A God Moment – Part 3

(continued story) I never knew I could play unique instruments like Swiss cowbells and crystal glasses with such ease. Sure, I had plunked songs on a piano we used to have but never attempted anything like this. The kind woman who let me use her instruments (whose name was Aunt Marion), encouraged me to purchase a set of glasses and cowbells so that I could do more. But I didn’t know what more meant. She asked me if I could draw and I said, “A little,” so she gave me the name of a man near my home who taught black-light chalk drawing. I didn’t have a clue how I could take the lessons with all my little kids in tow.

The next week when I went to church, a friend handed me a check. She said, “I don’t know what this is for, but God told me to give it to you.” I broke down and cried as I looked at her offering. It was the exact amount needed to purchase the Swiss cowbells. The same scenario happened when I desired to purchase the crystal glasses and when I needed to take a week of chalk drawing lessons and when I needed to purchase a trailer to carry all my equipment in. God paid for it all!

I was 28 years old when my evangelistic meetings started. One of the first programs we did was in a little United Brethren Church not far from home. The piano player that accompanied me was 14 years old! She’s been our church pianist for over 30 years now. It was scary and exhilarating and rewarding all at the same time!

Now, 38 years later, I’ve been in thousands of churches, camps, and meetings across the nation and even around the world. God has helped me develop talents and abilities I never knew I had. I’ve been able to lead children in their decision to follow Christ and led adults into a relationship with their Heavenly Father. I have seen the grace of God with His power and provision all because of a four-hour conversation in my driveway with my husband who believed that God had planted something in me.

God used a man who was attuned to his wife’s needs and desires of her heart. He led me to change my thought process from just serving others to serving by reaching others with the Gospel. Matthew 19:5 tells us that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined together with his wife and the two shall be one flesh. Not just physically, but body, soul, mind and spirit! I can actually say this was one of the biggest God moments ever for me. And yes, it was well worth paying that babysitter!

A God Moment – Part 2

As we sat in the parked car in the driveway while the paid babysitter inside the house watched our four children, Tom talked me through the plan of salvation, God’s righteousness, His love for me, and His grace and mercy. He explained to me what spiritual gifts were and what talents God had given me. I slowly began to understand what my relationship to Christ was and what Christianity was all about.

God had something for me to do that didn’t just involve work in the church, it involved me growing in the knowledge and understanding of who God was and what He desired of me. Tom saw gifts and abilities in me that I could not see.

Before that night was over I would realize:

1.      I was saved for sure!

2.      I had a lot of Bible study to do, like learn what spiritual gifts are.

3.      God had a plan for our lives. I didn’t know what that was yet, but I was beginning to listen.

Two weeks later we went to Tom’s parents’ house in Flint, Michigan for a week. As a pastor of a small church, Tom’s dad invited two evangelists to lead a daily vacation Bible school. Every night I would watch one of them play instruments, tell stories with flannel graph, and do ventriloquism. I was spellbound. The children were all held in rapt attention as she spoke. Her gentle spirit led them all the way to Jesus! I felt something moving deep in my soul, but I had no clue what it was.

Each evening after putting my kids to bed in Tom’s folks’ house, I would go back next door to the church and ask the evangelist if I could play the crystal glasses and cowbells. She was very gracious and gave me a short demonstration on how to play each instrument.

I began first with the glasses that made music by rubbing your finger around the top to make the crystal vibrate. They were tuned by putting water into the goblets and removing it to make the notes sharp or putting more water in to make the notes flat.

The set of cowbells were set up like a piano with black and white keys. They were loud but you could make melodies by playing harmony with two or three bells at a time. She stood amazed as I began playing them like I had been doing it for 20 years! She would name a song and I could play it. It was like I had a natural ability to do this; it was as natural to me as breathing.

(To be continued.)

A God Moment – Part 1

I've had some big God moments in my life, like when my kids were born and when my husband Tom died and events that happened on my many trips to Romania. All those events changed my life dramatically.

Another big God moment for me is a date my husband took me on when I was 28 years old.

I was married right out of high school. I turned 18 in July and married Tom in September. Sixteen months later I gave birth to our first child, Matthew. When I turned 28 we had four children (one was a newborn), we were building a new house, and my husband had a new, demanding full-time job starting our business as a non-foods broker. It was, to say the least, a stressful year.

