2 Summer 2011
“Scared religion isn’t worth a plugged nickel.” by Doc Watson, Watauga County Publishers Note: Our first story is a stroll down memory lane from our 2007 edition of “The Journey”. Not only is Doc a music legend, but he is one of the most humble, authentic people I have ever met. When I was 14, my Daddy taught me the meaning of work. He needed me to help him, but he gave me a gift, whether he knew it or not. It was a valuable gift for a blind man to find out I didn’t have to sit in the corner. I was 14 when I started learning hard work. We were cutting wood with a crosscut saw when a block came off and bumped my shin, and I said a bad word I won’t repeat here. “Son, hold your temper!” he said. “A man without one ain’t worth a plugged nickel, and a man that’s got one and don’t control it is worth less.”
He was pretty wise in that way. He had them temper fits himself every now and then, but I didn’t dare say what I was thinking. It got quiet for a minute. I think he read my mind. Temper fits and outright meanness are two different things: meanness lasts all the time, because the devil’s got you in his control. I’ve known people that I’ve liked, but they let their temper rule them. Now Jesus had righteous indignation when he run that bunch out of the temple with a whip. The Bible says, “In our anger sin not” (Ephesians 4:26). Willful sin is when you don’t turn loose of your anger, you keep pushing it and turn it into something bad.
Going Through the Motions It was about that time I went through the motions of church, went to the altar, and was baptized, so I considered myself a Christian. I knew God was the Creator of all things, but I thought of God as a tyrant who could kill you if you batted your eye wrong. Part of the time I would try to live the Christian life. I would do something wrong and it would bother me, but it didn’t convict me to get on my knees and find what I needed to really change.
In The Presence of God Almighty
In 1966, my son Merle drove me to help the Flatt & Scruggs team to do an album. While I was there, I woke up in the middle of the night with pain I thought was food poisoning. The next day I went to see Earl Scruggs’ doctor and found I had a ruptured appendix. After the operation the surgeon said, “We don’t know for sure whether this was successful or not, but you’ll know in three days.” I went into the isolation ward and, from what I could tell was going on, I knew I was going to die. Then all at once I found myself, not in the ward, but in the presence of God Almighty and his Son. I was suspended between the world and eternity. I could almost reach out and touch them. It didn’t scare me, like He did when I was a boy. He was the judge of the human race, but with a love that can’t be measured. (Cont. on Pg. 4) Summer 2011 3
(Continued from Pg. 3) I said, “Lord, I thought I’ve been a Christian all these years, but you know I’ve not been. Please forgive me of my sins. I know I’m going to die. I don’t want to be lost.” I was afraid to make a vow that I couldn’t keep. The strange part of it is that my sins were lifted right then. And He gave me an extension on life -- why, I’ll never know -- but He knew the time would come when I would accept His mercy.
Doctor Jesus After four and a half years, I was listening to a Randy Travis album with a song called “Dr. Jesus.” Some of the words said, “Lord, I need you to mend my heart, and save my soul. There’s so many out there who need you, do you think you could work me in?” I listened to that song about five or six times and the last time I realized I needed that Doctor just like Randy did. And something happened to me that had never happened before. Till then I didn’t quite understand that “coming to Christ” meant, but this simple song told me where it was at. I called on Jesus, and a door was opened. I was able to find the love of Jesus Christ and have His love enter my heart by the Holy Spirit. In my heart, I’ve been a different man since then.
God Used My Work Before I Was Walking With Him God used some of my work even before I was walking with Him. I remember sitting on a bench in front of little old time church in Ashe County having my picture made of the Gospel album “On Praying Ground”. I prayed, “Lord, if this album will help save one soul, I don’t care if it doesn’t make one dime, it will be worth millions of times the effort.” When I was on the road, people would come up and shake hands with me and say, “Your Gospel album changed my life.” It brought tears of gladness and my own prayer, “I need to be closer, Lord.”
carried him many a time on my shoulders, and he’d put his fingers on my earlobes. I walked down the road I knew by heart and I could hear where the bank was (back when my hearing was that good). If there was a mud puddle, he’d tug on my ear and say, “Go this way, Daddy” or “Go that way, Daddy.” Bless his little heart, he was a sharp fellow. Thank God I have those memories. I’ll go and see my boy one of these days.
The Lord Was Guiding Me All Along Even though it wasn’t until I heard Randy’s preaching in that song and it unlocked the door to my own salvation, the Lord was guiding me all along and helping me make right decisions. We’ll never know until we get to Heaven the full understanding of all the things that happen in our lives. But I know the bad things won’t be on the other side in Heaven. We’re here for a reason, and God gives us the chance to choose the good road and step off the worldly one we’re walking on before we’re saved. He knows when we’ll have that change and whether we’ll ignore it and turn away from it. I don’t deserve what He did for me. Even though I’ve hurt him, He pulled me out of death’s jaws. And He’s done that for millions.
Another time God used me -- I don’t know what made me to do it -- I said to Merle one day, “Son, I’m not a good candidate to ask you this question, but how is it with you if death was to slip up on you?”
He is such a wonderful Savior and a wonderful Friend. He understands when I find myself dealing with even a little sin -- like those little temper fits that last hardly half a minute, but it hurts my darling wife when I let go like with one of them. I can say “Lord, why did I act a fool like that? Forgive me.” I’m thankful to the Lord I’ve got Him to guide me.
He said, “Dad, I’m not afraid to die. I’ve been on my knees and I’ve made my peace with God.” That was three weeks before the accident that took him (in 1985 when his tractor overturned). After he’d gone, it helped a lot, me and his mother both, knowing that.
Every sermon, in my opinion, should end with an altar call fully explaining the tender, sweet love of Jesus Christ that leads us to salvation. You can’t scare people into the Kingdom: that’s fanaticism. My Daddy told me, “Scared religion isn’t worth a plugged nickel.”
When Merle was born, they brought him to lay on my lap and his little feet were going like he was riding a bicycle -- I’ll never forget that while I live. When he was two, I
Doc Watson is a legendary bluegrass, gospel, country
4 Summer 2011
& folk musician born and raised in Deep Gap, NC.
