To Forgive

ROSA PRAYED FOR HER HUSBAND

The frigid wind slashed into his spine like an icy knife that penetrated deep. As if to protect himself from the biting, blustering cold, Derrick pulled his thin coat closer, and hunching forward continued his search for shelter. Around him snow swirled creating soft mounds of white that rapidly obliterated all landmarks.
He was lost in a blizzard and he knew it. Was it hours ago that he had alighted mistakenly from a subway in this strange part of town? He glanced at his watch and realized that he had, in fact, been wandering around for only 30 minutes, but already his fingers had lost sensation and were turning blue.
Shivering, he thought of his wife and small son in Southern California. Would he ever see them again? He was a stranger in these parts and his only hope for survival, in this tempest, was the kindness of strangers. He knocked on one door and then on another, in fact he knocked on several doors. People either didn't hear, or choose to ignore, the chimes of their doorbells.
Three thousand miles away, his wife, Rosa, conversing lightly with friends, felt a sudden urge to pray for her husband's safety. Momentarily stopping her part of the conversation, Rosa quickly bowed her head and sent a prayer heavenward.

Noticing the fleeting lull in the conversation, Nancy, one of her friends, asked perceptively, "Rosa is everything all right?"
"Well it is my husband, I am so worried about him, " Rosa answered. Furrowing her brow she continued, " Today, the news media is almost constantly reporting such a terrible winter storm on the east coast. We arrived here, in the United States, such a short time ago. Derrick is just not prepared for this kind of weather." "We never had winter blizzards in Belize, our country, " she added with a wry smile.
"Well then let's all pray for his safety," said Nancy, and three heads bowed asking God to send his angel to compass Derrick and save him from harm. Some kind person eventually did take the risk and opened his home to a young stranger, giving him respite from the cold.
Later that evening, when Derrick called home and told his harrowing story, Rosa asked, "Derrick, Tell me what was the time, there, when this happened?
"Oh, about twelve noon, East coast time." He answered. In fact, at the equivalent time on the West Coast of the United States Rosa prayed for her husband.