I knew, at the age
of 12, that without Christ I would go to hell. However, a very shy,
able-bodied girl would not go forward in church. Thank God, my Pastor
recognized I was under conviction and came to my house. There, at our old
yellow Formica kitchen table on January 4th, 1970, he took me down the Roman
Road to Salvation. I felt a heavy burden just roll off my shoulders. When I
went before the church to request baptism and church membership, it was so
easy! I thought to myself: "What was I so afraid of?"
God truly blessed
my teenage years. As I desired to learn more about His Word and allowed the
Holy Spirit to work in me, He gave me such joy and blessed me all the way
through college and into marriage.
At age 24, I was
diagnosed with a brain-stem, spinal cord tumor. Two surgeries, at ages 24
and 28, resulted in my becoming an electric wheelchair user. I lost my
marriage, job, and home (I lived in a nursing home until God delivered me).
I lost the ability to physically care for my elderly parents, and the
physical ability to care for myself. The Lord showed me how to Praise Him,
even though I had lost all these things.
Christ, in
leaving Heaven, to live among us, ungrateful humans, and to die a horrible
death on the cross for us, suffered more than any of us ever could. He did
it, not because He had to, but because He loves each and every one of us.
The Cross reminds me of His never ending love for me. He brought me all the way from a nursing home in Harrison, Arkansas to Fayetteville, Arkansas to live in an apartment, earn a degree in Rehabilitation Counseling, have a paying job, and belong to a wonderful body of people - Mission Blvd. Baptist Church. There will always be challenges in my life. However, Second Corinthians 4:16 and 17 tells me they are just "light afflictions" and are working for my good. What a wonderful peace of mind!