One afternoon my husband called and said, “I think we need to go out together on a date. Get a babysitter.” He was an optimist to think I could find a sitter for four kids including a newborn on such short notice but it happened. I looked forward to that date all day.

By the time he got home and we got ready I was almost in tears because so many things had gone wrong that day, actually that week and even that month! Everything seemed to be building up inside of me.  I don’t remember what those things were and it really doesn’t matter. I just knew that I could not deal with one more thing!

We kissed the kids goodbye and got into the car. Tom started to pull out of the driveway and all of a sudden the dam burst and I began crying so hard I couldn’t even talk! He kept asking me, “What’s the matter?”, “Are you OK?”, and I kept saying, “I don’t know!”

He pulled the car back into the driveway where we sat…and talked…and prayed…and laughed…for four solid hours! We were parked in our own driveway, paying a babysitter to watch our kids inside our house. She kept peeking out the window to see what was going on.

In those four hours Tom talked me through a lot of things. One of the most important was that I didn’t really know who I was in Christ. Was I really saved at age 7 and did I even know what that meant at that age? How could I be a good Christian mom to four kids and not know these things?

And why was I so unhappy with all that I was doing at our church? I had done everything there was to do. I was a deacon’s wife, I sang in the choir, and taught Sunday school, Pioneer girls and vacation Bible school. I worked in the kitchen organizing all the banquets and weddings, making wedding cakes, and all that stuff! So…why was I so unhappy? Deep down in my gut unhappy? I couldn’t understand it, but thank the Lord, Tom could.

(To be continued.)

A Baby Just Like Ours

When my oldest son was born he was a chubby baby at 10 pounds 4oz! This is funny because now he’s a truck driver and he uses those numbers all the time…10-4 good buddy!

Our closest friends had given birth to a beautiful baby girl named Cheryl just a few months before us. She had huge blue eyes, curly reddish hair, and a smile that melted my heart. We often talked about getting them together when they were older and then we could be related—that’s how close we were.

Unfortunately, Cheryl was born with a hole in her heart, so she was not as healthy as our little guy.

Just about the time Cheryl was learning to walk, the doctors decided it was time to fix that hole, so they scheduled her surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. We prayed with our friends about this surgery because it was quite involved. Then they left for Detroit.

I remember dropping down on our bed in shock after the phone call that Cheryl had not made it through the surgery. My husband cradled me in his arms as we both wept hard tears. Cheryl’s dad was my husband’s best friend growing up and his best man at our wedding. We had shared so many things together as young families. This was unbelievable.

Less than a week later we were doing something we had never wanted to do—go to a baby’s funeral. As we walked into our church the sight that met my eyes became etched on my mind forever. At the front was a tiny white casket with our friends’ beautiful daughter inside. Her red hair was even brighter against the white silk pillow where she lay. Her tiny little hands were still curled in that baby-like half-opened position, but her gorgeous smile was gone

As I backed up from the casket I was immediately surrounded with a waterfall of color. It was the largest floral display I had ever seen. Blues, yellows, purples, greens. and every other color of the rainbow brought to mind the colorful baby toys I had remembered Cheryl playing with just a few days before. I was speechless and began crying like it would never stop.

As we took our seats for the funeral to begin, a new and disturbing thought grabbed hold of me. After this funeral was over I would go home to a beautiful, healthy baby boy and our friends would go home to an empty house. I began to shake so hard my husband had to put his arm around me to calm me. Why would God let this happen? How does He choose? What will life be like for our friends? Would our relationship ever be the same again?

God did give our friends peace about Cheryl. They were strong believers and realized God had a plan and even if the outcome wasn’t what they had planned, it was HIS plan for them. That took amazing strength and the peace that only God can give.

We continued to raise our baby boy and had three more children. Our friends eventually had three more children, too. Our relationship only grew closer over the years and then they moved down south. When we visited, it was like we’d never parted.

They were witnesses to me that God’s plans are not our plans. We can grow stronger as God places these experiences in our pathway if we yield to His ways and will. Going through this with our friends helped prepare me for what God had in mind for our family down the road.

Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your

ways My ways,” says the LORD.