The Lord Heard My Prayer For My Dad
by Chet Nowlen
A friend told me recently she was concerned for her elderly father. She said that her Dad was a good and kind man and had gone to church all of her life but he was not saved. I asked how she knew he wasn’t saved. She said that she’s asked him to accept Christ as his savior but he always says that he’s not ready. She says she has begged him and begged him but he always says he is not ready.
She asked me, “What should I do?” I told her that we can nag and beg our loved ones all day long but they cannot have a change of heart unless they allow the Holy Spirit to help them change. I advised her to stop nagging and begging and start praying and believing that God will deal with his heart. The Holy Spirit is the one that convicts us of our sin and our need to forgiveness of those sins. I told her to give her father to God and let Him take that burden for it is His will that all be saved.
I then told her about my Dad’s Miracle story; My Dad was a rough and tough John Wayne type individual. In his younger days he could out fight, out cuss, and out drink everyone around. He was an expert horseman and could have easily been a big success in western movies because he could do the trick riding like Roy Rogers, Kirk Douglas and many others in the old westerns..
In 1945 my Dad landed the part as an extra, with speaking lines, in a movie with Robert Mitchum and Burgess Merideth titled, “Ernie Pyle, The GI Joe Story”. This was a movie based on the life of war correspondent Ernie Pyle played by Burgess Merideth. My Dad and Robert Mitchum became close friends and big drinking buddies during the filming of the movie. My Dad was given the opportunity to say on in Hollywood, but Dad turned it down because he thought Hollywood was too phony.
My Dad hated Christians because of what some mean spirited Christian woman said to him so he rejected my witnessing to him. I asked a visiting evangelist if he would be willing to go to my Dad’s house and talk with him about his salvation and the evangelist agreed. I called my Dad and asked if it would be okay for me to bring him by to talk. Dad said it would be okay. When we arrived at my parents home Dad was not there. We decided to wait for a while and finally Dad came home. He was so drunk he could hardly stand up. The evangelist became outraged and said some ugly things to me for wasting his time to talk to a drunk. Needless to say I lost all respect for this evangelist that I once thought was such a godly man.
Apparently my Dad did not have the courage to face the evangelist so he hid in the bottle. I did not bring anyone else to preach to Dad nor did I hound him with Christianity. Instead I just continued to pray for him.
God heard my prayers and did a miraculous thing for my Dad. One Sunday afternoon my Mom called me to tell me what happened that morning. She said that Dad woke her and told her she has to pray for him right now. Mom was shocked and didn’t know what to do. Dad told her he has to be saved and wanted her to lead him in prayer. Mom did as he asked, but she was still in shock. Dad then asked what time church started so she asked why you want to know. He said, “Because I’ve got to go.” She could not believe her ears because my Dad never wanted to be around those hypocrites before. They went to church and when the preacher gave the alter call Dad was the first one down front.
This really gave my faith a boost, but this was only the first part of the miracle. A few weeks later my Dad suffered a seizure that affected he brain. Dad was no longer able to handle his own affairs and eventually had to be confined to a VA nursing home, where he lived for the next 20 years, Dad passed away at age 83. The second part of the miracle was God called Dad just before the sickness hit him. I praise God for hearing my prayers and answering them just at the right time. Isn't that’s just like the Lord to do that for us. I know when I cross over into eternity my Dad will be waiting there for me with Jesus. Amen
Note: Perhaps I should have titled the article "The Lord Heard My Prayer For My Dad and Answered My Prayer"
