WALKING WITH GOD..............................................

All of us who know the Lord have a history of our walk with God.  Each one is different, and God sees us all and treats us all as individuals - his beloved children.  What a comforting feeling - God is my Father and loves me and is concerned about everything that happens in my life - and actually He directs it all, as I allow Him to do so.  I often think how blessed I am to have known the Lord all my life.

As with most children born into a Christian family, my parents taught me to love God and to know the Scriptures from the time I was able to comprehend what it is to be a Christian. But I had to make a decision for myself, and I made that decision at a very young age, I wass probably five, almost six. I can remember the event clearly but do not remember the date it happened. My Dad was preaching in a church in PA while on furlough from Africa, and I remember going down to the altar when the local pastor called for people to come forward for salvation.  So I date my actual conversion to that time.

Again when I was twelve years old and attending school at Mamou, I remember one rainy Sunday night when we had a special speaker at the school. Probably a visiting parent, I cannot remember who it was.  But he preached a message on being filled with God's Spirit in our daily lives.  I felt an inner urge to go forward for prayer, and our house mother at that time (Auntie Bowman) took me to her room and prayed with me.  I can still remember her praying with me and then explaining that God by His Spirit would direct my daily life from then on. I can still remember a funny illustration she used to explain the filling of the Holy Spirit. She said I did not have to wake up in the morning and ask God what dress I should wear to school that day!  But that I should ask Him to direct what I did and thought and said and let His Spirit control me.  So I date my being filled with God's Spirit to that occasion. 

Our family always had devotions together each morning when we were at home. Dad read a passage from the Bible and we all took turns in praying.  We also prayed after lunch each day, praying for missionaries around the world.  Monday was India, Tuesday was Africa, Wednesday was the Far East like Viet Nam, Thursday was South America, Friday was China, Saturday was the Islands and the Jews and Sunday was the US and the world in general.  I took my turn praying also, and knew by name many missionaries whom we prayed for and the Alliance work in other parts of the world.  Prayer was very much part of our family.  As it has been for our nuclear family. And still is for Dad and me each day.

When I went to Houghton College just after I turned seventeen, I was elected by my class to be Class Chaplain. And our Freshman class met together sometimes for prayer.  We had chapel each week day and weekends I attended the local Wesleyan Methodist church - that was the only church in that little town!   From my Freshman year right through my Senior year in College I was part of one of the College travelling choirs.  Again this was a spiritually edifying time for me, as we sang only Christian music, travelling to many parts of the Eastern United States and Canada.  This was my main ministry during my four years of College. 

During my junior year at Houghton there was a wide sweeping time of revival in many of the churches in the Eastern United States and Canada.  The group who fostered this came to Houghton also, and we had many days of dropping classes and many students seeking the Lord. We had long meetings - lasting several hours - in the large local church.  Kids getting right with the Lord.  Even during class times we would have extended times of testimonies and prayer. This went on for some weeks, and again contributed to my growth in my Christian life.

Meeting Dad was the most important thing that ever happened to me - outside of accepting Christ as my Saviour.  He has such a strong Christian faith, and from the beginning of our marriage has been the spiritual leader in our family. We used to pray together before we married, at the end of a date, and from the beginning in our marriage we also prayed together each day and/or night.

We still continue our life-long habit of reading the Bible and praying together each morning.  We commit all of our needs to God for His solutions. And we pray for all of you kids and grandkids, by name, each day too.  It brings you close to us now that we all live so far apart.

In Africa we also participated in corporate prayer with our churches out there.  During a certain period of time, we had the evangelistic program New Life for All. Part of that program was meeting in corporate prayer as a church every evening, praying by name for those in our village who did not know Christ.  Dad and I were in different groups, and my group would meet out under the stars, praying by name for each person in our village who was unsaved.  Prayer does change things - we proved it during those days.  A few years later - after we had lived for years in Bobo - I went back to the Santidougou church on a Sunday, and was amazed to see so many of the old women in our village and some older men also, who had come to Christ because of that personalized prayer for them.  It is always exciting to see God answering prayer!

From time to time the Mission also had fasting and prayer one day a week, over the noon hour. And again we met with fellow missionaries, praying for personal and field needs.  We often prayed with people who visited in our home as well.  We  prayed for sick people as well - in the churches and in our home.  So prayer has played a big part in our lives - as it has in yours.

Part of my devotional life for many years has been daily conversational prayer.  I have many books and notebooks filled with my "little conversations with God".  I think I have given some of those to some of you in the past.  These are my reactions to things that happen in my daily life and how I ask God to help me deal with them.  I still do this from time to time.  Occasionally I use these filled-up books in my personal devotions.  They help me to appreciate again how God worked out situations for which I had no answers. 

Prayer and worship have been a part of our lives as a couple and a family.  When we pray together each morning now, we pray for all of you and other needs; we also pray each day for a different group of missionaries, systematically going through a book full of prayer cards.  Often as we read the Scripture together, we stop to discuss certain events and passages about which we are reading.

At night sometimes when I am awake and cannot sleep, it is a good time to pray for needs around the world.  And I often fall back to sleep in the middle of praying.  God is always a helper - in times of trouble - but also when things are going well.  What a blessing it is to have a personal relationship with Him!