Success Story: Prayer Answered Over the Internet

PRAYER ANSWERED OVER THE INTERNET

MAY 1997

As a mother of four, a divorcee for 10 years and a Christian, I found myself looking solely to the Lord for strength. My prayer was that He would put a special person in my life who would be that one and only....my true soul mate. Little did I know that God would answer my prayer in such a unique way.

I am a high school teacher and had experience with computers, but none with the Internet. A co-worker kept telling me that I should "try" it; finally, I did. I ran into a few real "perverts" and was ready to forget "surfing the net" when one evening, as I was chatting on a Christian channel a nice man began talking with me. We began meeting on line morning and evening; our on line chats became on - the - phone chats - some were all nighters. (AT&T loves us, but the feeling is not mutual!!) I almost quit talking to him one afternoon, when he offered to send me some software that I could use in my classroom. Things were going fine until he asked me if I knew how to "download and unzip". Having never heard of this computer function, I thought he was another cyber sleaze. I rushed to the phone and called my co-worker who explained in simple terms what he wanted - just to send me some compressed files.

We found that we had so much in common!! We would talk for hours and hours and grew to depend upon each other. The only difference between us was our color - he is black and I am white. I was raised to accept all people and I knew that the scriptures taught to love one another. But, I also knew that my family would never accept this relationship. As we grew closer and closer, I realized that I had fallen in love with Charles. I told him how my family (parents, that is) would react and he told me just to pray and give it to the Lord and He would answer. What else could I do? God had answered my prayer with a wonderful Christian man and to beat it all, he was a musician. I am a music lover and music speaks so deeply to my heart. So, I gave it to the Lord and boy, did I get an answer!! I was studying my quarterly sunday school lessons and looked ahead a few weeks - the lessons were all about how the church can transcend all ethnic and racial barriers. I don't know why I was so amazed at how He answered me!

Charles and I spent hours and hours together on line and on the phone between our first meeting on September 22, 1995 until April 6, 1996. On that day, with marriage license in hand, I boarded a plane and flew from Charleston, West Virginia to Denver, Colorado. Within 4 hours after landing, Charles and I were married. I spent my spring break, one week, with him in Denver and then returned home to my teaching position. I might add that my children, three sons and a daughter, all knew that I was to be married and they had no problem at all with the relationship. They were happy that I was happy.

In May, my new husband packed all of his gear -keyboards, sound systems, computers, etc. - and traveled here to West Virginia where we make our home. It was a big sacrifice for him. He had recently re-located to Denver and things were going well for him there in his profession; he writes, records and performs all types of music and we have a studio in our home. Charleston is not exactly a hub for entertainment and it has been difficult for him here. But, his business, "Music by Majic" is slowly getting started; it is a family affair. My 16 year old son helps load and set up the equipment and my 12 year old daughter sings vocals on occasion with him.

My husband is truly a special man; he lost his sight at age 6 to glaucoma and left home at 15 to make his own way in the world. He has traveled all around the world and doesn't let anything stop him. He cooks, works on cars,plays music, you name it!! Despite his blindness, Charles is able to do many things that seeing people can do. His computer "talks" to him; he uses a program called Vocal Eyes and whatever is on the screen is read outloud to him. He uses his speech program to do his music also. There are even text based search engines that can be used. One is called Webtamer. He uses a shell account which is all text and uses a program called Phoenix which helps him do the "chat" thing.

Of course, we have faced many barriers in the acceptance of our relationship. My church did not accept our marriage, so we sought spritual roots elsewhere. He is now Minister of Music at an AME church here and my children and I are the only white people there, but we are truly loved and accepted.

I was adopted at the age of 11 days and my adoptive father will still not acknowledge that I am even married; my adoptive mother passed away in September of this year; she never met Charles face to face because my dad would not allow it, but they talked often on the phone . In May of last year, I found my biological mother. She had been looking for me since I was three months old. In our first phone conversation (she lives in Florida), I told her that I had recently remarried and her reaction was, "I don't care if he is purple!!". I have two half sisters and a half brother, all live in Florda; they love my husband and are happy that we have found each other.

Love is a strong bond; true love is a bond between souls; if you are blessed enough to find your soul mate in this life, you are truly blessed. I thank the Lord that he brought his man into my life and I thank my husband for the strength that he gives me each day. I have never known the love and commitment between two souls that we share and I am thankful each day for it.

Of course, we get our share of odd looks; but we just smile back and know that God has put us together for a reason; perhaps that reason is to show others that we are all the same deep down inside and that we can truly love one another. We ask an interest in your prayers as we endeavor to spread some of our love and happiness to others, and we pray for all who are in interracial relationships, that the Lord will lead you and guide you.

