Selma's Story

I’ve long ago quit believing in coincidences.

So when Selma Johnson told me what happened on a recent trip to El Paso, I knew it was more than coincidence…

Selma’s day didn’t go smoothly. She was bumped to a later flight, and, as she finally took her seat, Selma was steaming.

Still, the passenger next to her struck up a conversation. He was a soldier, heading home on leave from Iraq. Selma thanked him for his service to his country and asked what he’d do while home.

That’s when the soldier began to weep.

He pulled a diamond ring from his pocket and explained that he’d flown halfway around the world to ask his girlfriend to marry him. But the day before he left Iraq, he’d received a “Dear John” letter.

Selma offered comforting words, but she wanted to give him more. Something that would encourage this lonely, brokenhearted soldier. 

Then it hit her: a prayer bear.

Selma was flying to El Paso to tell churches about “Prayer Bears,” a craft North American kids make for distribution to African orphans through Group Publishing’s Operation Kid-to-Kid™ mission projects.

The soldier excused himself for a few moments, so Selma quickly slipped a bear out of her bag and onto his empty seat.

When the young man returned, he stopped and stared.

Just back from Iraq…lonely and unsure about his future….the battle-hardened soldier confronted a small, purple bear. What would he do?

He picked up the bear and hugged it.

When Selma and the soldier hugged after deplaning in El Paso, the young man walked away reminded that God loved him. And peeking out of his camouflaged duffel bag was a small flannel bear.

Coincidental meeting? No way! God brought Selma into that soldier’s life at precisely the right moment…and it’s not the end of the story.

Several days later, Selma flew home, and once again her seatmate was a soldier. And this soldier wanted to talk, too.

Except Selma wasn’t interested. Again she’d been bumped to a later flight, and she was tired and annoyed. It must have showed, because the soldier suggested she might benefit from hearing about something that happened to his buddy a few days before.

It seems an Army friend was going home, lonely and discouraged because of a “Dear John” letter, when some lady handed him a little, purple Prayer Bear.”

That got Selma’s attention.

The soldier said that he and his friend had connected for dinner where, after a long discussion, they both recommitted themselves to Jesus. His buddy’s Prayer Bear was a reminder of that decision, and this soldier was wishing he had one, too.

The soldier smiled and confessed he’d had a bit too much coffee and then walked toward the rear of the plane.

Selma sprung into action.

When the soldier returned and found a prayer bear he shouted, “It’s a Prayer Bear!” and started grilling other passengers. Had they seen who put it there?

Selma confessed, and the soldier’s eyes grew wide. “You…you’re the Prayer Bear lady?” he asked.

This time it wasn’t just Selma and her new friend who wept. There weren’t many dry eyes when, at the gate, Selma and the soldier hugged before going their separate ways.

Selma says, “Right now, in Iraq, there are two prayer bears reminding two soldiers of God’s love—and my prayers.”

Coincidence? I don’t think so…and neither does Selma.

“I wasn’t supposed to be on either plane,” she says. “God planned those flights.”

Our God reaches out to lonely, heartbroken people wherever they are. He uses us…and sometimes fuzzy, little bears.

PS: Have prayer bears handy when someone needs a hug! Visit www.group.com/prayerbears to get your own bears!

Share your own Prayer Bears story!