Testimony of Faith - Rebekah Hunt

Lagerquist, was a devoted United Pentecostal Church member. She would take Rebekah to the UPC church in Fremont. Even as a young child, Rebekah had a revelation of the oneness of God and would defend her belief with scripture. “I believe it was God Himself who gave me the revelation,” she said. Rebekah was sad when her godly grandmother moved to Idaho when she was only five years old. When Rebekah would sometimes visit Sister Faye, her grandmother would take her to church. Rebekah attended Blacow Elementary in Fremont. Before she was old enough to attend the second grade, a high school neighbor girl who was her trusted babysitter, began to touch her inappropriately. Because at the time, she did not understand that she was being violated and how immoral it was, she said nothing to her parents. “Thank God, my parents moved me to Montana,” said Sister Rebekah.

A Divine Escape

(Editor's Note: Sister Rebekah Hunt is a matriarch of a very active family involved with many ministries in our church. She herself is part of our praise team, many times as a soloist with a gifted voice. Her faithfulness is an example for all in our church. Her testimony will reveal tests and trials not common with most, but as you will see, it is her determination to keep her salvation at all costs. Read and be inspired!)

A Struggle To Establish Faith

Sister Rebekah Jean Faye Martin was born on July 14 in San Leandro, California. She was named after both of her grandmothers, Jean and Faye. Her parents Vicky and Steve, who married young, had a violent, dysfunctional marriage and divorced by the time Rebekah was three. She was the only child from their volatile union.

Vicky remarried shortly after the divorce to a man named Gary Martin. As he raised her since she was a small child, Rebekah considers him as her father and said, “He was a loving father.” Vicky at the time was employed doing clerical work, and Gary was an owner/ operator for Global Van Lines. They were now living in Fremont and two brothers were born at this time, Gary, Jr. and Brett. Vicky and Gary partied a lot.

Her grandmother on her biological father’s side, Faye

In Montana, they lived in Libby which is near Coeur d’Alene. They were drawn there because her step-father Gary grew up there and wanted to be near his family. Montana is known for its cold winters, with temperatures frequently reaching below zero degrees. However, Rebekah did not mind the cold weather. “It was awesome!” she said. She loved playing in the snow. They moved to a ranchette and Gary found a job at the vermiculite mine there. She attended elementary school there for two years, but the family moved back to California when the mine closed due to asbestos contamination. Vermiculite is used for many products including some potting soil mixes, insulation, and packing materials and most of the time only contains a very small amount of asbestos. Unfortunately, the vermiculite at Libby had a high concentration of asbestos which not only contaminated the surrounding groundwater, but became airborne, causing hundreds of deaths and an estimated 3,000 people were diagnosed with diseases such as mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer. It became one of the country’s worst man-made environmental disasters. “It was only God that we got out of there in two years,” said Rebekah. “The whole town got infected with asbestos. Almost everyone we knew who lived there has died.”

They moved to Newark, California, where they lived until she was in the 8th grade. Gary got a job at Dia- mond Manufacturing, and Vicky worked for Fremont Christian Church. Her parents had found God, and the family started attending Fremont First Assembly of God Church. “My youth pastor was super impactful in my life,” she said. It was at this time that Rebecca had a supernatural experience with God.

A SPIRITUAL BREAKTHROUGH!

While at Redwood Christian Camp one summer with her grandparents, Rebekah received the Holy Ghost. “I remember being super repentant. I wanted to be close to God and was fearful of going to hell. I went to the altar with my friends. I prayed and lifted my hands. All lot of people because the students from her junior high were divided into two different high schools. Because of all her family’s moves, she was accustomed to being the new kid, but she said for a while, “you are always the popular kid.” She dated, but never was in a serious relationship. She tried out and was chosen as one of the school’s cheerleaders. She went to prom all four years, and was in the homecoming court most of her high school years, even being nominated for homecoming queen.”I had a blast in high school,” she said. Yet, even with all of her social success, she hated the academics of school and was an average student, earning B's and C's in her classes.