Publisher’s Note Welcome to our new, improved and expanded edition of “The Journey”. This magazine began years ago as a small newspaper in Ashe County called “Good News”. When I bought the company in 2007, I expanded our coverage area to Watauga County and changed the name to “The Journey”. Until now, we have mailed this publication to Watauga and Ashe County residents, but now we will be distributing our magazine in strategic places, twice a year throughout Ashe, Avery and Watauga Counties. I love a good story! That’s why we take the time to find interesting people from all walks of life who are willing to share their spiritual journeys through this publication. Because of the diversity of writers, we are not always able to endorse everything that is said, but we are happy to share each unique story. Whether you are visiting the High Country or a resident here, I believe your hearts will be warmed by the love of God that each person has shared about, in the telling of their stories. I also believe you will gain a deeper appreciation of what makes these mountains such a great place to live. Happy Reading!
Ben Cox, Owner of Main Street Marketing
Contents
Doc Watson p. 3
Tammy Alderson p. 7
Buddy Price p. 8
Bud Russell p. 11
Fred Alderson p. 12
Renee Furman p. 15
Roy Krege p. 16
Betty Russell p.19
Beverly Price p. 20
Phillip Mayberry p. 22
Marion Krege p. 25
Gary Pitts p. 26
Laniece Davis p. 28 & 30
c Copyright 2011 Any type of reproduction of this magazine is prohibited without permission from Main Street Marketing.
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To advertise in our next publication contact Ben Cox at 828.964.8600 or Charles Bateman at 828.964.0684
Summer 2011 5
6 Summer 2011
A Prisoner of Doubt Turns to Faith in Jesus Christ by Tammy Alderson, Ashe County Growing up, my home life was wonderful. My parents taught me right from wrong; they took me to church every Sunday. Even though I knew all the Bible stories, as a teenager I became rebellious. A Life Out of Control The rebellion resulted in my teen pregnancy as a senior in high school and at 18 years old I was married. For the next year and a half hardly a day went by that my husband didn’t abuse me physically. My next marriage took place when I was 20. During this time, an employer introduced me to speed. It was a recreational drug I used on the weekends. I went from pills to cocaine at 25-years old, and, in the early 80’s, a truck driver introduced me to meth. My next employer was heavy into cocaine, but I continued to use meth. Neither my husband nor my son ever knew what happened to me. There were a lot of secrets, lies and mistrust in the second marriage. I liked drugs and he liked women --- we were doomed. He left in 1992; we had become two people living in the same house. I couldn’t deal with it and I realized that there was going to be no “white picket fence” in my life. For the first time in my adult life, I was single, free to go where I wanted to go so I went to the bars and eventually worked at one. My son was given far too much freedom for a 15 year old. I just wasn’t there for him. My son, unknown to me, became involved in the drug world, as well. I met Fred Alderson in 1994 and we were married in 1996. I was using meth on a regular basis, and
eventually we started using meth together. We didn’t consider ourselves addicts. After growing tired of “using trash”, Fred decided to learn how to make it. When God Intervenes Our downward spiral continued – we got sick of the lifestyle but could not get ourselves out of it. Now we look back and know that the Lord intervened by literally turning our life upside-down. The State Bureau of Investigation burst the balloon wide open in 2003. I was arrested and taken to jail; later the same day, Fred was taken to jail. We posted bond, went home and began the cycle all over again. In 2004, Fred was sentenced to 24 months in prison; I was given five years in prison and 18-months probation. After crying for several days, a jailer who knew my family asked if she could call someone for me – my parent’s pastor and his wife talked with me, we prayed and I gave my life back to Christ. God Is My Refuge A few days later, I was sent to Raleigh Women’s Prison – better known as the devil’s playground. The dorm I was in was referred to as “the jungle”, the worst dormitory in the entire facility. I was terrified the entire seven months I was there. But, it was in “the jungle” that the Bible became my refuge – I was a dry sponge soaking it all in. For those seven months, I could feel God’s hedge of protection around me – I saw things happen in that dorm that I had never even heard of, but I
was never bothered nor intimidated. I just sat on my bed and read the Bible! Deuteronomy 31:8: Be strong and courageous – do not be afraid or terrified for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Every day God gave me peace and a smile. Each Sunday I would try to go to church but because of space limitation I could never get into the service. Then one day I met one of the choir members and she asked me if I could sing. She invited me and a friend to choir practice – we were the only white women in the all-black choir but we got to go to worship service every Sunday after that! Growing in Love and Truth My incarceration included two additional transfers and then I was permitted to participate in a workrelease program. During my last 12 months, I was allowed to spend 48 hours per month at home. My husband, Fred, became my Bible teacher. Out of prison and a fervent reader, he had learned so much. Philippians 4:13 which says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” got me through the final three years of my incarceration. Although my family’s efforts to get my second sentence commuted failed, it allowed me to see that even though God had delivered both of us from alcohol and drug addiction instantly before we went to prison, we had never known each other sober and clean. We needed this time to get to know each other for the first time. My Doubts Have Turned to Faith When we were in prison, we lost everything -- our home and our vehicles. For us to come out with nothing and now for Fred to be building a painting business and me managing my parent’s restaurant in Valle Crucis -- we know we are truly blessed. I just live in amazement at how the Lord answers prayers because I was such a doubter. He continues to show me daily that He does hear me and knows what is going on with me. My doubts have turned to faith.
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Prayer is the Heart of the Ministry by Buddy Price, Avery County
I was reared in Raleigh, N.C. and became a Christian at the age of 16. I studied at N.C. State and received a degree in Civil Engineering and then taught in the Civil Engineering Department at N.C. State for three and one half years.
God’s Call Changes My Plans During this time of teaching, I became active in Christian work. Friends began to say that they thought God was calling me to be a preacher. My reply was always “I believe God had called me to engineering”. I struggled with this
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decision for months. Finally I said that I was going to decide this question once for all, “Am I to be a preacher or a college professor”. I went to my bedroom, got down on my knees and prayed for direction. Twenty minutes later, I got up, went down stairs and told my wife that I believed God had called me to preach. I did not hear any voices or see any visions but I knew in my heart that God had called me to be a pastor.
