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Testimonials By Name
Rodney and Susan Gable - Half Of All Marriages End In Divorce- Were We Just Lucky?
Eric Gray - The Chapelwood Story
Bridget Groce - Please play for a miracle
Rodney and Susan Gable
Alburtis, PA
EMail: dhammett@xc.orgHalf Of All Marriages End In Divorce- Were We Just Lucky?
Both of us were raised in what most Americans would call a Christian home. We were taken to Sunday School and church regularly, and we had both finished the Catechism classes offered by our religious denomination.
We met in 1975, and began a normal dating relationship. This included breaking up for a short time in order to date others, but consummated with us getting married in 1978.
Shortly after our wedding day, we entered the normal American rat race for material possessions. After nine months of marriage we bought the American dream home. Unfortunately, with the American dream home came the American dream home monthly payment. This monthly payment, coupled with our continued desire for material possessions, led to us working five jobs between the two of us. Looking back now, we can see that divorce was on the horizon if something didn't change - and it did.
Our lifestyle became cramped when our first child was born. Susan had to go back to work for us to keep our house and our "toys". I remember well meeting the couple that was about to watch our little girl. The baby-sitter, Debbie, and her husband, Dan, stood out in a peculiar way: no smoking, no drinking and no television. They kept a neat house, they were polite, and they appeared to be people we could trust with our daughter. I remember leaving their home and telling Susan, "I'd rather have someone overly religious watching our child than a soap opera addict that smoked and
swore."
As time passed, Susan noticed Debbie reading and studying her Bible. Debbie began asking Susan questions and one day she opened her Bible and showed her John, chapter 3, verse 3: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God". We had both been fairly religious, but we did not understand the need to be "born again." (Note: "born again" is a biblical concept referring to the forgiveness of sins by God and the rescue of the person from the power and penalty of that sin. This is God's requirement for everlasting life.)
In the meantime, our little girl was starting to repeat words and I became very conscious on my habit of cursing. I made several resolutions to stop, but I could not. This began to really bother me.
Debbie finally invited us to attend a special service at the Lehigh Valley Baptist Church. As the pastor preached, it was as if he knew what we needed to hear. He showed us from the Word of God how foolish it is to accumulate material possessions and to neglect one's own soul. He showed how Jesus Christ had made provision for our souls to have eternal life, if we would repent of our sins and receive him as our personal Savior.
That morning, we both went forward at the invitation at the end of the service and Susan received Jesus Christ as her personal Savior. I also prayed a prayer, but I was not sincere. I just wanted to get out of there.
The following Wednesday, Susan went to the church prayer meeting. I came home from a class that I was taking at a community college and I was in our home alone. I went to the bedroom and knelt by our bed. At that time, I saw myself as a sinner, worthy of the harsh judgment of a holy God. On that day in February 1982, I saw that my shallow trust in a religious system was sending me to an eternity in hell. That day, by faith, I repented of my sin and asked the LORD Jesus Christ to save me and become the Lord of my life.
Today my wife and I know that when we die, we will be with our Lord in heaven - not because we are better than anyone else, but because Jesus paid our sin debt on the cross of Calvary. Back in February of 1982, we both individually trusted in what God has said in his Word, not in what man puts forth in his false religious systems. No longer do we trust in our infant baptism, church membership, or good works that we might do, to get us into heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ is our only hope for life after death.
Because of our acceptance of Jesus Christ, Susan and I both have a purpose to our lives that we never had before. We see regular answers to prayer, and we experience the real joy of sharing with others the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. Both Susan and I have surrendered to full time service for the Lord. I am currently serving as an assistant pastor at the Lehigh Valley Baptist Church.
While it is true that half of today's marriages end in divorce, it is also true that half DO NOT. Thanks to a living Savior, Susan and I have discovered the positive half of that truth - and so can you.
Cleophus Glover
Darien, IL
EMail: glover@blackfishnet.comGod has been so instrumental in my life until I hardly know where to start telling what He has meant to me in my life. When I was young and dumb, God kept me.
I suppose one of my greatest blessings was when God allowed my wife, some forty years ago, to come into my life. My wife has kept me together and loved me even when I didn't love myself. God not only blessed me with a wonderful companion for thirty-two years of marriage, but He also gave me five children and ten grandchildren. God has always blessed me with the ability to provide very well for my family, not because I was so good (I wasn't) but I know He loves me in spite of all of my sin, I know without a doubt that if it had not been for God on my side and watching over me I would not be what I am today and I love him for that and keeping me through all of my unrighteous times. I am not what I should be, but thank God I am not what I use to be.
Eric Gray
Tucson, AZ
EMail: eric@freedomby faith.comThe Chapelwood Story
Why I believe in God, can be traced to a single event. Subsequently, it has been reinforced many times over in my life, but this one event is the most important, because of course, w/o it, there would be no others.
Like any good story, some background is required.
I grew up in a family not particularly religious. My grandmother on my mom's side is very devoted; hardly ever goes to church, but prays every night. She also made us say our prayers every night before we went to bed. I went to about three or four Sunday school classes when I was about 10 years old. Mom thought it was important for us to go to church on Sundays, but as you are about to learn, that quickly fell by the wayside.
My dad was an alcoholic and seriously deranged. He would routinely beat my mother and hospitalize her. Finally she left him when I was about 10. (or 11, maybe 12) This period in my life (8 years to 13) is very fuzzy to me. My memory is a mix of terror, elation, depression and confusion. When my mom left, my brother, sister and myself had to pretty much fend for ourselves. We lived for about a year and a half without her. During this time my father would bring home various women. Some would hang around for a while, some only the night. Some were whores, some looking for a "sugar-daddy," and some just looking for a place to sleep. Sometime in this period, my dad decided that us kids needed looking after. So he had his mom, my grandmother on his side of the family, come to stay with us. This was the worst thing that could happen. Today, as an adult, (with counseling) I know why my father was an abusive, twisted individual. I was about to suffer the same treatment he did when he was a child. I'll just say, I survived.
