In 1965, during a family reunion in\nFlorida, a grandmother woke everyone at 2:00, issuing orders to get empty coke\nbottles, corks and paper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI received a message from God. People must\nhear the Word,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She wrote verses on paper and also wrote her address in case people would want to make contact with her. The grandchildren corked the bottles. Then everyone helps to deposit 200 bottles into the surf a Coca Beach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through the years people contacted her and\nthanked her for the Scriptures which they found in the bottles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She died in November 1974. The next month, the last letter arrived. It was someone from Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDear Mrs Gause,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am writing this letter by candlelight. We do not have electricity anymore on the farm. My husband was killed in the fall when a tractor overturned. He left me with 11 children. The bank is foreclosing, there is one loaf of bread left, there\u2019s snow on the ground and Christmas is two weeks away. I prayed for forgiveness when I made a decision to go and drown myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The river has been frozen over for weeks, so I didn\u2019t think it would take long to die if I just jump into the cold water. When I broke the ice, a Coke Bottle floated up. I opened it and with tears and trembling hands, I read about hope. One of the verses said: But for him who is still alive, there is hope. A dog that is alive is better than a dead lion. (Ecc.9:4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I came home, read my Bible and I am\nthanking God. Please pray for us. We are going to make it now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How did I bottle get from Coca beach in\nFlorida to a farm in Ohio?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This side of eternity we will not know. It is a remarkable testimony. One of hope. And for me, it is a story of God\u2019s providence. O, and also the obedience of a grandmother to the voice of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n