Life-long Ministry In 1945 at age of 25, I resigned my position at N.C. State, was ordained to the Baptist ministry at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C. and moved to Fort Worth, Texas where I spent the next five years learning to be a preacher at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. After completing my doctoral studies, I was called to the Weldon Baptist Church in Weldon, N.C. I then moved on to the First Baptist Church in Asheboro, N.C., and from there to the Green St. Baptist in High Point N.C. I served that vibrant congregation for 22 years. The Lord brought many to salvation during my ministry there. When I resigned my pastorate there, we had 2,700 members. I led in the organization of the Grace Baptist Church in High Point, N. C. This fellowship was open to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. After eight delightful years of ministry there, I
retired from the active pastorate in l987. I had spent 42 years pastoring churches. For the last few years I have done some supply preaching in various churches and have written five books. Last year I celebrated my 90th birthday by preaching at the Banner Elk Christian Fellowship. Carl Clawson is the pastor there, and he is my son-in-law. Bev, my wife of 67 years, has been a faithful co-laborer with me in all my services. She has had a wonderful ministry of teaching and working with the women of our churches and leading Bible conferences. Besides that, she has been a super wife, homemaker, and mother to our three children.
Prayer Is the Heart of My Life and Ministry Prayer has been the heart of my life and ministry. For example, I would go down to the Green St. Church early in the morning, go to a special room on the 4th floor and spend a good while in personal reading of the Bible and praying for myself, the needs of the church family, our community, and world. Bev and I still spend time every morning reading the Bible, praying, and observing the Lord’s Supper. I believe God still has a lot of truth yet to be revealed. We want to be open to that truth and seek to apply it to our lives and share it with others. We believe the best is yet to come and that God’s Kingdom is going to come on earth as it is in heaven.
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To Know Christ Better and to Make Him Known by Bud Russell, Watauga County huge part of my service to the Lord.
Mentors in Christ
Knowing God and His Son is the greatest experience I’ve ever known! He has loved me and done so much for me. Ephesians 3:14-21 is a favorite scripture of mine.
Companion in Service God has blessed me with a wonderful mate and, outside of my relationship with the Lord, Betty is the most important gift He has given to me. She walks close beside me in this journey. Although she is more comfortable working behind the scenes, she is a
God began a great work at Mount Vernon Baptist Church in the early 1980’s under the ministry of Reverend Don Foster. I was called as the youth minister in 1984 and, other than the pastor, I was the only other person on staff. Pastor Foster was a wonderful mentor and during his ministry many people came to know Christ as their Savior. Our next pastor, Richard Ratliff, had the heart of an evangelist and was one of the most humble men I’ve ever known. He was totally focused on Jesus and making Him known to others. I learned much about ministry from him. In the years that followed and with the rapid growth of the church, I was given the opportunity to transition to become the Minister of Education and Administration. It was a hard decision to leave the youth ministry at that particular time since my two children were growing up and would be in youth, but I felt someone else needed to be the youth leader to them. Our most recent pastor of 16 years, Allan Blume, has been a wonderful mentor and has helped me learn and grow in ministry.
To Know Christ and Make Him Known A major turning point in my Christian walk came when God allowed me to go through MasterLife which is a 26-week course that addresses discipleship, living in real relationship with God through prayer, memorization of scripture, fellowshipping with other believers, and witnessing. MasterLife challenged me and brought me to this: To know Christ better and to make Him known. That is my goal in my work and in my life. God has blessed me greatly in my ministry over the years. One of the benefits of being at one place for a long period of time include the joy of seeing the kids I ministered to when I was the youth leader become parents themselves, see most of them stay connected to the church, and watch them become Christian leaders in their homes and their work places as well as the local congregation. Some are deacons now and others have taken various leadership positions. They are leading their own families in worship and service to the Lord.
Reach, Teach, and Minister to People In the education ministry we have three goals: 1) To Reach People, 2) To Teach People, 3) To Minister to People. It is all about people and telling them about Jesus. The two things God loves the most are His word and people. What a great opportunity to be allowed to handle the two things God loves the most. There is no higher calling than to teach the word of God and that is my passion.
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The Lord Continues to Transform by Fred Alderson, Ashe County
As with many people who get involved in drugs, I grew up in church. I knew all the Bible stories but quoting the Word wasn’t something I could do because I’d never spent any time in the Bible. I knew church, but I didn’t know Jesus. I was 42 years old before I realized knowing about Jesus is not the same as knowing Jesus. Experimenting with drugs began at 18 due to peer pressure. I was drawn to drugs that made me feel in control. The first time I tried meth that was it. It became a cycle: I’d use it and then dry out. This went on for 20 years. Meth made me feel 10 feet tall and bullet proof. The deep need to succeed helped drive me to it. I worked hard, paid my taxes, but I wasn’t hurting anyone, or so I thought.
Locked Up to Find Truth In 2004, due to making and selling meth, I was sentenced to two years in prison. While awaiting transfer, I sat, alone, in a darkened cell in the Watauga County Jail reading from the Gideon Bible. At this point, I didn’t have any religion, not of my own. From my childhood time in church, though, Proverbs 22:6 kept coming to me: Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. After 23 years of meth use, it took awhile for my head to clear, but I quickly knew which direction to turn. I was tired of the lifestyle, tired of being driven to succeed and measuring myself against others. Meth is a jealous drug and using it caused me to lose my first wife and children. During my prison stay, I wrote my daughter twice a week until she responded. My daughters and I have reconciled and I’m very thankful for that. During the two years in prison, I got lost in the Word of God. I started out in a spiritual wilderness, but I studied the Word and sought the Lord. A fellow inmate, a Chaplain’s assistant, told me to be diligent in seeking the Lord. I did. When I got out of prison I was urged to go through Celebrate Recovery. I’d been through NA (Narcotics Anonymous), but NA is a secular program. Celebrate Recovery is Christ-centered and Bible based. The first priority is to make Jesus your Savior because you can’t go 12 Summer 2011
through the program without Him.
A New Life In Christ Although my wife, Tammy, did not receive the clemency we had asked for, I had peace in my heart. The three years she remained in prison allowed us to get to know each other “clean and sober”. I had total peace. Over the next months, she was allowed home passes. We became new creations and got lined up spiritually. Upon getting out of prison, I lived with my parents. When Tammy got out of prison we renewed our marriage vows in Christ and were baptized together in August 2009. It has been our desire since leaving prison to have own our own home again. We believe the Lord led us to this house, and we are working toward buying it in the near future. I always knew in the back of my mind that God had a plan. Philippians 1:6 says it best: “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God took my freedom in order for me to finally come to him and mean it and he set me free. God swept my house clean and it has now been filled with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. We have a brand new life, marriage and a peace that is based on God’s love and forgiveness. We are excited about the “good work” he has planned for us.
