PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 356: GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 356: GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
Currently Colin and I have precious friends staying with us from New Zealand. Today Rebecca Southey from Auckland, New Zealand, shares her testimony of God’s great faithfulness. Rebecca began her journey as a teen single mother until the father came back into her life.
Listen to what God did in their lives and continued to do. They now rejoice in the blessing of all their children and grandchildren walking with the Lord. What is their secret?
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! It’s always so great to be with you. I wish you could be with us here in my lounge today. For here, sitting around on the sofa is a very precious friend. At the moment we have staying with us some wonderful friends from New Zealand, and from way back in the early days when Colin and I were pastoring in New Zealand. Actually, it’s 43 years ago since the time we left the shores of New Zealand. So, it’s really 43 years, or even longer, since I have seen you all!
I have here Robyn from New Zealand, who’s married to a pastor in Texas now. And I have my very, very dear friend Sue. Sue used to live over the road from me. I have her sister Rebecca here with her husband. These three wonderful ladies are here, and they have so many stories to tell. I thought we’d do a podcast with each one of them. So, I’m going to do that!
We’re going to start with Rebecca now. But I’m going to do one with Sue, and one with Robyn, so you’ll be looking forward to their stories, and what they have to say. But we’ve been trying to get on to them all morning, and it’s been impossible, because we’ve just been talk, talk, talk, talk, talking! And it’s lunchtime. But I don’t know. We’re going to have to do these. We’re going to have a late lunch.
But round this room, I have Sue, and Rebecca, and Robyn, and I have Pam. Pam Fields is staying with us too. Pam is the one who’s wanting to do this biography about me. She’s here, getting me on the job of what I have to do. Pam comes every now and then to keep us on the project. And Evangeline is here, catching up.
Of course, I have my two lovely Above Rubies girls, Esther and Teeny, who are my current Above Rubies girls. I got mixed up with Teeny’s name because she is a twin! Her twin, Tiveria, has been with us. She was with us for over two months. And then, her twin came. Her twin’s name is Tikva, but she’s called Teeny for her nickname because she was the one who was smaller, the smaller twin, and they called her “Teeny.”
So, here we are, all together. Now, Rebecca, welcome! Say “hi!”
Rebecca: Hi! Thank you, Nancy. It’s great to be here.
Nancy: Yes, and her New Zealand voice! Now it won’t only just be me, but you’ll get to have some more New Zealand accents!
Rebecca: Well, there you go! [laughter]
Nancy: Rebecca, well, really, we go back a long way. In fact, even before you were married to Rick. You’ve been through a set of pretty hair-raising times! Do you want to tell that part of your story?
Rebecca: Ok. All right. Thank you for inviting me to be part of your podcast today. So very privileged. Thanks for your hospitality and thank you for your love you've given us.
Forty-five years ago, Colin married myself and my husband. Before that time, let me go back a little bit. I was in the church, and I was a teenager. I met this boy, I would say. But he wasn’t in the church. Long story short, when you walk away from the things of God, I ended up a single mom. But with the love of the church, and also the support of yourselves and the family, I was very supported.
But just a little bit of the story was that we were going to get married. Like I said, with the love of my church, love of my family, it seemed like a fairy-tale story. However, not to be so at the beginning, I remember that things were going along. My husband, well, he is my husband now. But at the time, he got baptized actually, this particular on Sunday night.
I remember, there was a prophecy from Colin. The prophecy was that “Rick was a man of indecision, but that God was going to put the right decision in his heart. And that you two should go on to serve the Lord together”. That sounded wonderful, didn’t it?
Well, what happened after that? From the water into the fire! My darling boyfriend at that time, soon to be my husband, we were going to get married a couple of months after he graduated from Police College, decided that getting married, being a father, and all the responsibilities, was not for him. So, away he went, for a good period of time. But you know what? It was the most difficult time, but one of the greatest times, because I gave my heart back to Jesus.
Nancy: Now, you were pregnant at this time.
