Renee Bonfield ... evangelist
Our son James (autistic) lived at home with us for 30 years.
He now lives in a group home. One day while James was living at home, we took him to Flushing Meadow Park. They
have a zoo with animals there,and they also have a carousel. We first went to see the animals. I was holding
James' hand. Then we heard the music from the carousel. All of a sudden James broke away from my grip. He was
running and headed toward the carousel. My husband and I were running trying to catch up with him. I was out of
breath and had pains in my stomach, but I kept crying out to God to please take care of James because I was afraid
he would try to get on the moving carousel. Finally I was able to reach him. He was standing next to the carousel,
but a man was holding him until we were able to get to him. I took James by the hand, but when I wanted to
thank the man, he wasn't there. I walked around looking for him,
but it was as though he had vanished into thin
air. (? an angel ?)
Another time when James was at summer camp. I was impressed to go to Shalom Ministries which I listened to on the radio. At that time we had a car. Before we went anywhere I always prayed and asked God to bless our trip. I was fearful about asking Wheeler if we could go. At first he said I don't think so, what am I going to do there? I said you can listen to us read the Bible. At that point I thought we couldn't go, so I prayed telling God that if He wanted us to go, to please put it in Wheeler's heart to go. When I returned to the bedroom Wheeler said "If you want to go then let's do so."
We started out early the next morning. We were looking for the Sprang Memorial Parkway, but we got lost. We wound up in a small town. I suggested that we look for a gas station so we could get directions. We drove a bit, and I began to pray asking God to please help us get to the Parkway and to Shalom Ministries. Then Wheeler stopped at a small shopping area. I said "Why are you stopping here?" He said "There is a man getting out of his car which was parked next to ours. This man looked like a combination of Burl Ives and James Beard. The man took out a book of maps and showed us exactly how to go. Then he said "I'm going there too so why don't you follow me." We drove for a while on the Parkway. I kept looking back to see if the man was still there. Then all of a sudden he wasn't there any more. I asked Wheeler if there were any exits or entrances to the Parkway. He said "no." Then it dawned on me that God had sent us an angel.
The fee for Shalom Ministries was $200.00 for the entire week. Before making plans to go, I was wondering how we were going to get this money. Then I was reminded that for years I had been putting quarters and fifty cent coins in a jar. When I counted them, there was just enough money to go.
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