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Glad to be at Gladiola Girls by Renee Furman, Watauga County
I came to the Lord in college through an on-campus ministry. College offers new experiences and forms different life expectations for young people as they see themselves as adults for the first time. It’s a time of meeting people who are different and is an exciting time of life. After coming to the Lord, I was discipled by a sorority sister, and I met many women who trusted a God I didn’t, and who prayed for me. These women opened a whole new life for me. It was a precious beginning in my walk with the Lord.
God-Directed Passion Years later, as I reflected on what I was supposed to do, I came to realize that ministering to young, college-age women is my passion -- it’s what’s in my heart. These young women face big challenges as they choose the direction their lives are going to take. And, those choices bear great consequences – women need to be intentional when it comes to relationships. I heard it said that “men are filing cabinets and women are chalkboards.” In other words, when someone writes on a woman’s chalkboard it leaves an impression; but, men file everything in their out-box and send it to the shredder and never think twice about it. A sudden, in-the-moment, emotional decision can result in the huge responsibilities of raising a family and the creation of emotional baggage and issues, which affect other relationships for a very long time.
I want these young women to know that every time they give a piece of themselves away, they have less of themselves when the time comes for marriage. Chalk boards get dusty, I, therefore, encourage these young women to be intentional about their relationships and where they want to go in life.
Fully Available to God’s Plan for My Life You cannot control your life and be open and fully available to God. Owning a women’s clothing boutique was the result of my being open and available to Him. After my husband, Tom, the love of my life, passed away and two other loved ones, I found myself asking the question: what do I do now? After much prayer, consulting with my CPA and loved ones, and a two-year journey of careful and prayerful God orchestration, I came to the conclusion that buying Gladiola Girls was in God’s plan for me.
Young women are my passion and at Gladiola Girls I want to birth an atmosphere of heaven. I always wear pearls, which are formed by an irritant in the shell. The irritants come in life, but what we choose to do with them is up to us. It’s not the high places, but it’s the places of drudgery where our characters are formed. Everything is God’s – my life, my children, Gladiola Girls, is His. I am a simple woman who has a very faithful God. And I love meeting all types of women, young and not-so-young, at Gladiola Girls and sharing Jesus with them.
My goal is to create an environment where I can develop a relationship over time, and eventually have a one-on-one dialog with a woman shopping in my boutique. I’m really about the inside person, not the outside person. Girls can buy a dress and feel good on the outside and not good on the inside. Summer 2011 15
No Charge by Roy Krege, Avery County My public confession of faith came many years after I became a believer. Our family visited many churches as I grew up. Although being in a split denominational family was, at times, difficult, our parents wanted to make sure we believed in Jesus. They always made sure we were in church every Sunday. Moving On Faith As a child, I had a lot of ear problems due to the cold climate of New York State. After numerous doctor visits, my parents were told that we needed to move our family to Florida to get out of the cold climate. On faith, they packed up a family of six and moved us to Florida. Six people lived in a small trailer until Dad could finally buy a piece of property that included an old army barrack on it. We didn’t have indoor plumbing for quite some time, and since Dad wasn’t a handyman, Mom and an 80-year-old
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man who had befriended our family, worked on the barrack to make it a home for us. Godly Examples to Follow Dad wouldn’t go into debt for anything. Believe it or not, he saved enough money to have a house built. He never bought anything on credit. We kids learned good habits from both Dad and Mom in that we were somewhat self-sufficient. Both Mom and Dad were concerned that our faith remained strong and that we would follow the Lord. In later years when we moved to Banner Elk, my Dad was influential in getting a priest to come. They were both strong in their faith in Christ and the church. Ministry Is More Than Preaching From the Pulpit A turning point in my life was the song “Just as I Am”. As I listened to that one Sunday morning, I felt an
unbelievable draw to Jesus, and I fully came to the Lord. Coming to faith was a turning point in my life. It has strongly affected my entire life and for a while Marion and I thought we would go into full-time service. That didn’t happen in the traditional sense, but both of us strongly believe what we’ve done over the years is basically ministry. Ministry is much more than preaching from the pulpit. Our work in education at The Crossnore School, Grandfather Home for Children, Lees-McRae College, and the community has all been, in our view, ministry. I served 26 years at Lees-McRae College in many capacities and have been involved in other community activities such as the Woolly Worm Festival. I have loved being called the official “Mr. Woolly Worm”. After I retired from Lees-McRae, I served as associate director of
Grandfather Home for Children and principal of their charter school. Grandfather Home is a ministry for abused children. When a child comes to the home damaged with no self-worth, more than anything, it is rewarding to see their lives rebuilt. We take great joy in teaching them that the mess they came from wasn’t their fault and love to see them adopted or to move on with their lives and become successful. This is truly the reward of ministry. 50 Years of Service, Three Great Lessons Marion and I have had the privilege of ministering for 50 years. We’ve spoken in church settings, preached in many, and served on the North Carolina Baptist Foundation board. We’ve also ministered in interfaith works that have been a blessing. The model for my life and the one I’ve tried to pass down to those to
whom God allows us to minister is three fold. They are: (1) If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be the servant of all; (2) God makes no junk; (3) There is no charge. When you add it all up, there was no charge for Jesus to save us and give us a great life here and a greater life in heaven. Recently, a group of fellow Banner Elk residents “roasted” me. It was great fun and I’m thankful to those who showed their appreciation for the work I’ve tried to do but, in all honesty, I have received more than I have given. My life, since coming to Christ, has been one of being thankful and giving back. There’s been no charge.
Roy Krege wears many hats here in
the High Country including being the master of ceremonies at the annual Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk.
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“ Life-Things” Just Happen by Betty Russell, Watauga County I was nine years old when I asked Jesus into my heart to save me. As a child, I struggled with my salvation until I was twelve. At the age of twelve, I was baptized and became a member of my family’s church. Over the past few years we have been seeing just how faithful God is and how He has blessed our family. My mother, Martha Jean Greene, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007. She initially went through surgery, chemotherapy treatments and a time of remission. The cancer returned along with more chemotherapy and a second surgery this week in Chapel Hill.
