14 minute read
Marion Krege p
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.
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 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
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.
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.
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. 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. 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”.
Touched By An Angel Part 1
by Laneice Davis, Ashe County
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 were jerked from his spinal cord, and he also had a blood clot and internal injuries.
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. 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
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.
The reflection of this man was there for 48 hours and then he was gone.
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 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.
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.
