ARDA'S STORY

I was blessed from the beginning of my life to be born into a Christian family where the church was the center of our lives. I cannot remember a day of my years at home where we did not have our family altar each morning before going to school or other activies planned for the day. These years were also those where we attended revival meetings each year, and our family never missed going even though it meant my mother had to get five children ready to go. With this type of training the Lord touched my life very early and at the are of ten I accepted Christ.

I would like to say that I have always walked in the ways of the Lord but after leaving home I drifted away from Him but the Lord was faithful and in His mercy drew me back into the fold.

I remember in particular one incident in my life in my early teens when I was in a car with a group of young people and the driver lost control of the car, and we went over an embankment and into a ravine and I ended up in the hospital. When my mother came to the hospital, she told me the Lord had awakened her in the night and she felt led to pray for my safety and God answered her prayer in a special way. How grateful we can be for praying mothers.

I was almost 30 years of age before God gave me a son and it was at the time of his birth that I felt again the desire to be what God wanted me to be. My husband had never attended church but the church where my parents attended always had a Sunday night service, which was evanglistic, and before each service members of the church family met to pray for lost members of their families. My mother had frequently asked us to attend and finally one Sunday night my husband agreed to go and that night he was wondrously saved and he served to Lord until his death. My son is now a pastor of a Vineyard Church and I have three wonderful Christian grandchildren, one of them serving in a mission for handicapped children in Mexico.

I had a very frightening experience in my home in Mazatlan where I was attacked by a young Mexican boy and once again God saw fit to spare my life. I will never forget as I was losing consciousness the peace that the Lord gave to me and the assurance I was one if His. I pray for this young man that someone will come across his path and lead him to the Savior we serve.

I have been retired for a number of years and the Lord has blessed me with good health, and at the age of 81 I spend my time visiting shut-ins and doing other volunteer work. When in Mazatlan during the winter months I do what I can to help with the various outreaches of the Vineyard Church and my prayer is that the Lord will direct my life in the way that I should go and that I might be used of Him for the years He gives me.