Melinda Alcox

As a mother of four, a divorcee for 10 years and a Christian, I found myself looking solely to the Lord for strength. My prayer was that He would put a special person in my life who would be that one and only....my true soul mate. Little did I know that God would answer my prayer in such a unique way.
	I am a high school teacher and had experience with computers, but none with the Internet. A co-worker kept telling me that I should "try" it; finally, I did. I ran into a few real "perverts" and was ready to forget "surfing the net" when one evening, as I was chatting on a Christian channel a nice man began talking with me. We began meeting on line morning and evening; our on line chats became on - the - phone chats - some were all nighters. (AT&T loves us, but the feeling is not mutual!!) I almost quit talking to him one afternoon, when he offered to send me some software that I could use in my classroom. Things were going fine until he asked me if I knew how to "download and unzip". Having never heard of this computer function, I thought he was another cyber sleaze. I rushed to the phone and called my co-worker who explained in simple terms what he wanted - just to send me some compressed files.
We found that we had so much in common!! We would talk for hours and hours and grew to depend upon each other. The only difference between us was our color - he is black and I am white. I was raised to accept all people and I knew that the scriptures taught to love one another. But, I also knew that my family would never accept this relationship. As we grew closer and closer, I realized that I had fallen in love with Charles. I told him how my family (parents, that is) would react and he told me just to pray and give it to the Lord and He would answer. What else could I do? God had answered my prayer with a wonderful Christian man and to beat it all, he was a musician. I am a music lover and music speaks so deeply to my heart. So, I gave it to the Lord and boy, did I get an answer!! I was studying my quarterly sunday school lessons and looked ahead a few weeks - the lessons were all about how the church can transcend all ethnic and racial barriers. I don't know why I was so amazed at how He answered me!
	Charles and I spent hours and hours together on line and on the phone between our first meeting on September 22, 1995 until April 6, 1996. On that day, with marriage license in hand, I boarded a plane and flew from Charleston, West Virginia to Denver, Colorado. Within 4 hours after landing, Charles and I were married. I spent my spring break, one week, with him in Denver and then returned home to my teaching position. I might add that my children, three sons and a daughter, all knew that I was to be married and they had no problem at all with the relationship. They were happy that I was happy.
In May, my new husband packed all of his gear -keyboards, sound systems, computers, etc. - and traveled here to West Virginia where we make our home. It was a big sacrifice for him. He had recently re-located to Denver and things were going well for him there in his profession; he writes, records and performs all types of music and we have a studio in our home. Charleston is not exactly a hub for entertainment and it has been difficult for him here. But, his business, "Music by Majic" is slowly getting started; it is a family affair. My 16 year old son helps load and set up the equipment and my 12 year old daughter sings vocals on occasion with him.
	My husband is truly a special man; he lost his sight at age 6 to glaucoma and left home at 15 to make his own way in the world. He has traveled all around the world and doesn't let anything stop him. He cooks, works on cars,plays music, you name it!! Despite his blindness, Charles is able to do many things that seeing people can do. His computer "talks" to him; he uses a program called Vocal Eyes and whatever is on the screen is read outloud to him. He uses his speech program to do his music also. There are even text based search engines that can be used. One is called Webtamer. He uses a shell account which is all text and uses a program called Phoenix which helps him do the "chat" thing.
Of course, we have faced many barriers in the acceptance of our relationship. My church did not accept our marriage, so we sought spritual roots elsewhere. He is now Minister of Music at an AME church here and my children and I are the only white people there, but we are truly loved and accepted.
	I was adopted at the age of 11 days and my adoptive father will still not acknowledge that I am even married; my adoptive mother passed away in September of this year; she never met Charles face to face because my dad would not allow it, but they talked often on the phone . In May of last year, I found my biological mother. She had been looking for me since I was three months old. In our first phone conversation (she lives in Florida), I told her that I had recently remarried and her reaction was, "I don't care if he is purple!!". I have two half sisters and a half brother, all live in Florda; they love my husband and are happy that we have found each other.
Love is a strong bond; true love is a bond between souls; if you are blessed enough to find your soul mate in this life, you are truly blessed. I thank the Lord that he brought his man into my life and I thank my husband for the strength that he gives me each day. I have never known the love and commitment between two souls that we share and I am thankful each day for it.
	Of course, we get our share of odd looks; but we just smile back and know that God has put us together for a reason; perhaps that reason is to show others that we are all the same deep down inside and that we can truly love one another. We ask an interest in your prayers as we endeavor to spread some of our love and happiness to others, and we pray for all who are in interracial relationships, that the Lord will lead you and guide you.