The Prayer Letter

From the Archives: Winter 2011

Written by Kevin Frye

My wife, Cheri, and I have just celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary, and we now have a wonderful family. But, it was not always this way.

After being married a couple of years, we decided to start a family. We tried for many years to have children, but with no results. We went to doctors in Winston-Salem and had all kinds of tests run. We did everything medically that we could to have a baby. During that time, Cheri had six miscarriages and one tubal pregnancy.

A specialist told us that our chance of having kids was “slim to none”. All the pregnancies and miscarriages were heart wrenching. People who have never had a miscarriage think that there is no attachment to the baby in the early stages. But the opposite is true. It was truly devastating to us each time.

A New Life of Faith

One of our doctors told us that we needed to consider adoption, and we had heard that the Baptists ran an adoption program, so we decided to start attending a small Baptist church. I didn’t go because I knew Jesus. It was an effort, on my part, to adopt a baby through their adoption agency.

But, with the Lord, salvation comes first. My wife had been saved when she was younger, but she had never been baptized. I had never accepted Jesus as my Savior, but, not long after we started going, I got saved and we were baptized together.

“Dear Jesus” Letter

It was 1992. My wife was in church for a Wednesday night service, but I had to work and couldn’t be there. During that service, our preacher mentioned that kids were writing letters to Santa Clause telling him what they wanted for Christmas, so he thought the adults should take time to write a “Dear Jesus” letter.

He asked them to tell Jesus in that letter what they wanted. My wife wrote her letter -- her prayer letter -- and put it in the box. There were about 15 other people there who did the same thing. She never told me about the letter at that time.

It was 1993. Cheri was pregnant again. She began experiencing some major problems, so we went to see her doctor. He did a sonogram but couldn’t hear the baby’s heart beat. In fact, he couldn’t hear anything at all. We went home devastated, thinking we were going to lose our baby, again.

That night I got on my knees in our living room by myself. I prayed and prayed, and then I prayed some more. I prayed for hours. Then, all of a sudden, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I just knew that everything would be okay.

When my wife woke up that morning, I was happy and she was dreading losing another baby. We went back to the doctor in Boone that day, and he found a heartbeat almost instantly. When it came time for our baby to be born, he was late. My wife had to be induced and ended up having a C-section but with the doctor’s and the Lord’s help, Jared Robert Lee Frye was delivered on November 12, 1993. Seven years of waiting and wanting a baby came to an end that day. The name “Jared” means descendent of, so we named him after my dad, her dad, and her grandfather.

That following December in 1993, our preacher opened up the box of letters written before Christmas in 1992. He read through all the letters, and everyone was amazed at how many of the prayers had been answered. It was the first time I knew about my wife’s letter. But here we were that night in December holding our new son.

To make things even more clear to me, the Lord hit me with a two-by-four to let me see how miraculous this baby was. Cheri, being a secretary by trade, dates everything. The prayer letter was dated 11/12/1992, and our son was born 11/12/1993 -- exactly one year from the day the letter was written.

More Prayers, More Blessings

Roughly seven years later, the Lord answered our prayers again. For seven years after Jared’s birth, we prayed and prayed for another baby. She finally got pregnant but several weeks into the pregnancy, she began to have more problems and severe pain.

We went to the hospital and were told that it appeared she was having a miscarriage. We went home devastated, again. I spent a lot of time on my knees that night. While I didn’t sense a hand on my shoulder this time, I didn’t have any doubt that God performs miracles. My wife and I went back to the doctor the next day, and he said he didn’t know what happened but we were still having a baby. Caitlyn was born on April 26, 2000.

My Faith Has Grown

Because of all of this, the pregnancies, the time spent in prayer and God’s response to our heart cries, my faith has grown. It is what my life is based on.

The Lord has brought me a long way in the last 27 years. He brought me from being a lost man to a man of faith in Him. He brought me to believe that He still does miracles today.

I look at my two children and am reminded of that. He has worked in me to teach me that it is in serving Him that I know how to serve my community through law enforcement. He has taught me the importance of prayer and to have faith that He hears and answers those prayers.

He is with me every day. He answers “prayer letters” and His answers have led me to follow him all the days of my life.

Recently, a group of fellow Banner Elk residents “roasted” me. It was great fun and I’m thankful to those who showed their appreciation for the work I’ve tried to do but, in all honesty, I have received more than I have given. My life, since coming to Christ, has been one of being thankful and giving back. There’s been no charge.