from Mayadevi
My mother’s friend wrote with the sad news that five weeks before, her husband had disappeared. He had been depressed for a long time, and she suspected he had committed suicide. He was a doctor. Late one evening he left home to pick up something from his medical clinic, and never came back.
This was in Germany when the country was still divided into “East” and “West.” The doctor’s car was found on the edge of a large wooded area, not far from the border. After a long but fruitless search, the police became convinced that he had walked into the other Germany.
My mother’s friend felt her husband was dead. Since they hadn’t found his body, she and her three children were caught in a complicated legal limbo.
My mother felt a strong urge to search the area herself. From the police, she learned where the car had been abandoned, and started searching from that point. The wooded area was five kilometers long. She and my father prayed deeply for divine assistance and felt guided to go into a particularly dense part. An hour later, they found his body.
At first the police were deeply suspicious. Perhaps my parents were returning to the scene of a crime they themselves had committed. My father told the police about their prayer and the guidance they felt. Finally the police realized that even with their search dogs and a hundred policemen, they hadn’t gone into that part of the woods.
Not all prayers are answered in a happy way. Even though the ending was sad, the wife was grateful to know where and how her husband’s life had ended.