Rebecca: I was pregnant! I was seven months pregnant.
Nancy: Wow.
Rebecca: Yes, I was seven months pregnant, and it was only three days after he got baptized that he was gone. Devastated! Absolutely devastated. But the Lord got me back. I came home. I gave my life back to Jesus. That was the best place to go.
Then I remember I use to see Rick walking down to town. I would see his car. He used to come and visit a couple of times during the time that I was pregnant. I’d say to God, “Why are You allowing him to do this? Why does he come and visit?” Because my heart was so much for him. I remember God speaking very clearly to me. “You can have him back now, as he is, or you can have him back when I’m finished with him.”
Now, remember I’m only a 16-year-old. There were hopes out there. Yep, nearly 17. So, there’s hope that you can have a personal relationship with God, and He can speak to you. He said to me very clearly, “You can have him back now, as he is, or you can have him back when I’m finished with him.” I said, “Okay. When you're finished with him.” And then I carried on with my life.
On the 16th of March 1979, our son was born. His name was Johnathan. Again, I had a very supportive family. I lived with my sister, who’s here today. You’re going to hear her story, and her awesome husband at the time, he’s passed on to be with the Lord. And our mother, and Jack, and Sue’s children. We certainly have a dynamic family.
Therefore, I knew the support and love of family and the church family. You know, sometimes when you find yourself in that situation, being a pregnant, younger woman as it happens, or being pregnant, that you can feel shamed, maybe isolated at times, because of your own thinking, and the doing of your life at that time. But when you know the love of family, obviously the love of God, but the love of others around you, your church, you can go forward. I had Johnathan and that was great.
Seven months later, and there’s a lot of stuff in between, but all that stuff in between was, when there was pain, God was there. When you felt discouraged, hope was there. And I did my life. I remember making a conscious decision at a very young age. Now I’m 17 when he was born. I made a very conscious decision that I was going to be the best mother that this child could have.
Much as my heart was for his father. I had to, in one way, cut that off. My decision was that I was going to be the best mom. And I was. I could be the best mom, because I had role models around me to show me the path. I had my mom, I had my sister, I had Nancy. The women in the church, just by modelling it. They didn’t say, “Do it this way, do it that way.” We saw how they loved their children. We saw how they embraced motherhood, and that’s what I did, as a 17-year-old.
But moving right along, I still believed God. And He said, “You can have him back now, or you can have him back when I’m finished with him.” So, let’s go to the finished product, shall we?
One day, contact was made. He came to visit me. He was a policeman, and he was moving from where he was living at the time in Whanganui, where we were setting up house. Remember my broken heart. We’d already made plans to get married. We’d already got a house in Whanganui, but it had all gone. He was living in Whanganui, and now he was moving to Wellington. He came to see me, and he came to see Johnathan.
He stayed in Palmerston North for a week with his mother and father and family. He came to visit, and he said, “I want to get back together.” My heart was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom! But no. I said, “Look, let’s take it very slowly. Come and visit Johnathan for a week, and let’s see what happens.” I told my mother. She was like, “Oh, no! Please don’t set yourself up for disappointment!”
“It’ll be OK, Mom!” Mom respected me now that I was an adult. I was a woman, because I was a mother, but she’s also a mother too
So, he came around for a week, and it was lovely. The bonding of Johnathan and Rick was amazing. We were in a friendship, even though I was still madly in love with him. But I loved God even more.
The last night that he was in Palmerston North, he said, “Shall we go to the movies?” We didn’t get into the movies because he said to me, as we were getting out of the car, as he opened the door he said “Well, what have you been doing for the last nine months?” I was just about ready to go “What? apart from nappies and looking after this child”
Nancy: By the way, not all Americans will know nappies, because they call them “diapers” here. But back in New Zealand, they’re “nappies.”
Rebecca: They’re nappies!
Nancy: Yes!