Unfortunately, as she was maturing into a young woman, she had to fight off several to maintain her purity. She again became a target of unwanted attention and inappropriate touching by family members and high school associates. Of the former, without a lock on her door, she was vulnerable. Shocked and confused, she pretended to be asleep. “When my mother found out later,” she said, “she didn’t believe it.” None of the family believed Rebekah. “The abuse made me feel super insecure,” she said. “ I felt abandoned. I just blocked the abuse out. Now, I’ve forgiven and it doesn’t affect me.”

A Right Direction

I remember when I fell to the ground was the presence of God over me.” It was then that she saw a vision of a man in a glowing, white gown. He kept telling her not to be afraid. “I was slain in the Spirit for three hours, speaking in tongues” she remembers. Her friends were amazed! By this time it was not common anymore in the Assemblies of God for people to get the Holy Ghost baptism with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. No other campers had the same intense experience as Rebekah. She had to be carried back to her grandparents’ RV. After that she got serious about having a prayer life and reading her Bible.

During her 8th grade year, her family moved to Manteca where they lived with her grandparents for a year. “We were going to the Assembly of God church in Manteca and Modesto,” she said, “but nothing clicked. I know my other grandmother, Sister Faye, was praying for me. She really loved me a lot.”

In high school, she initially did not really know a

Life Center in Stockton, California. She started visiting but, “ I didn’t fit in because I had cut hair and makeup,” she said. She was baptized about three months after she started attending and became friends with Brother Nathaniel Haney who was the youth pastor. He explained to her the scriptures on baptism and told her that you must be baptized. She didn’t understand at the time, but felt if the Bible said she must be baptized in Jesus’ name, then she would obey. “When I was baptized, I remember speaking in tongues as I came out of the water,” she said.

She started getting more involved in the youth and joined the youth choir. She stopped wearing make-up when they told her it was against their standards. She eventually got the confirmation that being baptized in Jesus’ name was right. This revelation helped her to accept the Pentecostal standards. There were several men who had an impact on her life during these years. Ted Graves and Chester Mitchell were just two of them. Rebekah’s parents started going to CLC for a couple of years, But when they stopped going to church, Rebekah kept going. At age 18, she moved to the Bay Area and got a job at OMI. Although she had to commute all the way to Stockton for church, she made the sacrifice. She had a genuine experience with God, and she was not going to let it go.

I met my future husband Shane Hunt in 1993. A friend of mine, Andy Dugas, and I went with friends to a Christian night at Great America. Rebekah admits it wasn’t love at first sight for her, but Shane obviously liked her from the beginning. The next week he asked her out. She was uncomfortable because she had set him up with one of her friends, but she finally relented. They continued to date as she attended CLC and he attended Revival Church in Modesto. Three years later, he proposed and she said yes! With their pastors’ blessings, they married in 1996, and Shane brought his bride to Revival Church.

AN IMPOSSIBLE MIRACLE!

Soon after Rebekah had their first child, a daughter named Lauren, she came down with fibromyalgia, a chronic disorder that causes widespread pain in the body. “I was in a lot of pain,” she said. “I could barely lift my hand. I would get migraines three times a week. I was miserable!” Due to her excruciating pain, she was practically bedridden for three years. Her condition became progressively worse. In desperation, she prayed to God for healing! She sincerely believes God gave her direction to search the Internet for a treatment that could provide relief. She found a doctor in South Lake Tahoe who offered a treatment that he claimed had been successful. She and Shane decided to give it a try. She stayed at the treatment center for eleven weeks and then she was sent home to continue a reduced maintenance program. The painful, excruciating symptoms were gone! It was a miracle! She was completely healed of her fibromyalgia! This doctor no longer practices, for the FDA and pharmaceutical companies shut him down, but she feels God directed her to him at just the nick of time.