I been knowin' it

Now who's going to pray for me?

If you know me, you know I'm a pretty fervent believer in Jesus Christ. What you may not know is that Sister Dorothy Johnson, who graduated to heaven last weekend, has been one of the greatest influences on my relationship with my Savior.

Soon after my salvation experience (another story for another time), Roxanna and I joined The House of the Lord, where Pastor Dennis Butts Sr. invited us to join a Wednesday noon care group. There we became part of a family that included Pastor Butts, Sis. Lucille Henley, Michelle Bender, Mary Bianconi, David Benson, Sis. Joyce Finley-Jackson, Sis. Pat Murray, and this scrawny little VA nurse who was always the first to arrive.



We developed deep and lasting friendships with many of the people who took part in that group through the years, some of whom have moved on to other churches and lives and some of whom have passed on to our Father's house and eternal life.

But no one was more faithful in attendance or had a longer-lasting impact on us all than Sis. Dorothy. She never missed. Never. Sometimes she was the only one who showed up.

Besides faithfulness and consistency, Sis. Dorothy had a special gift for intercessory prayer, for encouraging other believers, and for trusting in the goodness and faithfulness of a loving Father God.

She had such a tight relationship with God that he had a pet name for her: Child (or, more accurately, "Chyle"). She always shared what God had said to her in her private prayer time, and if He had words of correction or admonishment for her, they always began, "Chyle ..."

Just by being allowed to listen in on her intimate, person-to-person conversations with God, I learned how to pray from this woman.

One Wednesday Sis. Dorothy told the group she'd had a strange dream the night before. She saw all different kinds of shoes lined up -- sneakers, dress shoes, sandals, you name it. Then she saw a pair of worn work boots -- and they were dancing! She was puzzled by this vision and wondered if any of us had an interpretation. The Holy Spirit told me that the dream's message was that Dorothy would find her greatest joy in working for the Lord. When I shared this with her, she erupted in a tearful torrent of worship and praise, right there in that little classroom.

"Yes, Lord! I'll work for you, Lord! Thank you, Lord," she cried out over and over. She kept true to that promise.

Sis. Dorothy sealed her place as our designated prayer partner when the baby who would become my goddaughter was still in the womb. We learned that the baby's kidneys were not developing properly and that it was a very dangerous situation. Sis. Dorothy led the Monday morning prayer squad in weeks and months of fervent prayer, and when Savannah was born, her kidneys were nearly normal and no surgery was ever needed. I have a healthy, happy, adored 11-year-old goddaughter today in no small part because God responds to this woman's prayers.

Years later, after our move from Akron to Atlanta, I called Sis. Dorothy regularly. I depended on her so much that I started calling her "Mother." As I struggled through life transition and health crises and job trouble and family mess, she always had words of love and hope and encouragement for me -- despite her own mounting health issues.

I always marveled at how, whenever I was talking with her about any concern, she would seamlessly invite God into the conversation as if it were a conference call: "... And Lord, you've heard this thing that is troubling Brother Jim. And you promised, Lord, that you would never leave us nor forsake us, and we know you are true to your word. ..."

There was one day in particular last year when I was really struggling, and she started reeling off scriptures and promises of God and her own wisdom at such a pace that I had to grab a piece of paper and start writing them down.

"If you think you're forsaken, you're mistaken."

"Worry ties God's hands."

"Faith plus obedience equals deliverance."

"God is not a man so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?"

"Nothing is impossible with God."

"If God is for us, who can be against us?"

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."

"Instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double portion of honor. You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours."

Don't get me wrong. As pious as she was, she was really funny too. One blustery day she said, "That cold wind will blow the hickey right off of you." Whenever we got talking about our blessings, she would say, "It don't get any gooder'n that."

The funniest thing she ever said to me, I can't repeat here. But even in the laughs there was love.

We had a little ritual we went through every time we spoke. I'd say, "I love you," and she'd say, "I know it. I been knowin' it."  And then she would say she loved us, and God loved us too, to which I would respond, "I been knowin' it," and we both would laugh.

Thanks to Sis. Dorothy Johnson, I've been knowin' that the words of James 5:16 are true: "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

In this case, a righteous woman.  

I've been knowin' and loving and praying with and laughing with Sis. Dorothy for almost 20 years now. Thanks to her, I've been knowing the gift of prayer. Thanks to her I've been knowing how to love the Lord with all my heart and love my neighbor as myself. And thanks to her, I've been knowing that somebody loves me.

Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master. It don't get any gooder'n that.

Still, I wonder: Now who will pray for me?