I am from Frankfort Kentucky and have lived here all my life. I am 62 years young. I received Christ as my Savior at about the age of 8 years. Many years later I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and called into service.
Going back to my childhood, I grew up on a small farm. My parents were 37 and 44 when I was born the youngest of 3 girls. My Dad raised tobacco, had one cow, and a large garden. We also had chickens. My parents were considered to be old school. I thought then very strict. I only remember going to Church with them once when I was really small. I did go with other families in the neighborhood. I loved to sing, and I loved hearing about Jesus. I was probably about 8 or 9 when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Looking back I wondered why my parents did not go to church? They had gone before I was born, and they had been baptized.
In those days not many had air conditioners, just perhaps a small fan. I remember my Mother up early everyday and working hard around the home. On hot summer mornings she was in the kitchen early either preparing meals for the day or canning vegetables from the garden. She was always joyful and usually singing hymns as she worked. As for my Dad, He was out early, always weeding, planting, or often times just helping a family member or friend. He worked on other bigger farms for wages during planting, cutting and housing season in tobacco. He also worked as a painter and carpenter.
When it came time to set our tobacco, we did it by hand and my sister and I helped. One of us would pour water, the other drop a tobacco plant, and Dad would come along behind stooping to put each plant in the ground. Often my sister and I did this barefoot. I still remember how the hot loose soil felt between my toes. From time to time we would take a break under a shade tree on the ground and drink water from a mason jar. When it was time to cut the tobacco and house it in the barn. He would take it to the barn on a wheel barrow. We would unload and hand it up to him, then he would give us a ride back to the field in the wheel barrow. My parents were good loving people. My Dad worked hard to see we had the things we needed, usually not the things we wanted, or thought we wanted. He did not drink or smoke. He went to bed early, and got up early. He was a quiet man, mostly speaking when spoken to, but could tell a joke or a story with the best of them.
Many times when there was a death in our distant family, aunts or uncles or cousins would come calling. They were the ones that had no life insurance. They new Dad would never tell them no. He always helped to pay their funeral expenses and I know he never got it back but he said nothing. It wasn’t until many, many years later, when reflecting on the world of today. I came to this conclusion. My parents did not take me to church, they showed me, “The Church,” in them. They lived closer to God’s plan for us than anyone I have ever known.
I married at the age of 18. My husband and I joined a church together. It was a small Baptist church where we had gotten married. We were members there for many years. At that time the Baptist church was the only denomination I had attended. Thinking back I had no doubt I was saved, and I said my prayers each night but that was about all there was to it. We had 2 children and we took them to the Baptist Church also. Life was good.
As my parents aged they needed more and more help. My Dad broke his leg very badly in the early 80′s. He was beginning to show signs of Alzheimer’s and the doctors also said He had Parkinson’s disease, but I don’t think he did. He never walked again after the leg injury. With in a couple of years he became bed ridden and Mother needed lots of help with Him. My older sister and I and a couple of nieces were the help. My mother was diagnosed with colon cancer in the summer of 1988. She had surgery in August and went to be with the LORD 5 days later from a blood clot, she was 77. She would never agree to Dad being in a nursing home, so my oldest sister and myself took turns taking care of Him at His home until He passed in 1993. At that time I had been working Real Estate for 5 years when time permitted. After Dad passed away, I opened my own Real Estate office.
It wasn’t until the year 2000 that I found what I had been missing all those years. My first Grand child a beautiful little girl about to turn 4 years old was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. At that news I was totally broken. The doctors could give us no hope. That is when I went to God face down on the floor and did not get up until I had found His peace that goes beyond understanding. I will continue the journey from then until now in a later post. God bless!
Part 2 of About Me: That year (2000) was when I really started studying the bible as God’s Word to us. The years of praying to a God that I did not really know were over. It was like I was truly alive for the first time. Life was no longer about me, but all about Him. I was so hungry for more and more of Him. It was like a thirst that could not be quenched. At first it was strange even to me. I would have a thought from the past as to something I wanted to do, but could no longer do it. I would start to say a curse word in anger, and that word would no longer come out of my mouth. It was like a shock to me, I no longer knew myself. I even questioned God about it? This knew life had lost a lot of the old things that I had done in the past, that at that time had seemed fun. I remember one day asking God, when will this end? When can I go back to the way it was. His answer was clear. NEVER, child you were purchased with a price!
I had not attended church for many years. Now I wanted to, but which one? I pondered this. I remembered the Baptist Churches I had attended in my life. I am sure many of them have changed today, but I remembered when I went it seemed more like a funeral, not a celebration. Quiet, void of true praise and worship. Mostly a place to feel condemnation. I knew I wanted more than that.
When I was on the floor truly seeking God, crying out with all my heart. So deep in despair over my little Grand Daughter and this diagnoses that the doctors had given us, in operable brain tumor, I had started speaking in a language that was foreign to me. There were words coming out of my mouth that I did not understand the meaning of. I had not been taught about speaking in tongues. I had not been taught about baptism in the Holy Spirit, so to be honest I thought I had really crossed over. I was officially going nuts! Not long after that God directed me to the scripture in Mark 16:17-18 that described what would happen to those that believed. I am sure I had seen that before, but it meant nothing to me. The Pastors and teachers I had in the past did not talk about this or if they did. It was in the past tense. Something that happened back then, not now. The LORD was giving me understanding through His Word’s. He says the Holy Spirit will teach you all things. I was on fire for God.
Back to finding a church to attend. I started asking around and talking to others about where they attended? I got many answers. Some I was not very impressed with. The first one I went to was supposed to be a full gospel church. The people were friendly. There really was not a sermon. They said the Holy Spirit was moving that day, and they let Him have His way. ( I see nothing wrong with that, and have seen it happen since), but in this church He was moving a little more than anything I had ever experienced. There were some walking the aisles moaning and making very strange noises. It was sort of scary to me, and I did not go back there. After that I attended several others and finally found one where I felt at home. Shortly after I started, my husband started going with me. This was a Pentecostal Church of God, but the one that believed as I do. They believed in the Trinity,One God in 3 persons or parts. They believed in live music, drums, guitar, organ, trumpet, cymbals, etc. etc. They had awesome praise and worship. People standing together truly worshiping God not caring what was going on around them. Lost IN Him, and what He had done for us, and giving thanks from the heart. Tears were okay and to be expected. They did NOT handle snakes as some seem to believe, maybe some churches do, but not this one. When the bible says we will take pick up snakes and they will not harm us, I believe this pertains to that old Serpent that Eve experience in the garden. Better known as satan. We lifted up holy hands in worship, just as it says in Psalms.
When I had studied Mark 16:17-18, it said we would lay hands on the sick and they shall recover (be healed). It did not say they might, it said they shall. I re-read that one over and over. It was then that I knew in my heart that Brianna (my granddaughter) was not about to die. It was then that I truly felt the JOY of the LORD. I laid hands on Brianna and prayed every chance I got. I had her parents bring her to my church where hands were laid on her, and they had done it in their church as well. Each time she was taken to the doctor or doctors (as she was taken to many, even in different states), the diagnoses was always the same. At times they thought they saw new growth, at other times blood, etc. The doctors report was not good. Each time I said, whose report will you believe? I will believe the report of the Lord! Now Brianna was 4 years old. Outwardly she did not appear sick. I am sure she did not even understand what all these doctors visits were about. If she caught here Mommy or Daddy crying, her reply was, “It’s okay, don’t cry.” This will be continued in a later part called, “Brianna’s story.” There will be many surprises for many of you both good and bad. So stay tuned.
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