The Saint of Pear Orchard

One of the great things about Pat's is the people.  The ones who walk through the door and the ones we 'meet' online or through Country Sampler.  We get to interact with
the ladies who come in the store and hope they sense a different atmosphere as they
 shop.  We want to minister to them not only in the products, but in spirit, also.  We hope to make their day a little nicer.  Sometimes, it takes the form of listening to life  stories.  My husband once had the opportunity to pray with a lady and her daughter as she shared with him her current battle with cancer.
Then there are the ladies with whom we speak by telephone, through email, or, as in
the case of Miss Gloria, through snail mail.  Gloria wrote asking for a catalog.  She had
seen our ad in Country Sampler and liked the graniteware.  She asked for a catalog because, as she told me, she had no TV, internet, or telephone, "just country" is the way she put it.
I sent her a catalog and not long after, I received an order....and a letter....a two Cajun recipes.....and began a cherished friendship.
We write often.  We send pictures.  And we share prayer requests.  She lives in
her childhood home, 'Pear Orchard'.  She shares gardening wisdom and tells us
details of her home.  She sent a picture of workers 'picking' pecans in a hydraulic
bucket from trees that are 125 years old and tells of the 98 year old man who showed
up one day and told her his dad had planted them when her property was a cotton
plantation. I love those kind of stories.  
The greatest thing she does for us is pray for our family.  She asked for requests
and I gave them :).  I asked her one time to pray for our school year.  Anna will
graduate this May and I want to finish strong with her.  The next letter contained
her prayers for us and began, "I ask this Lord on bended knee...".  Isn't that beautiful?
I realized today how calm and quiet this week has been.  Then I remembered Gloria's
intercession in her last letter, "Lord, I ask that Debbie's path be an easy one."  Prayer
answered.  John MacArthur teaches that prayers are not so much to get God's attention on our behalf but for us to see answered prayer and give Him the glory.  Thinking of that, I praise and glorify Him for a saint and her prayers and I resolve to pray for others way more than I do.   She'll never see this because, remember, "no TV, no internet,
no telephone, just country", but I'm so thankful for the Saint of Pear Orchard!