One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the colorful sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints; one belonged to him, and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints and noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. " Lord, you said that once I decided to believe in you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would abandon me."
The Lord said unto him, "My precious, precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and tribulation, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."
author unknown - Changed a little, below is the original from 1939
One night I dreamed I was walking
Along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints.
Other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed that
During the low periods of my life when I was
Suffering from anguish, sorrow, or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints,
So I said to the Lord, "You promised me,
Lord, that if I followed You,
You would walk with me always.
But I noticed that during the most trying periods
Of my life there have only been
One set of prints in the sand.
Why, When I have needed You most,
You have not been there for me?"
The Lord replied,
"The times when you have seen only one set of footprints
Is when I carried you."
By Mary Stevenson
(Born 11/8/22 Died 1/6/99)
THE TRUTH IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!
Due to the following correspondence I have made changes to this page and will continue to keep updated as much as possible.
-------Original Message-------
From: Basil Zangare
Date: Tuesday, July 01, 2003 10:16:38 PM
To: howitworks@att.net
Subject: Footprints in the sand
While surfing the internet came across your “Footprints in the Sand” page on
your site and saw the mention of Mary Stevenson as the author of the poem.
Mary Stevenson was my mother. I have been personally working very hard for
several years to get her recognized as the true author. Even after her
passing in 1999 I still felt the need to get the word out. She would have
been very flattered to see her name on so many web sites knowing that they
are being viewed by people all over the world.
I recently started my own web page dedicated to her and would like to get it
viewed by as many people as possible. I noticed that you have a link to
www.foot-print.com <http://www.foot-print.com> on your site, which has
recently been removed form the internet. If you check you will see that it
no longer works. If you like you can replace it with a link to my mother’s
site. It’s still in the process of development, but I think visitors to you
site will find it interesting.
Please let me know so if this appeals to you. Her site can be viewed at
www.Footprints-InThe-Sand.com <http://www.footprints-inthe-sand.com/> .
Sincerely,
Basil Zangare
From: "Basil Zangare" <bazangare@footprints-inthe-sand.com>
To: "HowItWorks" <HowItWorks@att.net>
Subject: RE: Footprints in the sand
Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 01:08:50 -0400
Hi,
Thanks for the quick reply.
While reading your site I notice a couple of irregularities with some of the statements that Kathy
Hampton made. To date Kathy has made no effort to contribute any money that she has earned to
getting a headstone for my mother’s grave. Everything has gone into her own pocket. A headstone
costs between $600 - $1000 and Kathy has collected many thousands of dollars from her web site
and a $5,000 advancement from a publisher that has mysteriously disappeared while she was
acting as a manager for my mother. Kathy had also gotten her to sign while in a weakened state
along with many other documents. And lastly I have done more in the past 2 months to bring to light
my mother being the true author than Kathy has done in the past 9 years. There is much more that
would be a book in itself.
I don’t mean to give you an earful, but it does get me a little incensed when I see her trying to make
herself out to be a savior when she has actually done the opposite.
I don’t know if you would or what to make any changes at this time. I appreciate the change in the
link to my site. The truth I believe will eventually be known.
Sincerely,
Basil Zangare
FOOTPRINTS TIME LINE
Follow Mary (Stevenson) Zangare's Footprints through time!
Mary was born in Chester, Pennsylvania on November 8, 1922.
It was during the Depression that her mother died. Her father had to work
away from home leaving the six children at home...sometimes they ran out of food.
At a young age Mary learned to dance, on street corners.
Her earnings helped buy food.
In the winter of 1936, 14 year-old Mary Stevenson wrote the poem FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND saying that God gave her the words while she just pushed the pencil. From that day on, Mary gave hand-written copies of her poem to friends, relatives and strangers. She kept her 1939 copy.
Mary became a professional dancer during the early 40's.
She gave handwritten copies of Footprints to other dancers.
In December of 1984 Mary followed Kathy's advice and applied for & received a copyright on FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND from the U.S. Copyright Office.
In 1985 Mary and Kathy collaborated on an Anti-Child Abuse song called
"Momma Don't You Love Me".
On January 6, 1999 Mary Stevenson (Zangare) died and is buried in an un-marked grave.
She left two Wills leaving Kathy M. Hampton in charge of her poetry.
Kathy hopes to be able to put a tombstone on Mary's grave.
Bee believes that Mary, whose poem inspired millions, whose name was replaced by "Author Unknown" and "Anonymous" should not be forgotten...and replaced by an impostor.
For more information see these WEB sites:
http://www.Footprints-InThe-Sand.com
http://www.wowzone.com/fpnews.htm
http://members.aol.com/pilgrimpub/footprnt.htm
An awful lot of Footprints
It's not likely that either side will ever convince the entire world of who is the rightful author. A Web search using the words "Footprints in the sand" turns up 4,600 sites! Most of them are based on the enigmatic poem. (The exceptions promote travel in Florida or refer to genealogy or estate planning.) One of them is an Islamic poetry site.
And a quick scan of the first several dozen sites listed shows that the vast majority - many of which sell calendars, bookmarks, lapel pins, candles and even those sandals that have "Jesus" engraved in the soles - attribute the poem to "author unknown," or have no attribution at all.
The poem is a runaway. There's no stopping it now, especially with the Internet taking it to millions more people. Companies all over the world are making money by selling trinkets featuring Footprints.
So who really wrote Footprints?
Maybe the real author will always remain unknown
Some found on the internet are even newly written with the same name ????
Footprints in the Sand
the sands of time
stretch endlessly
into futures long since past
faint images
and ocean waves
are all that ever last
old, broken dreams
wash out to sea
silent ghost ships in the night
they haunt new hopes
most eerily
from dark fog banks out of sight
bright dreams they kill
‘fore any see
wishful shape or form or face
young vision’s fade
new hopes decease
and vanish without a trace
but when we met
the sun broke free
it burned through the misty haze
once clouded hearts
began wearily
recovering from the daze
our strength built fast
and joyously
we collapsed in an embrace
because we knew
that finally
we'd found love life could not erase
today when we
smell the salt breeze
we go walking hand in hand
the waves stand still
so we can leave
footprints -
footprints in the sand...
This IS a love time will not erase. It will survive this life and beyond. No matter how far into the future someone tries to find us, they'll see us at the end of our footprints. On a blanket with my baby -
that's where I'll be..
How to get from THERE to HERE
(Obviously you can't get from HERE to THERE,
because just when you think you have arrived,
THERE is just another HERE.
The ONLY way is to get from THERE to HERE.)
09/17/2003 09:41 PM
Last Update
