title: Hope (by Mandi)
 
Story: At the age of seven Devin knew a lot about church and the Bible. 
Her mom had been taking her to church every Wednesday night and Sunday 
morning since she was born. That all changed two years ago when her dad 
started drinking and becoming abusive.
 
The first year they still went to church because her dad wasn't that 
bad, but this past year things turned from bad to worse. Her mom always 
told her that God was watching over them and everything would be okay in 
the end. Devin was starting not to believe in that anymore because 
things just kept getting worse every day.
 
Devin sat down in front of a picture of him; she looked up and said, 
"Give me a sign that You really are up there; that You really do exist. 
Show me something so that I know everything will work out and be okay. I 
know that You can't stop Daddy from drinking and hitting Mommy and me, 
but I wish I knew that You were watching over Mommy and me."
 
A figure, like an angel, appeared in front of Devin when she went to 
leave. She was dressed all in white.
 
"Are you an angel?
 
"Not exactly, I'm a form of an angel."
 
"What do you mean?"
 
"Go home and you will see what I mean."
 
"But who are you"
 
"You will figure that out once you are home."
 
Devin ran all the way home and found the house all straight for once. 
There was no broken glass or anything in pieces. It was the cleanest 
that it had ever been. There was no sign of her dad and right away Devin 
thought the worse. She thought that he had been taken away or that her 
mom was dead or even worse both. She heard her mother calling her name 
from the den.
 
She walked into the den, "Mom, what happened here?"
 
"Oh sweetie, it must have been a miracle."
 
"Why what happened?"
 
"You dad came home and had not been drinking. He said he was sorry for 
all the pain that he had caused over the past two years (1998-2000). He 
said that he was going to make things right again; that we would be a 
family like before."
 
"Really!"
 
"Yes,"
 
"Were is he now?"
 
"He went to get help for his drinking problem."
 
Over the next two years Devin saw little of her dad. He was always busy 
between work and going to that place where he got help. The important 
thing was that they were a family again and everything was peaceful. 
Christmas Eve 2002 Devin heard her parents fighting. Her first thought was 
that her dad had gone back to drinking again.
 
Just as she was climbing out of her window, that same white figure 
suddenly appeared and said, " Don't worry, he has not been drinking. They 
are just disagreeing on something."
 
"How do you know this?"
 
"The man up there tells me. He is watching over all of you."
 
"Why are you here?"
 
"I'm the one sent to make sure that you never loose that one thing."
 
With that, the figured disappeared and Devin lay on her bed. She was 
thinking about everything over the past two years and what the figure had 
said. Suddenly it came to her; the figure was hope.