Suspect gave info to find Meredith's body

Perhaps it would seem odd to people who do not believe in God or to those who do not see His hand in the events surrounding the death of Meredith Emerson, but I'm praising God that both her killer has been arrested and her body has been recovered.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/01/08/georgia.hiker/index.html

I don't comprehend it at all and wish, with others, that God could have intervened to save her life. But of all things that I do know, it's that we live in a fallen world where evil abounds. Good people -- angels, really, like Meredith -- for some reason were sent to live in it. That we survive with so much that is good and that evil can be exposed and stopped or contained tells me there IS a God.

So many victims die and their bodies are never found. Their killers are never found. Some of these killers kill for years and years and are never stopped. You can imagine, when a person disappears in a huge forest, we might never have known what happened. Had there not been people who were suspicious, we might have thought Meredith fell in the woods or got lost.

I am praising God for the good things that did happen:

The ex-cop who noted the strange man on the trail with the police baton
The person, perhaps the cop, who noted the license plates of the guy's vehicle
The many witnesses who noted the places where that vehicle had been parked, including in another wildlife area
The people who found Ella's dog -- had someone ignored the dog or just taken it home, her wallet and clothing might never have been found
The people who spotted the suspect at a convenience store and reported it
The investigators who patiently worked to get him to tell them where her body could be found
And that the killer, himself, for whatever reason, told where she was
The potential that other disappearances and murders can be solved
The likelihood that this man killed several people and will never kill another one -- he has been stopped
That it all happened in under a week, not dragged out over years and years
That her family has as many answers as were possible and that they can lay her to rest

I do continually pray that evil and evil-doing will be exposed and stopped; that victims will be rescued as quickly as possible; that family members and friends will be strengthened and comforted; and that organizations, including law enforcement, will be magnified and powerfully successful as they protect us and seek to stop those who do harm.

I'm so grieved for this outcome but I'm grateful to have had the experience of praying for Meredith. My life is better for having been mindful of her this week. God keep you, Meredith.

ABCNews: Child Porn Find Sparks Urgent Search for Victims

Here is a story that needs every prayer and for which there is time to find victims alive. So today I will add this to my prayer list. Thank you, Father, for exposing this evil and for helping law enforcement find evidence of kids being abused. Let us now pray that people will step forward, will recognize the young women in the pictures, and stop the continuing evil and get these kids rescued and into recovery.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=4094050&page=1

I was not abused as a child but because of my involvement in church singles and welfare ministries, I have met many who were. This particular crime weighs very heavy on my heart and is most often in my prayers. I am so grateful whenever I hear that police are energetically seeking victims when they find this stuff on perpetrators' computers. I know that these kids will be found.

Police believe Meredith is dead

A lot of evidence has been recovered near where Meredith's dog was found, and the police have charged that "person of interest", Gary Michael Hilton, with kidnapping with intent to cause bodily harm. They've said they are no longer on a rescue mission, rather, it's "search and recovery". They have said they believe she is dead.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/05/missing.hiker/index.html

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4091406&page=1

It's very sad and disappointing but I am grateful that they so quickly found the suspect and I'm sure they will soon find her. The case seems to be progressing very rapidly.

I've prayed before for people who were most likely dead before I even ever heard about it on the news. I've wondered about this. But I pray anyway. I've learned to pray for the larger picture, for law enforcement to swiftly find what they need to stop predators and for people, in general, to be alert and to expose evil.

I prayed long ago for Elizabeth Smart and lo and behold, she was found and is back with her family.

So I will continue praying for the various circumstances and individuals that I read about in the news. God can count on one more little prayer to add to the many that are uplifted when loved ones go missing.

Meredith Emerson: Dog found, person of interest found

In two separate events, Meredith's dog walked alone into a grocery store 30 miles north of Atlanta and the person of interest, Gary Michael Hilton, was spotted by a police officer at a convenience store in suburban Atlanta.

When I prayed yesterday, I prayed that she would be found that day. I am grateful that these two key events happened yesterday. My prayer today continues that she will be found safely today.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/04/missing.hiker/index.html

The effectual fervent prayer...

I opened my scriptures at random just now, after I posted a prayer for Meredith, and my scriptures opened to this:

Pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

I know that is God reminding me that He wants us to pray for one another and that our prayers really are heard and answered. I wonder if it means that He will help the searchers find Meredith today, alive.

Meredith Emerson

Just lifting my prayers for the safe discovery very quickly of missing hiker Meredith Emerson, a 24-year-old woman who has been missing in the north Georgia mountains since New Year's Day. The clues look ominous and the weather is very cold, but she is a tough girl and is not without hope.

I hate that we have so many predators in our society. My first and biggest request is that sometime today, searchers will find her and if she is still alive, that God will protect and strengthen her and help her to stay warm!

My second request is that someone will spot one of the two white vans or the person of interest who has been identified.

And my third request is that God will bolster all efforts to surface and contain predators in our society. That He will help law enforcement and the public to be alert and to intervene in time to save someone.

My personal prayer list for January 3, 2008

As part of my January prayer experiment, here is a list of just some of the people and circumstances for which I am very earnestly praying. Let's see if we can see the hand of God in their lives. My commitment is to pray for them every day until circumstances change in their lives, and to praise God when the prayers are answered. I should say that I don't expect God's answers to always be in the affirmative. I just look to see where His hand is evident in their lives.