Mom’s faith in God remains strong and her attitude during this time has been “either way, I’m a winner”. God has also used this time to teach me how to minister to other people who may be going through the same thing.
Facing Life with No Fear Pleases God “Life-things” just happen. No one is exempt from things happening to them or the people they love and care about. The day of Mom’s most recent surgery, my morning devotion focused on fear. God’s Word tells us to “Trust in the Lord will all your heart and lean not in your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” Proverbs 3:5-6. We don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring but facing the day without fear is pleasing to God. I am so thankful that God puts people in our lives to comfort and support us through prayer, words of encouragement, and acts of kindness. I am also thankful for the blessing of family, my husband, my children, and my church family. God doesn’t want us to go back. He wants us to go forward in faith and living hope with an unconditional commitment to Jesus Christ.
Modeling Christ’s Love to Young Women Mom has shown me since I was a child the kind of Christian model I am to be for the young women God has put in my life. Mom’s life in Jesus has that taught me how to love my husband, my children and their spouses, and our grandson Graydon! I want to be found praising Him no matter what comes my way because He is worthy! God has allowed me to use what I’ve learned to minister to many people. Bud and I have a wonderful opportunity to serve as leaders in the Nearly Wed and Newly Wed Sunday School Class and share the same truth and comfort I’ve received from the Lord. I love the Sunday School class and the opportunity to mentor younger women. God is faithful through the hard and the easy “life-things”. He’s been faithful to allow us to remain with the Mount Vernon Baptist Church family for many years, and we love these people. Bud and I want to be found faithful in loving God’s people and unbelievers alike.
My life verse remains a continual encouragement to me: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3 (NIV) Summer 2011 19
Sweet Hours of Prayer by Bev Price, Avery County
China was the land of my birth. My parents were American missionaries to that far away land. My mother was raised in China. She came to America for a short period of time, married an agriculture scientist, and returned to China with her husband.
My Mother Taught Me the Spirit-Filled Life When I was three years old, my family came to America and moved to
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Raleigh, NC. Ours was a very spiritual home. My mother was a Bible teacher. She loved to teach God’s Word. She started a book club called The Miracle Book Club. It was an effort to get people to read the Bible and other books about the Lord. Mother loved people and had a great desire to tell them about the love of Jesus. She taught me the Spirit-filled life. The call on my life has been to be a wife and a mother and to make a home for my family. My husband, Buddy, pastored several churches over a period of 42 years. I had the joy of serving with him in my capacity as a homemaker.
Challenges Met With Prayer We have always met any challenge with prayer. Any major decisions we had to make, those which were fully challenging, were met by Buddy and me lying on our bedroom floor, praying. We prayed until God gave us the answer and then we would be obedient to what He led us to do. We didn’t know any other way to be in the Lord’s will. I can no longer get down on the floor to pray, but we continue to pray daily. Each morning after we have the Lord’s Supper, we have intercessory prayer together. Our prayer list includes all
of our family members, many friends around the world as well as those people in our church and community with special needs. During a month’s time we also pray for all the countries of the world.
Legacy of God’s Faithfulness God has given us three children, Carol, Wesley, and Susan. We lost our daughter Carol, due to a rare illness. She was only 50. This has been a great trial in our lives. Carol’s husband, Barry St. Clair, has Reach Out Ministries, a world-wide ministry based in Atlanta, Ga. Our son, Wesley, is a plastic surgeon in Washington, DC. He ministered to President Ronald Reagan when he was shot on March 30, 1981. It was our son who found the bullet in Reagan’s chest. Susan, our youngest child, took after me. She is a homemaker and pastor’s wife. Susan loves doing both. Her husband is Carl Clawson, pastor of the Banner Elk Christian Fellowship. God has given Buddy and me a full and rich life. Serving my family and the Lord has been the joy of my life. Even though some health issues limit what I can do now, I can still pray. Intercessory prayer is always needed and anyone can do that.
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The Lord Brought Me from Darkness to Light by Phillip Mayberry, Ashe County
I was raised in a nominal Christian family. We went to church more for appearance’s sake than out of a love for Christ. The unspoken rule was that we were only allowed to talk about God at church or on the way to or from the church. Anything beyond that was thought to be fanatical or “out of balance.” When I was about ten years old, our pastor had an affair... and it destroyed our church. Because of this and the way our family had been, at age eleven I rejected Christianity. I believed a person chose Christianity because they were born into a Christian culture: I told my parents that they would be Buddhist if they had been born somewhere else. I’d been baptized but was not saved. I was very bitter and resentful as I grew up. I was bitter toward Christians because I thought they were like mindless cattle, never questioning what they believed, and yet unable to explain why they believed it. I generalized my experience to fit everyone.
Spiraling Depression, Despair, Rage Weed became an obsession when I was in the 7th grade and I immediately began dealing. It got worse. I went to a Christian private school but was eventually expelled. During my high school and early college years, I was a drug user and womanizer. I was very depressed. I thought there was no hope in life. My Darwinian worldview led me deeper into depression. At 14, due to the depression, I only listened to classic rock and roll and “dark” music. I believe the
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type of music I listened to only increased the depression. At this point, I honestly think I was demon possessed. When I looked into the mirror, something looked back from behind my eyes, and seemed to be laughing at me. Cutting my arms started when I was 14. I felt such despair and rage. If there was a God, I hated him. I would get so worked up that the only time I could feel anything was when I cut myself. I searched in vain to find something of worth to replace the only true treasure, which is Christ. I lived a life that hurt people and destroyed lives. It was all about me. For selling drugs, I was arrested four times but bailed myself out with the money I’d saved from selling them.
