I'm one of those women who lived at home until I married. Therefore, the first part of my life my parents were there to help me. Something went wrong in the house and either Mom or Dad knew what to do. I never bothered learning about furnaces and other things.

Later I married, and my husband took over. Again, stuff went wrong in the house and my husband knew what to do.

Now, there is just me. Or so I thought.

I was raised Catholic, but became Pentecostal in the last twelve years. One of the things we're taught is to speak into existence what you want or need. We're also taught to bind Satan in the name of Jesus.

I've fallen away from some of the beliefs, and am looking for a different church home, but I still believe in speaking what I need(not want) into existence.

The other day my furnace started having problems. It's new, but it stopped coming on. I called a repair person right away. He came out, said that a part was needed that was not part of the furnace. He said that this couldn't be done for maybe a week.

The temperature was expected to be below zero. The windchill factor would take it even lower. I didn't have a clue what to do. I bought a space heater, but with a 3 level town home this was not likely to do a thing.

I started praying, asking God for help. I played with the thermostat, turning it off and on. Nothing. I didn't expect anything because the repair guy had tried the same thing. And he knew what he was doing.

Then I stood there and told Satan to step away from my furnace in the name of Jesus. It came on. And stayed on for the entire weekend, until the guy could come out with the part.

The wind was howling when he came out. He was surprised to see I was warm and cozy.

I'm just telling this story to let you know that many times after losing a spouse we think we're alone. We may have relied on our husbands or wives to take care of things and now we're doing it by ourselves. But are we really alone? No. Just call out to the Lord and you'll never be alone.