we had said that morning in church. Beautifully arranged by God and in His perfect timing, He had even stopped me from finishing the book before Sunday. Now it all made sense.
I find it hard to describe the way I felt reading this book and even though the intro already had indicated the specialty of this book, I was blessed beyond imagination. I was also so very thankful for the rare, but powerful, spirit-filled moment with my husband that morning. God’s touch was there all the way through!
Thank you, Merlin Carothers, for sharing your life and helping so many people. By your obedience to God, the anointing of the Holy Spirit is on this book. Prison to Praise is the most unusual and powerful book I ever read, of course next to the Bible.
If you haven’t read this book yet, give it a try and see what kind of journey God will take you on. Thousands of others have had a blessed, very personal time with God through this little book.

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