Freedom Through Christ One night, my cousin, who’d faithfully shared Christ with me all my life, confronted me, saying: “Phillip, you know what the truth is. What is it that is stopping you from following Jesus Christ?” At that moment, I did know the truth. I had no answer for the second question! I knew Christ was the way and that Christ was true. I had no good reason for not following Jesus. All the things I was doing left me empty... He asked me to go to church with him on the following Wednesday night. When I got there I already knew the gospel: Christ died to save sinners. I felt God overwhelmingly and irresistibly calling me. I found myself completely undone, on the floor crying out to God and praying with my cousin for about a half hour. That’s when the Lord changed my heart and set me free. When I went out of the church, I walked out a free man! I still remember how the night felt! Christ completely
delivered me from ecstasy, weed, and a variety of other drugs in an instant! I’d been drinking heavily as well, I don’t believe drinking is a sin per se, but I do believe drunkenness is a sin. I was afraid I’d go back to drinking and drugs. My cousin and I prayed, and I didn’t touch alcohol for three years. The Lord also delivered me from a fifteen-year cigarette addiction over the next month.
Forsaking All to Follow Christ The Lord convinced me that his Word was true and my friends needed to know. They told me, as I preached to them, that I’d gone insane. I would take a small Gideon Bible into the drug houses and preach to the people there that God was my portion. I lost every friend I had from my childhood, but God sent other believers to be my friends and my family. Jesus told me through the Word to consider the cost of following Him (Luke 14:28). It did cost me dearly, but he has richly given me a hundredfold in this life, and eternal life in the age to come (Mark 10:30). I learned quickly that whoever does not take up his cross and forsake all that he has cannot be Christ’s disciple (Luke 14:27, 33). The church I attended as a child was a Bible-believing church that believed in Scripture memorization. It wasn’t fun and games. When I was saved, all the scriptures faithful Bible teachers taught me in my childhood came back to me, as though my mind had been instantly unlocked. I heard the Scriptures flowing in my thoughts constantly, whereas before there was only depression and hatred.
A New Call for a New Life Three months after my salvation, I was called to the ministry. I had completed
2 years at MTSU, and transferred to a Bible College called Global University (A.G.). During this time, I worked at restaurants, did construction, and worked other jobs to put myself through school. As time progressed, through studying church history and my own private study, I became reformed in my beliefs. I really liked the Westminster Confession and the London Baptist Confession (1689). I didn’t know there were any reformed denominations anymore, but eventually I came in contact with a PCA (Presbyterian Church of America) pastor. He ended up being my pastor. Soon after that, I was youth director at a PCA church, but felt increasingly called to pursue ordination. In all of this, I’d given up on love. I made a vow to never tell another girl I loved her unless I was going to marry her. I dated several girls, but when I met Heather I knew she was the right one. We dated and were engaged for two years. We’ve been married for eight years now and have two beautiful little girls.
My education continued with a four year post-graduate degree from a conservative seminary (Master of Divinity/MCL, Covenant Seminary, St. Louis, 2008). I always felt called to be a pastor of a small church, where I could be involved in people’s lives personally. I began to look for a Bible-believing church where I could preach the word without compromise. After searching for about a year and much prayer, I visited Ashe Presbyterian in Jefferson. The people there function like a family. They crave the Word, and love each other. It’s beautiful. It’s been a year and a half, and it feels like home to our whole family.
enough to save the most hopeless life: because he saved me. If people could just see how good he is, they couldn’t stay away from him! When I talk to people I don’t see them as more or less likely to be saved. No matter what situation people are in, the Lord can bring them from darkness to light. He can break any addiction, and set people free from hopelessness. His people will be willing in the day of his power!
He is Powerful Enough to Save the Most Hopeless Life The Lord has really impressed upon me that He is powerful
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Ministry is Everywhere
brought Roy into my life. We met in church and grew in the Lord and were married in 1963. God’s timing is incredible, and He is an awesome God. Our solid marriage is due to the foundation our parents provided us and our faith in Jesus. This is the legacy our parents left us. Thank you, Mother and Daddy and Mom and Dad.
Ministry is Everywhere
by Marion Krege, Avery County I was saved at nine years old at a Girls in Action (GA) camp and grew up in a Christian home in a small south Georgia town called Cairo. My parents loved the Lord, loved each other, and demonstrated that love to my brother and me and to others. My parents bought the family business, a jewelry store, in downtown Cairo. Daddy was a certified gemologist and watchmaker. He was also a very talented artist and musician. Mother worked as bookkeeper for the store.
Answering God’s Call But in 1953, Daddy answered God’s call and surrendered to preach. We moved to Fort Worth, Texas, for Mother and Daddy to attend seminary and to learn better how to use their talents for the Lord. During Daddy’s pastoring years, we always went to Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly Grounds in Black Mountain, North Carolina, for at least a week each summer. We attended Bible classes and other activities, and our family was built around putting God first in our lives and serving others.
In 1968, our college professor Dr. H. C. Evans, Jr., asked us to come to Banner Elk to work at Lees-McRae College. We have been here ever since and believe the Lord brought us to the very place He wanted us to be. Along with my career in education, God has allowed me to teach Sunday School, lead GA’s and Acteens, sing in the choir, play the piano and handbells, work with the youth, teach Vacation Bible School, and serve in women’s missions. We have served Him in our church, our community, and in any way possible. I believe ministry is everywhere. It’s not just behind a pulpit or sitting at a piano.
Legacy of True Love and Fellowship The Lord has blessed us with three children and nine grandchildren. We have also had many children who have called us Mom and Dad, and we have tried to be examples to them in honoring the Lord and serving our community. It is our desire to leave the same legacy that our parents left us. They were role models to us and their churches and communities. They chose each other, supported each other, and showed us what true love and church fellowship is supposed to be. We have truly been blessed.
Daddy’s “chalk talks” (an art form used to explain God’s truths) meant a great deal to me and I learned so much from this part of his ministry. At age 12, I began helping Mother in Vacation Bible School and singing in the adult choir and playing the piano. My friends were in the church so this helped to make my life grounded in the church. I am so thankful. Being a preacher’s kid meant that we moved when the Lord called. Moving from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Asheville, North Carolina, in March of my junior year in high school was the hardest thing I ever had to do, I thought. But it was God’s plan, and I know now that His plan is always better than mine. I knew Daddy would follow the Lord’s calling and we would do likewise. Our move to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1960 was when the Lord
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Jesus is the Miracle Worker by Gary Pitts, Watauga County
I was nine years old when I asked Jesus into my heart to save me. As a child, I struggled with my salvation until I was twelve. At the age of twelve, I was baptized and became a member of my family’s church. A few years later as a member of the Royal Ambassadors, I heard a Salvation Army surgeon speak at a rescue mission in Bristol, Tenn. The surgeon said that Jesus died of a broken heart. I never forgot those words.
