A testimony of a sovereign move of God

Although I was a religious person who rarely missed church and was even on the church council, I could not seem to find the strength to overcome certain things that had invaded my life. Alcohol, smoking and gambling were my passions in life and were slowly taking away my health and my money.  Then in 1977 my first son was born and as I witnessed that birth I somehow sensed the reality of God.

As everyone knows children change your lifestyle and all of a sudden my wife and I could not go out on the same night anymore. Her bingo night became Sunday night and my poker night was moved to another night. One Sunday night I did something that I had only done once or twice before in my entire life. I opened a Bible that we had gotten free with a set of encyclopedias and began to read it. From that night on every time that I could find myself alone or at least make sure that no one saw me I would read it. All of a sudden I was hungry to know what God was saying. This went on until sometime in 1978.

Then one night a group of us were sitting around the table at my mother's house having a chat when something came on TV that caught our attention and my aunt said "I read that in the Bible”. To everyone’s surprise everyone else around that table was sneaking around reading the Bible including my own wife. It had been happening for months and we had never dared even speak to each other about it. For example, when my wife was out I would read the Bible and when I was gone out my wife would read the Bible. All of the others were doing somewhat the same things. So we began to sit around that table night after night talking about the Bible. More people began to join us and we were staying there until the wee hours of the morning. Almost every person that came had a similar story of some sudden hunger for the things of God.

In a short while we heard of a tent crusade coming near our area and decided to go. Night after night car loads of people from our little community would go. They were coming back and saying that they were saved and going to heaven for sure. It was still very difficult for me to understand but on Thursday, July 6^th 1978 I had the night off and I went with a few friends. I just remember one thing about that night and that is when the preacher said "he who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life”. (1 John 5:12) At that moment the Spirit of God touched me and I knew that no matter how many times I went to church or how many good things I might do, to have eternal life I needed a Savior and that Savior was Jesus Christ. Somehow God revealed to me at that moment that I could not save myself and that I must put all of my trust in the cross of Christ alone to pay for my sins.

The scripture found in 2 Corinthians 5:17 proved amazingly true to me after that time. If any man is in Christ He is a new creature, the old things have passed away behold all things have become new. The things that God has done in my life never cease to amaze me and I am so thankful for that. I have two grown and married sons that along with their wives both serve Christ. My wife and I are still trying our best to serve Him after all of these years and He gets sweeter every day.

In the year that followed the summer of 1978 all of the folks in that group found churches to settle into. In just the church that we settled into there were 25 of us and many went to other churches. God moved in His sovereignty in that small community in 1978 and none of us really knows why. Probably someone was praying for that community at that time and God answered. I don’t know how or why, I’m just so glad that He did.

Some of the folks that received His grace and mercy that summer have passed on and are in His very presence today. Many others are living productive lives for their precious Master every day still after all of these years. Still others have for one reason or another found the Christian life difficult and have turned back.

It was truly an awesome move of God almighty that I can not explain nor will I try. I just know that in the summer of 1978 God Himself sovereignly visited us in our small community and I was blest to be a part of it.