Before It's Too Late

By Ruth-Anne Mullan

Every chapter in this book contains a miracle. The stories are true. They were written for the sole purpose of revealing God's goodness in this day. Most of us don't even know He wants to spend time with us. He met Adam daily in the garden, just to hang out with the man He created. He is love and wanted to love, communicate, and have little private jokes with us. Yes, He's funny sometimes. He has a great sense of humor. It gives Him pleasure to hear us laugh and be joyful. No one is an exception. He wants to be with every person in the world. He's gentle and won't force Himself on us. He didn't want a race of puppets to carry out His wishes. He doesn't need us. He is able to do everything He wants all by Himself. We obey Him simply because we love Him, and trust His desire toward us is only good.

I've learned how He heals, saves, and delivers here and now by many encounters with Him. I promised to tell everyone who will listen about His miracles in my life. He wants everyone who reads this book to get to know Him. It's easy to do. Sit quietly all by yourself where you'll be comfortable. Ask Him to come and be with you and to show you how real He is. Stay still and wait. When your attitude is right, He'll come. Do this as often as necessary until the day He comes, because He will. When you sense His presence, you will be amazed by His glory. You will know for yourself how wonderful He is, the mighty God, able to do all things well in your life, even more than you could ever ask or think.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886852875

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Before It's Too Late

Ruth-Anne Mullan

ISBN 979-8-88685-286-8 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-287-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Ruth-Anne Mullan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Salvation

Deliverance

Forgiveness

Pain! Pain! Pain!

Boat People

I Heard Go, and I Went

Stent

Intercession

Breath of God

Last Chance

Ultimatum

Jesus My Healer

A Miracle for Suzy

Lemon Tarts

He Still Speaks

Touched

Doest Thou Well?

The Voice

Desires of Our Hearts

Faithful to Give

Suicidal

Supplier of All that We Need

As Filthy Rags

His Grace Is Sufficient

A Special Wedding Guest

Time Stood Still

I Know Him

Do Prayer Lists Count?

He Answers Our Thoughts

Are Your Feelings Really Yours?

Dedication

This book is dedicated to every pastor and fellow Christian who has spoken things into my life. You may not realize you are responsible for the close walk with the Lord you have enabled me to enjoy. I have needed much nurturing and help in order to become what I'm still in the process of becoming.

It's also dedicated to my family and to my friends. Your love has shaped me, encouraged me and made me able to laugh at myself. Thank you all for caring, praying, and even the admonitions.

Thank you for loving me.

Acknowledgements

Iwant to thank so many of you, especially Laraine, Sharon, Marion, Blanche, Blair, and Cecile. who spent their precious time reading and editing this book.

Many others heard or read a few stories here and there. These friends and relatives also made the stories better than they were originally. I bless you all for your input.

Prologue

The stories making up the chapters in this book are absolutely true. They were written to proclaim the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I made a solemn promise to do this a long time ago.

Some friends who edited for me wanted me to put the stories in chronological order, adding details of my life I have purposely omitted. I'm not going to do it.

This is not the story of my life. It's the story of God's goodness to me here and now. The miracles are real. God has been my loving companion throughout my life. Even before salvation I was aware of Him. As words from an old hymn state, He has been saving, healing, loving, keeping and I know He'll be with me till the end.

I am not special to God and, at the same time I am of extreme importance. He loves each of you the way He loves me. His desire is for all of us to be with Him in heaven and to see Him as He is now, sitting in majesty at the right hand of the Father, covered in the glory He laid aside to become a helpless baby. He lived as you and I have to so we could be redeemed. It is finished. You are now free to learn about His love, and just how much He wants to communicate with you. He's a real person, talk to Him today. He's waiting longingly to hear from you.

Chapter 1

Salvation

Miracles are still being performed in this day. I am living proof of this. The Lord has done many for me. I know there have been others I've remained totally unaware of.

The first one I experienced took place in a home for unwed mothers. I was thrashing around in bed, trying to sleep. My mind refused to stop churning. I was a pregnant, terrified thirteen-year-old, almost ready to give birth. There was no way out of labor except to go through it. I wasn't looking forward to the pain I expected. Over and over, I rehashed the circumstances responsible for bringing me here.

A friend asked if I wanted to go on vacation with her family. I was thrilled when Mom gave permission. My mother and sister would move from Toronto to Oshawa while I was away. We were all under the impression my friend's family would return me to the new address in Oshawa after the holiday. Unfortunately, they didn't do that. The family stayed in Windsor but sent me back to Toronto with my friend's older brother.