Sister-in-law who is scheduled for painful surgery and who is already addicted to narcotics and is at exceptionally high dosages that are not, apparently, touching the pain any more. How can the doctors possibly medicate her post-surgery pain? And how can she get off of oxycontin and percoset addictions? Two trips to the ER for potential accidental overdoses in the last two weeks. Very scary, lots of confusion and anger and family conflict. After one particularly bad scene, I went home and shouted at God for why He couldn't intervene more. I asked Him if He was powerful enough to really help. He certainly and very swiftly answered me "Yes", which is a topic for another post. I've spent a week or two apologizing to Him! But my prayer for her is just that God be most mindful of her needs and intervene where He can to save her life and get her heart and mind back to good strength.

My brother, who cares for her. He was so overloaded a few weeks ago that he had some sort of emotional collapse at church and the brothers there went with him to the ER, where he was admitted on a suicide watch. There is no one to care for her so when he got out of the hospital, he went right back to it. I helped the best I could but made things worse because she already does not like me and with me in the role of doling out her meds, it blew up. Spoke with my brother about it, she cannot comprehend that everything I did, I did under doctor's orders. I am no longer welcome anywhere around her, cannot even call the house. I text my brother and he calls me on his cell the next time he leaves the house.

Her kids, that they will somehow be impressed to come and help. My brother and I have both spoken with them and they feel they both can't afford it and can't take time away from responsibilities and work. I pray that I can forgive them. My own mother was homeless and my sister and I knocked ourselves out to stay in touch with her and get her off the street. We made many sacrifices, many. When we were broke college students, we drove a couple of hours each day to go to another city to try to find her. When I lived in another state, I either gave her bus tickets or air tickets to come see me (which was a real treat for her) or I flew up there several times a year. When we finally got her off the street, I paid the down payment and most of the house payment for many years, and flew up several times a year to "spell" my sister and help with housework. This was all when I didn't make much money. So I don't have any sympathy for people not making the effort to help care for a desperately ill parent and relieve the primary caretaker. Ah, here's the prayer for me... not to judge. Need to forgive. Need to pray for their hearts to be softened and their courage strengthened so they can step in.

My sister, always. Her circumstances are fairly dire in terms of health, income, and housing. I have no doubt that the Lord has intervened many times in her behalf. I just pray that it will continue and most especially, I pray that He will heal her eyes in a miraculous way and that He will help her to write effectively and find many avenues to publish. She is very talented and is a writer and editor by profession, just open doors for her. Help guide us to a way for her to get health insurance.

Updates:

• Spoke with my sister 1/4/08. She was able to get an earlier appointment with an eye doctor; the appointement was on 1/4/08. I told her not to worry about the expense for special contact lenses, I will cover it.
• Spoke with my sister 1/6/08. She has a prescription for new glasses and just needs to come up with the full amount. I won't have it to help until 1/15 but will be glad to give it. But listen to what a great soul my sister is. She accidentally hit a dog with her car the other day. She lives in a rural area and was taking my brother to work. It's cold and it's winter and she had no money to help. The dog was very badly injured. So my brother dragged it to the side of the road and she gave him the keys so he could continue on to work and she sat with the dog, covered it with a blanket and held it's head and talked to it. She called a friend with the local animal control who came out. They would have transported it but the dog died. But her commitment was to stay with it and get what help she could and she is now looking at community flyers and "lost dog" news items so she can find the owner and let them know what happened.
  

My little brother, because of his line of work, I always pray for his protection.

A single-mom friend who is out of work and whose background makes it challenging. She had an interview recently that I pray leads to good employment.

Updates:

• She called me, said the church would pay $950 on rent. She needs to come up with the remaining $350. I offered some suggestions but omitted the key one, which I'll tell her today. Come clean with the landlord, let him know you're struggling right now, be straight with him. That's always the best. Then file the papers to get your 401k money ASAP. I will also send her to my list of resources in the community.

Another single-mom friend, educated but burned out and now unemployed. I pray that SHE will also be productive in her job search and that her eyes will be opened to good possibilities.

A very dear friend, my best friend, who would like not to travel 100% in her job. She has an interview today at my place of employment. If it's the Lord's will that she come back, I pray for it and thank God for the possibilities.

Updates:

• Interview went well. Turns out another former employee has also applied. She opted to turn in her two week's notice and complete her last two week assignment in Canada so that she can be free to interview locally. It's just too hard to find a new job when you're on 100% travel in a different country and timezone. Continuing to pray for her, of course.

For myself, that I won't have any major house problems while I'm trying to win some long-running financial battles. And that I'll be able to pay my bills honorably this month and also pay my tithing.

For my team, that I will see what I can do to alleviate their workload and stress and to encourage them and help them to work more effectively.

For my company, that we will win this next contract, which will change many of our lives.

For a particular person on my team who is on a lay-off list, that he will be okay and find new employment, good employment, quickly. There are always regrets and it's a situation where you wouldn't cut him if it weren't mandated. So I pray for him.

Updates:

• Praise God, good news, as of 1/4/08 there will be no lay-offs. My prayer for this person will shift to seeing how to help him to become highly productive and to find the right assignments for him. I told a couple of non-believers yesterday about my prayer for him, my prayer list experiment. It was funny, they looked bemused. Made absolutely no comment, just tolerating or accepting what I say about God and prayer. I don't care, it's been that way for years. It's not proselyting, it's my natural exuberance for the witness of God's hand in my life, not much different from them talking about their children or ski days or the new car.

Another friend, married but out of work. I visited with a dear friend who moved out of state and returned for a brief visit this weekend. I'm most definitely adding her to my prayer list. She is an amazingly talented and generous woman and the difficulties she is facing are really hammering at her sense of purpose, her sense of her own value in life. I pray for her success as she seeks a job and that her new surroundings will help her to begin to heal. As my sister told me, sometimes our greatest challenge is to discover that we, ourselves, are a "child of God" and to love ourselves accordingly.