Rebecca: So, diapers, too. Anyway, I said to him, “Apart from nappies, and looking out for this baby by myself, well, actually, Rick, what I had done, is I’ve given my heart back to Jesus, and if I had to choose between Him and you right now, I’d choose Him.”
Now, ladies, I’m thinking, “Who the heck said that??” Who was sitting on my shoulder to say that? Because my motives were starting to come up because I still loved this man. But I very clearly, I chose Him.
Richard said, “That’s what I needed to hear,” because he had been running from God for nine months. “I had a car accident in the police car. I went to look for this couple while I was setting up my own flat. They were born-again Christians. I couldn’t stand it. I had to leave.” He said, “I even went to take out this girl in Whanganui, and she said, ‘Meet me at the station. Blah, blah, blah.’ Because I actually, whatever I was doing.”
Then Rick said, “I asked her what she was doing, and she said, ‘I was street witnessing. I’m a backslidden Christian.’” He said, “That date, that night out together was actually one of the catalysts to get him thinking about life and getting straight.” He said, “I never saw that girl again. She was only telling her story, and I said mine, and we never saw each other again. I’ve been running from God.”
Here is the exciting part. I said, “Great!” So, Colin and Nancy had a lot to do as our pastor. Rick said, “I need to ring Colin now.” It was 11 o’clock at night.
I said, “What? Really?”
“Yes now.” He rang their home at 11 o’clock at night. Colin answered. “Hello?” Rick said, “I want to give my life back to the Lord. I need to come and see you.” Colin said, “Can it not wait until the morning?” Rick goes, “No. Now!” Just in genuine love, Colin said, “Come on. Come now.”
They put the fire on and stoked it up. We were in the lounge, and Rick was repenting, giving his heart back to Christ. In February just gone we have been married for 45 years, and Colin took the wedding.
So, I get my encouragement when God speaks. No matter what age you are ladies, when you know you have that Word, that He does not lie, no matter how difficult it is to stay focused on the things of God, and the promises of God, when we do, we reap the rewards. We’ve been married 45 years.
PLANTED IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD
Hey, it’s had its ups and downs. It’s had its ups and downs. That’s what life is all about. But I dealt with my dysfunctions. We were kids. We were children when we got married, so it’s important that we grow together. But one thing we did, even after we got married, we moved down to Wellington where we set up house there. The first thing we looked for was a church.
Then we got transferred again to another town. What did we look for? A church. And we remained in the house of the Lord. Because “those that are planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish. In the courts of our God, they will bring forth fruit in old age.” I love that. That’s what kept us being in the house of God and knowing the love of God.
Nancy: Oh, yes. That’s such a wonderful testimony. If you want to look that Scripture up in the Word, it’s Psalm 92:13, 14. Look it up. I think it is so powerful. I do know, of course, in our own lives, there’s nothing like being planted. You’re planted in the house of the Lord. When you find a place, and you make your roots there, it is so important, isn’t it? Not just flitting around from church to church.
You’ve got to find roots because that’s God’s heart. He wants us to be planted. He wants us, as mothers, to be planted in the home. He wants us to be planted in a church family. That’s so important for the raising of our children. You found that. As you began then the Lord gave you four children.
Rebecca: Amazing children.
Nancy: Now you have all these grandchildren.
Rebecca: Oh, eleven! Sinless, perfect, and we’re deluded! But no, they’re amazing. [laughter]
Nancy: And they’re all walking with the Lord today.
Rebecca: All our children are walking with the Lord. Our grandchildren are walking with the Lord because they are planted. Their parents are planted in the house of the Lord. Their grandparents are planted in the house of the Lord. That’s the only safety there is for our children, for families, is in the house of God.
Nancy: And I love those Scriptures of promises that God gave to Israel when He said, “I’m going to . . .” They were taken out of the land, but God was faithful, and He said, “I’m going to bring you back to the land, and I’m going to plant you in the land again, and you will not be plucked up.”
That’s the thing. What is the opposite of planting? Plucked up.