I hadn't done anything wrong, but they often treated me as though I had through the visit. When I came into a room where grown-ups were talking, there was sudden silence. Everyone looked at me, making me uncomfortable. I was miserable most of the time. There were several other teenagers there, all related to my friend. The whole time I was their guest, I slept in the garage with the other teenagers. It was a hot, humid summer. We teenagers slept in the garage on plastic lattice stripped lounge chairs without any covers or pillows that I can recall. Basically, we were on our own. We weren't given a meal or invited to eat at the table with the grown-ups. My friend Dot's cousin made us fried egg sandwiches when we were hungry. Basically, we wandered around the city of Windsor or hung out at the beach.

Dot's grown-up brother came down one weekend. I was shocked when he was getting ready to leave. The family informed me I was going back with him. I still don't know why.

I'd seen him a few times while I was hanging out with Dot at her house. I didn't really know him. I was nervous to be left alone with him. He put the radio on and never spoke to me during the miserable five-hour trip back home. He didn't even ask where I lived. I was puzzled, surprised, and glad when he stopped the car, let me out, and drove away. He dropped me off at the corner of Eglinton and Kennedy Road in Scarborough near Dot's house. I was without money. He didn't ask if I needed any. The trip home after is a long story, better left untold.

I didn't know how to get to Oshawa, so I started by walking down Eglinton Avenue heading for Kingston Road. I remembered going that way in a car once when my mom and I went to see about renting the new place. Things transpired because of this incident to cause my pregnancy.

Scripture tells us we're to commune with our own hearts upon our beds. We are told to carefully think about our lives and our sins, be sorry for them, and mourn over them until we can cry out for forgiveness.

That night, I was finally ready to talk to God about it, even though I hadn't yet realized the depths of my sin. I began to pray to the God I had always believed existed, although I really hadn't met him personally. At first, I thought what I was doing was praying. It was actually just venting. I spoke out my complaints such as, It's not my fault I'm here, Why did my father have to die? If he was still alive, this wouldn't have happened, I wouldn't be here if Dot's brother hadn't left me all by myself, If he had taken me right home, everything would have been all right, If one of my uncles had picked me up, I would have been safe, If I hadn't been afraid to ask one of them to come and get me, this wouldn't have happened.

This one-sided conversation went on for a long time. I blamed situations and other people in my life for what had happened. Then something unique began. After each accusation, I realized my thoughts were being answered. God was really listening and answering.

He said things such as, Yes, they shouldn't have treated you that way, but you could have reacted differently. Yes, I saw that and I know how much it hurt you. It was unfortunate. But again, what you did in response is one reason you are here and in this state.

I realized I was responsible for my own predicament, and there was no way out. I began to cry. Even though I was a child, I understood that everything was my own fault. Even though at times things happened to me and had truly been unfair and abusive, I had chosen to react badly and rebelliously, in most cases.

I began to repent. I was so sorry. I wept and repented until I couldn't even talk any more. My head hurt from all of the crying, but I couldn't stop. I thought I might have a stroke. To my amazement, when the pain became truly unbearable, God stepped in. On many occasions since then, when the pain of life reaches that level, God has faithfully stepped in.

You may not want to believe this. He put his arms around me and hugged me. His hug was as real as any human hug, except it was totally encompassing. It felt like being hugged right from the inside out. No one had hugged me like that before. It was wonderful. I stopped sobbing immediately and squeezed my eyes shut. When I read the Bible to my grandma, I learned that people would die if they saw God; and no matter how bad life was, I didn't want to die.

I sensed a change in the room. It became holy, electric. With spiritual eyes, I saw the walls of the room open up. I was picked up from my bed and being held in Jesus's arms the way a father carries his child. We were transported to a large place. It seemed cavernous and immense. I was so in wonder of it all I hardly could breathe. Jesus stood there holding me, and I felt I'd been brought there for someone to see. Although I still wouldn't dare to open my eyes, it was an absolutely awesome experience!

I didn't think about it at the time, but on looking back, I feel Jesus had brought me to the Father and presented me to him. I have the definite impression that Jesus said, "Father, she's truly sorry. What are we going to do with her?

Later I was to find a scripture, He set me in a large room. He delivered me, because He delighted in me (Psalm 18:19). I woke up in bed the next morning, different. I was holy, clean, and pure. I didn't understand then. The home for unwed mothers I was in was staffed by Salvation Army women. Even though some, if not all, would have understood what happened to me, there was no one I even dared ask. I knew instinctively I'd been forgiven of all my sin. God purified me in a moment of true repentance. I'd been born again. I wish I'd known all it meant.

A few weeks later, I went through labor and had a lovely little boy. When I was in the