Can you even imagine the struggles that the many starving children of Africa must go through everyday as the pains of hunger ravage their bodies? Can you imagine being told that you have a terminal disease that will soon consume your body in agonizing pain before your eventual death? Can you imagine being a child with no family forced to live on the streets begging strangers for help? Can you imagine being born in today’s society when slavery in the Sudan still exists and people are sold like cattle to the highest bidder? Can you imagine being a victim of a war and coming home to your country with both legs missing? Can you imagine a child being beaten so bad with a chain by their parents that they are unrecognizable from a class photo? Can you imagine a family having a sick child suddenly being told by the doctors, “It is just a matter of time.” Can you imagine any of these things? Would you have the strength to live through a situation like this?

How many times have you passed by someone in real need and stopped to offer the only thing they really wanted – HOPE. Hope to live a better life. A friend to give them the chance they never had.

I will never forget the business trip I took one winter day to Minneapolis, Minnesota. I had a horrible case of the flu. As I waited in the concourse for my flight, I happened to hear this voice blasting over the subdued crowd, exuding a tremendous presence. I knew that with what little strength I had in my body I could not endure the sound much longer.

As I entered the plane and I passed slowly down the isle I noticed that the there was just one vacant seat. My row mate just happened to be the overpowering voice from the concourse. From the minute I sat down, I knew this was going to be a flight into hell. The woman immediately introduced herself as Mary and asked me, “Are you having a “happy day”? I responded briefly trying to limit my conversation as much as possible with the effects of the flu racking my body with aching pain. Little did I realize this woman would carry on a conversation for the entire flight. I also found out with my bad luck was just beginning. She was also attending the same convention I was attending in Minneapolis. Great!

As soon as the plane landed, I could not wait to exit. After my short cab ride to the hotel guess who I heard calling out my name as I was registering for the convention – Mary. It seemed like everywhere I turned for my entire stay, there was Mary, calling my room, sitting beside me during seminars, eating meals! The one question she would ask me each and everyday was, “Are you having a “happy day” today?”

Near the end of the week Mary was nowhere to be found and her presence was certainly something that you could not miss. I did not see her in the seminars, she did not call, and she was absent from all meals. I decided that I needed to check on Mary so I went by her room and knocked on her door. After a few minutes, this woman came to the door looking nothing like the Mary I had come to know. My first thought was she had caught the flu from me.

I asked Mary if she was ok and she smiled briefly. I asked her to sit and talk for a while hoping I could brighten her spirits or get her to the hospital if she was truly ill.

Once thing I distinctly missed about Mary was she did not ask me this day if I was having a “happy day”. Very strange if you have ever met Mary.

Mary indicated she was not sick but needed some rest and some time to reflect. As the story progressed Mary told me of her only child that had been stricken with bone cancer at a very young age. She told me how this child was the love of her and her husband’s life. Mary’s daughter was hospitalized for months on end enduring massive radiation and chemotherapy to try to bring the disease under control. Mary and her husband stayed by her side 24 hrs. a day. The financial burden finally caused them to lose their home and they struggled to make ends meet to make sure Jamie received the very best care.

On a return trip from work one day to Jamie’s hospital bed, Mary’s husband John, fell asleep at the wheel and ran head on into incoming traffic and was killed instantly. The loss and to endure so much sadness and heartache for Mary and Jamie was beyond the pain anyone could imagine for one family. Over the next few months, Jamie was in and out of the hospital and Mary remained totally dedicated to her daughter. Jamie had her good and bad days and seemed to be improving a little each day.

One evening Jamie told her mother to go home get some rest, have your hair done in the morning and I will be here when you arrive. Mary decided to take Jamie’s advice and get some much-needed rest. Waking up bright and early, she had her hair done and proceeded on to the hospital to continue her daily ritual of love and dedication to her daughter.

As she entered the hospital she ran into a nurse that had been by Jamie’s side for many months and who had become very close to the family. The nurse with tears in her eyes told Mary that Jamie had passed away peacefully a few hours earlier.

Mary said she could never remember so much heartache. It seemed that her entire world had disappeared in front of her eyes in the last year. She managed to enter Jamie’s room to collect many of the personal items that had come to mean so much to Mary such as the brush she brushed Jamie’s hair with each day and a small Bible she kept by Jamie’s bed. Suddenly the grieving nurse appeared in the doorway and said, “Mary I have something Jamie she wanted you to have.” The nurse pulled out a small envelope and handed it to Mary. Recognizing Jamie’s handwriting Mary immediately opened the envelope and started to read it to the nurse. It said, “Mama, I know that if this note finds its way to your hands you know I am no longer in any pain and I have passed on to the place where there is no pain. You have given me so much over my lifetime; teaching me how to read, teaching me how to ride my first bike, teaching me how to always do your very best regardless of the circumstances, teaching me how to get over the heartache of my first boyfriend. I felt today I needed to give you something. The only thing I could give you is telling you of my love for you and choosing this day to pass on because, as you know, this very day last year is the very day that you lost your husband and I lost my father. I chose this day to pass on so that now you only have to have one “sad” day a year. Always be happy and live the rest of your life helping others and trying to bring just some of the joy you brought to my life to others. Dad and I will see you again, and we will wait for the day when God will open his gates for you and we will see you walk through.”

Mary looked at me and said, “Steve, today is my one sad day a year.”

I asked Mary, “How did you endure so much? How did you keep going after so much heartache?” Mary looked directly in my eyes and said, “It was simply HOPE. The HOPE you get by Helping Other People Everyday.”

Mary continued the rest of her life to spread HOPE and “happy days” to every person she meets, and she now walks with her family. I am sure that when God opened His gates and saw her standing there, He did not tell her to just walk through; He gave her wings to fly through. God must have made Mary an Angel to walk among us today showing us that there is HOPE left in the world and it is our mission to Help Other People Everyday through difficult times so that one day when our time comes we can fly among the Angels right along side Mary because we offered HOPE the rest of our days!

Experience firsthand a Steve Edwards Miracles Are Possible HOPE seminar. It will change your life and you will truly be rewarded by attending this moving and life-changing event!

Let Steve Bring Tears to Your Eyes and a Smile To Your Face!

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