We are either a planted person, or we’re a plucked-up person. We’re either a mother planted in the home, and in our marriage, and in our family, or we are plucked up.
There are many who are plucked up today. The same in the church. We are either planted in the church, or we are plucked up. God’s plan is for us to be planted.
Rebecca: Amazing.
Nancy: Isn’t it? Oh, let’s just read them again. Psalm 92:12: “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age.” Isn’t that so great?
Rebecca: It’s so exciting, isn’t it?
Nancy: “They shall be fat and flourishing.” Hallelujah! Amen! And you’ve proved that, because today all your children are walking with the Lord, and all your grandchildren. But there were a couple of hiccups along the way. Tell us how you trusted God in those situations.
Rebecca: Oh, I so want to tell you all, ladies. There were hiccups. When you are planted in the house of the Lord, we’re sure that we worked on ourselves, and listened to the Word, and applied it to our lives, and taught our children the love for the house of God. We were there Sunday after Sunday. We were part of the ministry. They knew at a young age that they were going on Sunday. We do it because we love God. It’s part of who we are, and the legacy that was taught.
Now they’re grown up and are young adults. Not married. I remember God bringing His Word to us that “All your children shall be taught of the Lord, and “great shall be the peace of them” (Isaiah 54:13). Rick and I were pastors at this time in Palmerston North. We had our children. Two of our children decided that they knew better, and they were going to go down another path.
No. This is why my husband, and I had planted a church. The church was flourishing. God was blessing us with this church and the people in it. We had these two, and my husband would stand up and preach. He’d preach faith, and he’d say, “One day you will see my daughter come back through those doors. One day you will see my son. One day you will see them, and you will know them, because they would have given their lives back to Christ.”
This is his preaching faith while he had to have faith himself. That’s what grew our church. It was a real, because we revealed that we’re going through something, but believe in faith. But God said, “All your children shall be taught of the Lord, and great will be the peace of them.”
We carried on daily lives. We were blessed with a lovely granddaughter. We found out our daughter was going to have a baby. They weren’t married. Well, the love that I received before we had our daughter as well and the Holy Spirit really prompted us that we strived for a relationship.
It’s important to have relationship with your children, for them to know you, and for you to know them. There’s no judgement that would come into our house, even though we were pastor. What does that mean? You should be even more loving. Probably even more relational.
But she got pregnant and then they had a son. He was out doing his thing. But our door was always open. Every Monday night we started dinner at our home. All our children would be there, including our son, including our daughter. That was their time around the table that we would talk and love on each other. Then they would go and do their thing. OK. But they knew where home was.
Then one day, Rick and I were talking about things, and again the word of the Lord came to us. It was: “This is My covenant that I will make with you” (Isaiah 59:21) “My spirit that is upon you, and My words that are in your mouth, will not depart out of the mouth of your children, nor your children’s children, from this day forth and forever more.”
“Hello, Lord? Our two children are out there. “This is about Me,” the Lord said. About Him. “This is My covenant that I’m making with you.” We’re like, “OK, thank You, Lord. But I remember times. Let’s be real. There were tears behind closed doors. There were praying and tears.
Another promise that came from God was Jeremiah 31:16: “Stop crying and wipe your eyes; for your work shall be rewarded, for your children shall return from land of the enemy. They will return again to their own border.” Oh, we just took that on board with faith. We wiped the eyes, and we keep doing life. We kept doing life, loving those children.
Well, let’s just move right along. We believed God, that He was true to His word. Anyone hearing today, we have seen the Scriptures fulfilled. All our children are in the house of God. All our children are happily married, and their spouses love God. All our children love God, and all our grandchildren are planted in the house of God.
Never ever think that God doesn’t come through for us, because again, we often say at different times, that He gives us His promises. I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but I know Him. He has spoken it. That’s more important for us as a family because families still go through stuff.