Mom grew up in a very abusive home. Her father (and his mother, my great-grandmother) were VERY abusive. The stories my mom and uncle tell of their childhood are very disturbing. Mom had to endure this, and as a result, developed a certain personality/behavior. As an adult, she developed an "addictive personality." That's a polite way of saying she conducted her life, not by reason and sanity, but by fear and obsessions.
By 1978, my mom had remarried a man 10 years older than me. (I was 18.) We had for the most part "shaken" my dad, by moving from house to house, over and over, through-out Houston. (We were on about our 40th house.) My step dad was an okay guy, but guess what? He grew up in a twisted home too! He had been out of work for about a year, and my mom was all over him every night about getting a job. The electricity had been turned off, water off, gas off and we were 4 months behind in our rent. Finally he couldn't take it, and left.
When my stepdad left, it really angered my mom. This was his way of escaping her control and she didn't like it one bit. So she took off after him. (This was during the time of no lights/no water/no heat.) She was gone for about 10 days, and again we kids were left to ourselves. This was normal, and wasn't all that bad, as we were now young-adult/old teenagers. My sister and I were working and bringing home some money, so that's what we lived off of. (We both worked after school.
We lived many miles from the schools we attended. Mom felt it was required to live in a "good" neighborhood (regardless whether or not we could afford it. :) ) and that it would be a good thing if we kids could stay in the same school. Mom was right. Even though we would move as often as 4 times in a year, she always tried to keep us in the same school so that we had some consistency in our life. This sometimes required that we travel quite a distance to get to school. I had always worked. I had amassed enough money to buy a car. Actually three or four cars, but ALL money earned by any member of the household went into the "general fund." The theory was the when we kids got old enough, "the family" would buy us a car, pay for school, etc. Of course theory and reality didn't quite meet. Each morning I would drive myself, brother and sister to school. My sister and I attended the same high school and my brother's Jr. High was right next to the high school. At the end of each day, I would then round up my siblings and drive them home. I worked some days, my sister worked every day, and so my brother had to find something to do. This wasn't a problem as he was very popular.
This one particular day, (a Monday) I wasn't working. I got out of school at 2pm and had some time to burn. That past weekend, I had been out in my car "street-racing" for money. While this may sound bizarre, my stepdad was really big into hot rods and we built a pretty fast car for the money. (I had contributed over $10,000 [at $2.35/hour plus tips] to the family during the past several years, so I had paid for it.) I would "street-race" for money and turn over the "winnings" to the family or use it for lunch money. It seemed normal at the time. :)
That weekend I had a race and the jerk didn't pay. This resulted in a tremendous chase and fight. We (my little brother, my best friend, and myself) chased these guys for over 30 minutes and it was pretty wild. To this day, my brother and I talk about it. Since I had some time to burn (because I was waiting for my sister to get off work) I decided to go back and "trace" our route.
So I started my little journey where the race had started and burned away about an hour doing nothing but driving around wasting gas, trying to remember where we went, and then, what I was doing. :)
Pretty soon I realized that I needed to get on my way to pick up my sister. I was on Gessner and about to go to the freeway (I-10) and then directly to my sisters place of work. But when I came to the light at Memorial Drive, something strange happened. I was going to go proceed through the light and directly to the freeway, (at this point on Gessner you can see I-10 from the intersection at Gessner and Memorial). But that didn't happen. When the light turned green I turned right. I can't even tell you why. I just did. My hands were turning on the wheel without my brain doing the directing, but I had this "feeling" as I my hands were going hand over hand, turning the steering wheel. It was as if another set of hands were on top of mine, moving them across the steering wheel. I was now on Memorial Drive and I remember thinking, "Well this is okay, Memorial runs almost parallel to I-10 and besides I like looking at all the incredible houses. (Memorial is the ritziest part of Houston.) So there I go, driving down this road with million dollar houses and million dollar lawns and million dollar cars. I drove for quite awhile and soon realized this road was meandering all over the place. Time seemed to be going by at an alarming rate. I realizee I was in trouble if I wanted to get to my sister and pick her up on time. It seemed Memorial was moving away from the freeway, not converging toward it. I decided I needed to find a cross street that connected the two and get on the freeway and be on my way.
I passed a street on my left that looked good, but I had doubt in my mind. So just went by it. All of a sudden the right front tire of my car started to pull right.
Background info again. The previous several weeks had seen really bad rain storms. Houston is known for this. During one of these storms, I had to drive through a flooded section of the road to get to school and water found it's way up into the wheel bearings on my car and destroyed the bearings. This occured during the time my step dad was away and I had to try and fix them myself. I wasn't sure what I was doing and didn't have any guidance, so I called one of my step dad's friends, Jerry. Jerry worked at a auto parts place and was a good friend of my step dads since high school. They used to hang out together when they were kids. I called Jerry, explained the situation, and he said he'd get me the parts. I worked on the right front bearing and thought I had it fixed. Then a few days later the left side froze up. I tried to repair it and then the right side froze up again. I went thru this several times, destroying the bearings in the process, when finally I had to call Jerry and tell him I didn't know what I was doing and asked for
help. So he came over and helped me do it right. Unfortunately I had already done serious damage to the spindles. We did the best we could (with a file and sandpaper) but the spindles were in bad shape. I didn't have the money to replace them, so we did our best and hoped...
Please pray for our baby girl she has been diagnosed with hydrosyphalus....I am five months pregnant. We could not terminate the pregnacy.... please pray for a miracle!!
Her name is Faith.
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