Divine Protection
This is Our testimony of Divine Protection as promised in Psalms 91 He
shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.
The 700 club featured Our story, an Evangelistic team from Europe flew
over and filmed Our testimony for European TV also we were able to share
on the Montel Williams Show. A year later God had Our testimony
included in a book called "In the Hollow of His hand. All of this happened by
obeying Gods voice to forgive.
In the end, God took this evil deed and turned it into good. It was
kind of like a modern day Lion's den to which many souls were saved. After
it all, God Blessed us in ways we could never have imagined. Thank
You LORD!
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It was a quiet Monday morning in Peekskill, N.Y., and the first day
after Christmas vacation. Three of the John and Glenys Singer's five
children had left for school.
"I was actually downstairs, happy to be in my basement reading my
Bible," recalls John. "My wife was settling upstairs getting her life in
order, without the commotion of the five kids in the house.
"I heard the shots going off and I felt as if my whole life was over. I
didn’t know what to do. I was still in... you’re in shock really.
You really don’t know what to do.
"I went upstairs to investigate and I saw the look on my wife’s face.
She was puzzled. She thought something in the basement had exploded. We
both looked at each other, and in a moment, our neighbor limped through
the front door asking for help. She asked us to call 911."
the Singer's neighbor, had just been shot -- by her husband!
911 - "I didn’t know where my children were, but my wife went to the
back room with her to console her," says John. "I went down to the
basement because it was the closest phone. I made the call to the police.
Seconds later I heard [more] shots going off upstairs." Those shots,
John would soon learn, came from her husband, who had followed her into
the Singer's home. At close range, her husband shot her three more
times.
"I heard the commotion and the bang of the shot[s]. I had no idea what
was going on up there," John recalls.
John ran outside to meet the police. As he did, he saw his wife come to
the window."I just wanted her out of there. I told her to just jump," says John.
"She jumped down."
Left Behind
What John didn’t realize was that his wife, in haste, had hidden the
children in a nearby closet, a closet that was now blocked by
Colleen’s limp body.
"My wife could not get the children. They were really locked in that
closet. There was no way out of that room for my wife.
"Now I’m thinking, 'Let’s go in. Let’s go get my children.' They
[the police] wouldn’t let us go in. They held us back. They told my
wife and I to get down. I think they were pretty scared, too. This was
just a small town," says John.
John and Glenys say they felt helpless. They had no way of getting into
the home where their two young children were trapped.
Miraculously, the shot neighbor somehow managed to stumble out of the
front door and collapsed in the driveway where the police were.
At that moment John realized his children were now alone in the house
with the gunman. John cried out in desperation to God. After what felt
like an eternity, John's two youngest children suddenly appeared on the
front porch! John and a policeman got close enough to grab the children
and pull them to safety.
Fiery Trial
Wondering if the ordeal was finally at an end, John turned to hear
another neighbor say, "John I don’t know if I should tell you this, but
the house is on fire."
The Singers watched as their home burned to the ground. The disturbed
husband had set fire to the kitchen, killing himself in the process. The
fire destroyed the home so completely that the Singers lost all of
their personal belongings.
A Living Faith
Imagine losing your home and all you belongings because of one man’s
violence.
When the Singers found out that their neighbor’s family was having
financial trouble working out the funeral arrangements for the man who
had burned down his house, John and Glenys decided to volunteer their own
church for the funeral service! And their kindness went a step further.
When no one could be found to preach the service, John Singer
volunteered to speak at the gunman’s funeral. The media and the public were
dumbfounded.
"We’ll do it. We’ll take care of the funeral service here,"
explained John. "It was no problem to us. He was a man that had problems in
terms of pressures, a real devil that was after him, and he cracked under
the pressure. I understood that. I understand who we are up against in
this world."
Angel in the Closet?
Looking back at that tragic day, John and Glenys feel God miraculously
protected Colleen and their children. "We were going over the devotions
the other day and my wife was showing Sarah and Kristen about angels,
when Sarah pointed to an angel and said, ‘Mom that was the angel that
was with us in the closet,’" says John.
The detectives asked the two girls if they had seen the gunman’s
face. Sarah said she saw his face but didn’t look at the gun. The Singers
knew that an angel was keeping the girls from seeing anything that
might make them afraid.
Later, their 4-year-old told Glenys that the gunman spoke directly to
the children, trying to calm them down. The 4-year-old whispered, "Mom,
you know I wasn’t afraid of the man. He just said, 'Don’t be afraid
of me. Mom and dad are outside; you may go.'"
Lifted Up
Many wondered how thier neighbor made it out of the house after
receiving multiple gunshot wounds. Her testimony in the hospital was this: "I
felt so safe in your house and I just kept feeling something lifting
me."
"We believe that angels were operating that day and seeing us through
and getting her out of there," says Glenys. "I still don’t know how
she had the strength to get out."
And as for the gunman, John and Glenys have prayed that somehow he made
a last minute decision to repent for his sins and surrender his life to
Jesus Christ.
The Singer's home had been filled with Christian artwork and Scripture
verses.
"We pray that somewhere, somehow he got a glimpse of the Word, or some
picture on the wall. We pray that he asked the Lord to come into his
heart. We pray that he did," say the Singers.
Helping Hands
Because of the media coverage, people from all over the community
mobilized to help the Singers rebuild their lives. Thousands of dollars in
donations poured in. Clothing and household items literally came by the
truckload.
"The clothes -- they had three, four, five women everyday sifting
through them," says Glenys. "They were in tears, some of them, from watching
God’s provision with trucks backing up".
John and Glenys are starting over in Cape May, N.J. They are amazed at
the unbelievable way God provided for them and restored all.
"I just thank God for who He is," says John. "He has bestowed wonderful
blessings upon us and we look to do whatever service for Him. We are
stunned by the way in which He has turned around and undeservingly
blessed us. We don’t deserve this."
Testimony submitted to the Breadsite. To submit yours click here.