At the young age of eight or nine, I began attending a Wednesday night children's program. One of my friends and I went together to Awana. I know now that it was not an accident that I attended -- it was by divine appointment. During one of those programs, I accepted Jesus as my Personal Savior. I will never forget that night in the 1970's or the dear lady who prayed the prayer of salvation with me. Instantly, I became a new creature in Christ. A couple of years ago, I read her obituary in the local newspaper and knew that the Lord had given her a "well done, thy good and faithful servant."
Unfortunately, little spiritual growth took place in the following years. Most of my life was led as a moral person, believing that good deeds were all that was required to get into Heaven. Good deeds are not what He asks of us. He asks for a repentant heart, our worship, submission to His Word, and a powerful dependence upon Him. Although I had accepted Christ as my Savior, He certainly was not Lord of my life. I was His child and He had written my name in the Lamb's Book of Life, yet, I only knew about Him. I was on a journey to know Him and to experience Him in His fullness.
Three realms of influence have contributed most to my spiritual growth and discipleship -- people, problems, and praise. People. I think of three people who have most discipled me on my Christian walk. Shortly after I was married, the Lord placed a faithful servant in our lives. Wilma was the wife of one of my husband's employees. She discipled and mentored me for many years. She was faithful to pray for me, encourage me, and teach me. I will never forget how she and her husband traveled over 700 miles to come to our side when one of our premature babies had surgery. We had no idea that they were coming. The nurses had just taken our baby girl from my arms and were walking her to the operating room. I had collapsed on the floor, sobbing with heartache. When I lifted up my head, there stood Wilma and her husband. She actively lived out what she taught and believed.
During the early years of our marriage and motherhood, I grew in my Christian walk, but upon reflection, I know that although I was justified through Him, the process of complete surrender and sanctification was just underway. The second person who mentored me on my life journey was Pastor Mathias. He was our pastor from 1991-1998. I have never met a man who personified holiness in all that he said and did, like Pastor Mathias exemplified. He walked the walk and talked the talk. It was during those years that I rededicated my life to Christ and made the steps necessary to completely surrender all that I was and all that I wanted to become to the Lord. I recall in 1994 telling my husband that I had found true peace and joy in my life.
Karen, the wife of our Pastor in the late 1990's and early years of the twenty-first century, is the third person to have a profound on my impact on my growth as a Christian. I met Karen in 1998. She is a faith-filled woman of God and she built my faith for healing once I was diagnosed with leukemia. She and her husband challenged my faith as a Christian and corrected me when I wavered at bad reports from my doctors. Karen helped me to be more faithful in praising through the difficult times of life. She was a teacher who exemplified what a leader in the Body of Christ should personify. I pray I will become a leader like Karen. She reminded me of Nehemiah -- full of prayer, always seeking God's direction, prepared to do spiritual warfare, motivating of those around her, and undaunted by the biggest tasks that God assigns. If God used Nehemiah to rebuild the wall in 52 days, I KNOW that He can take a humble servant like me and work through me to do mighty deeds.
Problems. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials or many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (James 1:2-4). My life has been replete with trials and tribulations. I have always attempted to make the most of every life event and to see God's hand moving in these situations.
These are the "facts" and "reports" of man. We have nearly lost all three of our daughters after birth. I nearly lost my life in 1990 when I developed a blood clot in my lung. And when I was diagnosed with leukemia, we had no medical insurance since two of our children had pre-existing medical conditions that made purchasing insurance nearly impossible.
Now I will state the "truth": God has been faithful to our family. He has restored health, touched and healed our sick bodies, Jehovah Jirah has provided for all of our needs, jobs have been replaced, and He has been a God of restoration. Our God is a God who keeps all His loving promises. He has put the desire in my heart to be a light and a voice for Him and His Kingdom. And for as long as He has ordained for me to live on this earth, I will be those things for Him.
Praise. In order to count all of these trials as pure joy, praise has had to be present in my life. I take praise and worship music with me to the hospital. I take my MP3 player along with praise music to scans, IV treatments, and other medical adventures. The garment of praise definitely removes the spirit of heaviness in my life. We can choose to be downcast and depressed over our life situations, or we can trust God and praise Him as we wait for our heartfelt prayers to manifest.
The Lord has revealed to me, over and over again, that this illness will bring glory to God and will be a tool used to see the salvation of my lost family members and others seeking a relationship with God. This has been my prayer. And God is answering. Several of our family members have accepted Christ in the past few years and several others are asking and seeking.
Through these people, problems, and praises, I have grown to know and love Him deeper with each passing year. He is my Everything. He is my Hope and my Healer. He is my Life and my Love. I only want to be as faithful to Him as He has been to me. I am thankful that despite the hardship and adversity that I have encountered in my life, that the Lord has encouraged me to remain faithful. I look forward to seeing future generations of my family continue this legacy of faith.
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