We’ve all had situations, circumstances, that you’re confronted with. But together, with the foundations of Christ, when our family is built on Christ, the parents particularly remain focused. You know, we truly believe, and it’s taught in our church, “What walks in the parents, runs in the children, and sprints in the grandchildren.” Isn’t that true, ladies?
I look at our children and they went to different levels of sporting achievements, and they were very good at what they put their hand to. Basketball—our sons played national basketball, went to America, got a scholarship, but they came back and didn’t pursue it.
I have a grandson who’s in America, Arizona, got a scholarship, and he’s in the Eastern Arizona College. And he’s playing baseball. He's doing extremely well. So, what walked in his grandparents, the odd netball game and everything else he played for exercise. It ran a bit more in the children.
Even our girls are fantastic at netball. Any sport they play, they’re amazing. But it stopped there. Now the grandson is in America. I have other grandsons who have been to America with basketball. And Australia. That’s just an example of what walks in the parents, runs in the children, sprints in the grandchildren.
How much more in the Spirit? How much more, and how important is it, ladies, that we have a personal relationship with Christ? What walks in us, although we like to know that we run and we do certain things that won’t walk with us. We’re passing on to the next generation that’s going to take it to another level. And then the grandchildren’s spirits are going to take it to a whole new level.
I honestly find that with our children, they recognize Rick and I are still on fire for Jesus. We still love them. My husband is still the head of his family, but he respects the beautiful sons-in-law that we have, and our beautiful sons-in-law, do you know what? They look to Rick also, their father, for words of encouragement, for words of high-five. They high-five each other but they look to their forefathers as well.
All our children love Christ. All our children love the Lord. We’re sitting in a very happy place. But there’s so much more. There’s so much more for us to do for Christ. Sometimes we think . . . I think sometimes . . . “Gosh, Lord, I’m not doing enough!” And I am involved in our church. I do work. I’m a flight attendant. I’m 63 years old.
I’m a flight attendant. I’m with each flight, up to 118 passengers, each flight. I do four flights a day. So, I have opportunities to be Christ to people. When they’re nervous. I look at them and I put my hand on their shoulder. and I say, “It’s OK, you're on the safest flight today.” They said, “Am I?” I say, “Yes, because I’m on it and I’m guaranteed to go home.”
Now I don’t know that I’m going home to glory or I’m going home to my family, but they feel encouraged. It’s OK, because Christ is in us ladies, the hope of glory. Wherever we go, wherever we put our feet, wherever we place our hands, we bring hope, and we bring life. And that’s what we’ve imparted in our children.
Sometimes I think, “Oh, Rebecca, you're not doing much.” And I get a frown look from my husband. Then he’ll go, “All the things that your children are doing, all the people that they are reaching that you don’t reach, all the places they go . . .”
We have a grandson that’s visually and hearing impaired. He looks, because he’s got hearing aids and because he’s got big thick glasses. They’ve got a diagnosis, and it wasn’t a good one. But my beautiful daughter, our youngest daughter and her husband chose not to listen to that diagnosis, but they put their faith in Jesus, and he got prayed at his dedication. His grandfather held him, my husband Rick, you know, the runner? When God finished with him, oh, it’s so good! In his arms when he was born, we were there. My husband took him in his arms and prayed for him, and he got dedicated. We got the diagnosis and prayed for him again. If he was in this room right now, you wouldn’t think he was hearing impaired. You wouldn’t have any idea that he’s visually impaired. He picks himself up and he goes for it. We’ve got parents that teach him sign language, they do the whole deal. But faith.
I said to my daughter. You pull from your grandfather, which was my father, my sister, Sue’s father. We had a sister who was a spina bifida, and you remember, Nancy, you wrote an article, mom wrote an article before she passed away about the miracles that took place with our sister who had spina bifida. She couldn’t walk.