God’s Path, Illuminated In 1966, I graduated from high school and entered college. While in college, I felt the Lord leading me into the medical field. In 1970, I entered medical school in Memphis, Tenn. My desire was to become a heart surgeon; however, the Lord led me into the field of urology. While in medical school, I had a kidney stone that would not pass. During that time, my mother was praying for me and she had also sent a prayer request to the Oral Roberts’ Prayer Tower. After six days of prayer, God answered her prayers. Just before surgery to remove the stone, it passed. It was at this time that I had decided to become a urologist.
The More I Studied His Word, the More My Faith Grew Before I entered medical school, I met and married Susan Smith. We moved to Memphis in 1970 and began looking for a church. Due to fact that we did not have a car, we found a church within walking distance. The church was Belleview Baptist Church and one of our pastors was Dr. Adrian Rogers.
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Dr. Rogers introduced us to the book of Revelation and to Bible prophecy. Before this time I knew very little about the second coming of Jesus. With his teachings and personal study, I began to look forward to the second coming of the Lord. Also, I found the more I studied God‘s Word, the stronger my faith grew. After graduating from medical school, I moved my family to Winston-Salem where I entered my urology residency. In 1979, we moved to Boone, where I went into practice with Dr. Jim Hamby.
Miracle-Working God During the years we have lived in Boone, I have seen God work miracles in the lives of His people. There was the miracle of healing. A patient of mine who had aggressive cancer had decided not to have surgery due to his bad heart. Instead, he decided to believe God for his healing. He had the elders of his church lay hands on him and pray for his healing. When he returned to my office, a second biopsy was done and the cancer was gone. It was at this time that I began to see the power of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of His people. In a Wednesday night service at our church, I stood up and testified of this healing. In the congregation was a lady who had an inoperable tumor that was about the size of a grapefruit. She asked her pastor and the deacons to anoint her with oil and pray for her healing. As they were praying for her healing, one of the deacons thanked God for her healing. What a man of faith. Three weeks later, this lady went to the Baptist Hospital for radiation treatments, only to find out the tumor was gone. Even today God is still working miracles in the lives of His people.
Jesus’ Crucifixion Brings Redemption, Eternal Life, Hope As I said before, I never forgot what the Salvation Army surgeon said about the death of Jesus. I have spent many years studying the crucifixion. The prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah chapter fifty three: But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Jesus was the Sacrifice consumed for us. He was marred more than any man has ever been marred. While on earth, He suffered the wrath of man. While on the cross, He suffered the wrath of God. I am thoroughly convinced that Jesus died of a broken heart. The Bible tells us that Jesus’ side was pierced with a spear. Out of His side came blood and water. In the medical field, this happens when the heart has been taxed to the limit. Jesus died on the cross and was buried in a tomb for three days and on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead victorious. The death of Jesus brings us redemption, the resurrection of Jesus brings us eternal life, and the second coming of the Jesus brings us hope that one day we will see Him face to face.
Soon We Will See the Coming of the Lord Prophecy has been my passion and I enjoy hearing teachers of prophecies such Hal Lindsey, Kay Arthur, Joel Rosenberg, Dr. David Jeremiah, Grant Jefferies, Stephen Davey and others. As I see signs of the end of time being fulfilled daily, my faith is strengthened. It is fearful what is coming upon the earth, yet it is exciting as well. It is my prayer that in these last days we will be witnesses of the saving grace of God. The time is short. Soon we will see the coming of the Lord. There are those, even in the Christian community, who say, “There are other ways to Heaven”. The Bible tells us clearly that there is only one way to come into the presence of God. In John 14:6 Jesus tells us, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.
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Touched By An Angel Part 1
by Laneice Davis, Ashe County were jerked from his spinal cord, and he also had a blood clot and internal injuries.
Publishers Note: “Here’s another stroll down memory lane from a 2004 edition. I’ve chosen to run this story again for two reasons. One is because it was one of the first interviews I ever did and two, because it serves as a good Part One to our most recent 2011 story from Laneice.” I believe in the power of prayer, and I believe in miracles. Since becoming a Christian when I was 13 years old I have believed this, but when my 11-year-old son, Kaleb, almost died I saw God’s miracle power in action. It all started when our family went camping in May of 2003 at Twin Rivers Campground. Kaleb was standing in an open field when a huge limb from an oak tree on a hill fell approximately 100 feet and struck him. When my husband ran to where Kaleb was, he was chalk white and we thought he might be dead. But he began to stir and looked at me and asked “Mommy, am I going to die?” And then he said, “Mama, I want to pray.” At that point he began to frantically pray. “God, don’t let me die, don’t let me die, don’t let me die.” Then all of a sudden, it seemed like a peace came over him and he started saying “Thank you, thank you, God, Praise your Name” and then he sang the whole first verse to the hymn “Amazing Grace”.
Trusting God For a Miracle When he got to Ashe Memorial Hospital, it was determined that Kaleb needed to be transported to Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem. There we discovered that all five nerves that go to your arm
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They gave him medicine to help dissolve the blood clot, but it caused another one in his spinal cord that required emergency surgery. When they took Kaleb in for surgery they told us that they didn’t expect him to live through it. I felt so helpless as I watched these strangers wheel my son away. As I sat in the waiting room thinking about entrusting my son to the care of those strangers, the thought occurred to me that I couldn’t trust strangers, but I could trust God for a miracle to be done. The surgery took 6-7 hours and, as we were waiting, friends and acquaintances from home began to show up saying they felt a strong leading to come to Winston to find out what was happening with Kaleb. There may have been 50 people from Ashe County in that waiting room and we were all praying for a miracle. At one point I went right up to the door where they had taken Kaleb through for surgery and I began to pray, “God, I don’t have authority to go through those doors, but you do. If you will just go through and let the hem of your garment touch the threshold of the door where Kaleb is, he’ll be healed.” Once I said that, I felt God speak to my heart that he had already done that and Kaleb was going to be ok.
