GLORIA'S STORY

II Timothy 1:7
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

I grew up in a Christian home and have gone to church as long as I can remember. At the age of 7, my parents took me with them to hear Billy Graham in Portland, Oregon. I can still remember the smell of sawdust on the floor and sitting under a big tent to hear him in one of his first revivals. He said that each person had to make a decision whether to accept the gift of salvation or not. That we cannot get to heaven on our parents beliefs but have to make a personal decision about which way we will go. I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to walk up that aisle and I did that, even through at that young age I did not fully understand what it would mean to me in my life as I grew up.

From that moment on, I knew that I would never be alone in my life. There have been many times when I needed God and knew that He was there for me.

After I was married, my husband was drafted into the Army. We had only been married five months.

I knew that I would have to live alone and that there was a possibility that my husband might not come back from service in the Army.

I was reading my Bible and discovered the verse in II Tim. 1:7. Every day when I drove to work from our little rental house out in the country, I would start to feel fearful and would recite that verse out loud in the car. It helped me so much. I have needed that verse at many other times in my life when I would feel panic or anxiety about something.

When our son was injured in a motorcycle accident as a teen and we sat in the waiting room of ICU, I remember how that verse came back to me and I would find peace in the promise of God.

Then, when I was going through hospitaliation myself with several surgeries, that verse would come to me. I know that God was with me in those times.

Recently, I have been going through some trials with my mother who is almost 96. She has been in a nursing home for almost two years and even though her mind is still quite good, she had begun to doubt her faith and whether God even hears her prayers anymore. She feels abandoned by God because she wanted to go "home" to be with the Lord but for some reason, He has not taken her from her helpless body.

I just realized that perhaps I was asked to write this because I needed to be reminded of the verse that has helped me for over 40 years. I am going to share that verse with my mother today. I pray that it will help her.

There is another verse that has helped me so much in my life. There have been a lot of heartbreaks in my family, as there is in most families. As I paged through my favorite Bible today, I found a notation by this verse and will share it with my mother, too.

This is the part that really spoke to me today.
Psalm 34:18-19, "The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking: The good man (or woman) does not escape all troubles - but the Lord helps him in each and every one."