My father and mother, by faith, took her to the elders in Wellington. The preacher prayed for her. Nothing happened immediately, but Lord, we’re waiting. Every night Dad would pray and say, “We did what You said, Lord. We’re waiting for the miracle.” Lois was one year, and she kicked. I said to Rachel, and I said to one of my other nieces that has a child that’s not too well. I said, “You pull from the faith of your grandfather.”
Yes, we have our own faith. Yes, we have God. He’s ultimately everything. But each generation, we go back and say, “Your grandfather had the faith for your aunty. He had the faith, and it was done. You have pulled that faith that’s in our legacy. That’s in our line of faith.”
And look at our grandson. It’s just amazing. He’s healed. As far as we’re concerned, he’s healed. Every time he goes back for check-ups, they say, “Nothing’s changed.” But they can’t put their finger on why he looks like he does, speaks as well as he does, moves as well as he does. It’s God. Faith, without it we can’t please Him.
So much so that when I was adopted, that’s a little piece I guess we didn’t bring up. I was adopted into a beautiful family that I’m in with Susan. My father called me, and my mom called me “Rebecca Faith.” The reason why I got told by my mom they called me “Faith” is because they got me by faith. Because I’m Maori. Have you ever heard of the Maori?
Nancy: That’s the native people in New Zealand.
Rebecca: Native people. I’m Maori, and my family are European. So, we have a white and a brown family. So, faith, it’s incredible. I know we need to go, but by faith, did my parents not know that my sister Sue’s husband, Jack, who passed away five years ago, who loved the Lord, we found out four years before he died, we were biological family.
Nancy: Really?
Rebecca: Yes. My grandfather, yes, my grandfather, and his (Jack’s) great-grandmother were brother and sister. Brother and sister.
Nancy: So, you were actually related to Jack.
Rebecca: Yes! And all these years, people keep saying to us, “Gosh, Arana, Sue and Jack’s son, and our son Johnathan, gosh! They look alike!” I don’t know, just if it was environment, how they were brought up. OK. No! They were cousins!
Nancy: Isn’t that wonderful?
Rebecca: Jack’s mother and I are first cousins, and Jack and our children are second cousins. But our children go, “No, he’s uncle! He’s our uncle.” But now Arana is contacting our son Johnathan to find out about the lineage of the Werepa line. When we went to the urupa (the cemetery or burial ground in Maori) to bury Jack we saw the headstone. My birth mother’s surname was Werepa. We saw the headstone of Rangi Werepa which was an aunty too.
Nancy: Wow! Isn’t that so amazing? You’ve talked about faith, Rebecca, but that word in the Greek for “faith” is the same word as “faithfulness.” God has been so faithful. When you think that your Rick, this runaway guy, the moment you got married, you’ve stuck to the Lord and stuck to one another. And you've been faithful to him, and God has been faithful to you.
Rebecca: He certainly has.
Nancy: Oh, your testimony is just one of faithfulness, isn’t it? I love how you were sharing with me this morning that now, even all the children have all grown, married, and raising their own families, but you still get the families together every week. Every week, the whole family comes together. You are a gatherer. You make sure that you're getting together, even though you're in the third generation.
Rebecca: And even though they’re adults, you've got to listen. You’ve got to listen to their conversations. We listen. Rick listens to what’s going on. It might be sometimes you’re going to have to tweak a few things. Not publicly, but that’s what a father does, because a father wants to keep his family together.
Don’t get me wrong, ladies. We’re not all perfect. We’ve had our own dysfunctions we had to deal with. And there was stuff that we needed to sort out. But I’ll tell you what, I wish I could give you my eyes now, to where we are sitting, because it’s so worth it!
Remain in God. Remain in the house of God.
JUST TURN UP
We just celebrated 45 years, as you know. Our pastor asked us, “What’s the secret?” Psalm 92. “Those that are planted in the house of the Lord.” We should be divorced today. We shouldn’t be together, ladies. Sixteen, eighteen, seventeen, nineteen, getting married. But the faithfulness of God. And being faithful, just turn up!