Praising God for This Miracle When the doctor came to see us after surgery he told us that Kaleb had made it through the surgery alive, but that he was going to paralyzed from the neck down. He told us that Kaleb’s condition was
like Christopher Reeves and that we would have to use the ventilator to help him breathe and that the hospital would provide us with resources for caring for Kaleb. He told us that he would meet with us at 6:00 a.m. the next morning to discuss this more in depth. That’s when I looked at the doctor in the eye and told him that Kaleb was going to be fine. He told me that he understood the strain that we were under and that he knew we wanted our boy to be well but that it wasn’t going to happen. We then told him that he would be in for a surprise the next morning. When the doctor showed up the next morning my husband asked him if he was ready for his surprise. Then he pulled the sheet back and had Kaleb wiggle his toes and squeeze the doctor’s fingers. When that happened the doctor started crying and actually said, “Praise God this is a miracle.”
Another Day, Another Miracle After this, we were looking forward to Kaleb’s recovery when we experienced another trauma. They were putting something called a halo on him to keep his head from moving. This actually has to be screwed into the skull and they sunk one of the screws in too deep. This caused a blood clot in Kaleb’s brain and the medical staff told us that there was no chance for our son now because they didn’t have a neurosurgeon, or the help they needed to rescue Kaleb. But, God miraculously provided a neurosurgeon who just happened to be in that part of the hospital.
God Sends a Sign They opened Kaleb’s skull and drained the clot, but then he went into a coma, and again the medical folks told us he probably wouldn’t make it through. I was staying at the Ronald McDonald House and was praying daily for my son’s recovery, but nothing was happening. On the 8th day of his coma, I told the Lord that I was scared that though I knew He’d told me that He was going to heal Kaleb, I needed some sign of hope. When I went to Kaleb’s room that day, I looked at the glass door and thought I saw a doctor who I hadn’t seen before
standing at the door. When I went outside to see who was there, there was no one there. But, when I went back in and looked at the door again, there he was. That’s when I realized that I was seeing the reflection of a man who was actually in the room with us, but we couldn’t see him. He was standing beside Kaleb’s bed by his head, and he had on a white doctor’s coat, blue shirt, black tie, and khaki pants. Other people came into
the room and could see his reflection too, but not him and everyone remarked how it seemed like the presence of the Lord was in that room.
white jacket that’s been talking to me? Where did he go?” That’s when I knew that our son had been visited by an angel.
The reflection of this man was there for 48 hours and then he was gone.
From that point on, Kaleb began his recovery. Presently, other than being a little off balance and needing some assistance to walk and not being able to fully use his left arm, Kaleb is like any other 12-year-old boy. Now there is nothing that could ever change my belief that God desires to do miracles in our lives.
I was upset that he had left, but then, to my surprise, Kaleb opened his eyes and began to move around. We were all amazed, but what amazed us more were the first words out of Kaleb’s mouth. He said, “Where is that nice man in the
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An Unexpected Blessing Part 2 by Laneice Davis, Ashe County My son, Kaleb, was injured when he was 11 years old. He was hit by a large tree limb during a camping trip. Due to the injury, Kaleb has several physical and mental handicaps to overcome. He has always insisted that there nothing wrong with him. Then a new challenge came when he became old enough to get his driver’s license. Kaleb has not been able to move or feel his left arm since he was injured. There is muscle damage and severe scoliosis due to nerve damage. There was also brain damage and damage to the spinal cord in his neck. The injury weakened his whole system. Every nerve in his body was affected. There are balance issues and other problems. It has been a combination of faith and will power for Kaleb to come this far. For a while, Kaleb was in a wheelchair, but there was never an attitude of being handicapped!
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In order to get a driver’s license, we were required by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to go to Charlotte to a rehabilitation center for Kaleb to be evaluated. The rehab center reports to the DMV. Kaleb was infuriated. He was fine! I had to practice tough love with him telling him that we had to obey the laws. The evaluation was done all the while Kaleb saying he was fine.
It’s Okay to Be Angry
Then we waited. Two weeks later, while I was home alone, I heard the mail run. I just knew there was a letter in the mailbox. In my mind, I was convinced, this letter represented my son’s healing….or not. There were things I had not dealt with in my own heart. There is a fine line between faith and denial. I felt I had to keep a happy face all the time, assuring myself and others that my son was healed. I did this for years. It had all built up in me, and this letter represented whether my son was healed and normal or not. If not, I was stuck in this darkness. This letter was going to be concrete evidence from God that Kaleb was going to be healed at such and such a time. As I prayed on my knees, I was convinced that if I had enough faith, there would be a driver’s license in the mailbox. I walked to the mailbox, sifted through the magazines, junk mail, and bills, but there was no letter from the DMV. I was home alone and everything came out. I could barely see to get back to the house. I lay on my
bedroom floor and cried. I wasn’t angry with God but with the situation. I talked to the situation by saying, “How dare you…you let me suffer for five years now…the least you could do is tell me this where it stops!” I’m not sure whom I was talking to at this point. The agony of seeing no letter from the DMV in the mailbox made me angry with Satan. I felt he had taken the letter out of the mailbox! Slowly, I began to feel God’s presence. I started praying to God for repentance and for throwing a temper tantrum because I was so angry.
Peace in Place of Anger
God revealed to me that he was angry too. He had never created his world to be like this. He said, “Its okay for you to be angry. Let’s be angry together!” Instantly the anger was gone. There was peace. I had permission to be angry. God allowed me that time alone to get it all out. I got up, washed my face, and everything was okay. It was like it had never happened. The next day, without thinking, I went to the mailbox and on top was the letter from the DMV. The letter congratulated my son and told him to come get his driver’s license. There were only two minor adjustments that had to be made to the vehicle. The anger and the fear have never come again. Before, I was convinced and said that Kaleb was going to be (completely) healed. Now, no matter how much healing or when Kaleb is healed doesn’t matter.
True Faith is Believing When You Don’t See God in Action
I’ve learned that there is a big difference in faith that God will do something and having faith in God. The difference is you can believe God will do something specific and sometimes it will happen. But true faith is being okay when it doesn’t happen. Faith is believing even when you don’t see God in action. Shallow faith has to see it to believe it. You’ve got to get to the point that nothing matters but God. As horrible as Kaleb’s accident and what we all went through has been, it’s still the biggest blessings I’ve ever known.
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