Even if it’s not feeling good, turn up! Even if you don’t feel like going to church, just turn up. The Holy Spirit and the rest of the people around will carry you. Just turn up. You may think that things aren’t going well with your children but take them to the house of God.
Nancy: Amen! Well, Rebecca, I end every podcast by praying for all the mothers and wives. Would you like to do that today? Pray for them.
Rebecca: I will. Thank you, Nancy.
“Father, I thank You. As it’s already been spoken of Your faithfulness. I thank You, Lord. You watch over us. And Lord, that You know the plans that You have for our lives. You know the plans You have for our lives. They are to give us hope, and to give us a future.
“I pray for every listener today. I pray Holy Spirit, that You will bring to remembrance those things that are applicable today, for their situations, for the future, they might know of someone else, we speak hope today. We speak faith today. We pray faith today into the hearts and lives of these beautiful women. Those mothers that need to know that what they’re doing is for eternity. What they’re doing is eternal.
“I pray that, Lord, You would watch over every household, watch over every life, and they would bring glory to You. Because, Lord, ultimately, that’s what we want to do. We want to share hope for others. So, bless all the listeners. Bless all these women. Bless all these women doing life today. And I love You, Lord. We honor You. We give You all the glory. In Jesus name.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS PODCAST, “LIFE TO THE FULL” WITH NANCY CAMPBELL.” DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF. IT IS ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ALL WIVES AND MOTHERS.
MY WOBBLY FAITH
In the above transcript, Rebecca shared how her sister Lois was born with spina bifida. I printed this testimony about Lois in the No. 3 Above Rubies, away back in 1978 while still living in New Zealand. I’ll print the story again for you here now.
How thrilled and grateful I was when my young daughter, Lois gave birth to a big bouncing baby boy. She had a perfect pregnancy and an easy natural birth. Little Joshua was my 15th grandchild, so why was it so special?
I thought back to a day 21 years ago when I lay on a hospital bed with a gynaecologist/physician/surgeon surrounding me saying that this pregnancy must be terminated! This was because of my acute physical condition and the risk of childbirth. My previous pregnancies and births had been very difficult, and they did not think I could survive this one.
I was faced with an issue of life and death. How could I destroy life which God had put within me? No. I couldn’t allow it, even at risk to myself. I remember saying to the physician, “My faith is wobbly, but I will wobble on with the help of God” and I went through the pregnancy.
Lois was born with difficulty at five weeks premature, RH negative, and spinal bifida! She was operated on at two days old to close the opening. After the operation there was no reaction or sign of reflexes. Her legs just dangled. The doctor said they had done all they could.
My husband and I had many times experienced a touch from the Lord and so we turned to Him again. We took her to Wellington where a visiting evangelist from America prayed for her.
Nothing apparent happened, but my husband, being a man of faith, kept telling the Lord what we had read in His word: “They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18). Each night as we put her to bed he would say, “Lord, we’re still waiting. We thank You that this baby will walk.”
The night she was one year old we were bathing her and suddenly she moved, and her legs kicked for the first time. What excitement as the whole family came crowding in the tiny little bathroom. Such shouting and rejoicing.
From this day on she grew stronger and began to hold her head which she could not do before. We decided to treat her from this day just as we had our other five
We had many opportunities to tell of Jesus and His love through what people saw happening over a space of time.
At 15 years she was last seen by the specialist who was surprised that she was just like any normal girl. However, he did say that if one day she should marry and have a child that she would need ti give birth by c-section. How wonderful is the goodness of God that she had a beautiful natural delivery.
We have been a family who have known what it is to have sickness come our way, but we have seen the Lord’s hand on our lives and have been granted the ability to rise above it.
I strongly recommend this wonderful friend, Jesus Christ, to anyone needing healing, whether it be spiritual, physical, or emotional.
MAUREEN GREEN (who passed away many years ago).
(Maureen is also Sue’s mother who did the podcast, A LIFE POURED OUT, and Rebecca’s mother who shared her story in the above transcript).