LUCILLE
It didn't take long to discover that the folk at Heritage Woods in Rockford were eager and excited about the new meetings to be held two Saturday nights a month! Thirty to forty people showed up weekly! Right away and through the months to come, people were saved and excited about learning more about God's Word. It was quite amazing to me. The fact that I was there was a story in itself. Someone told someone who told someone who told me that the person who had been holding church services there was no longer coming and that they were wishing for a replacement! So, I went and checked and within minutes, we were all set up!
Not too long after I began there, I stopped in at lunchtime just to go around to the tables and greet everyone. One of the ladies told me that she had left her purse in the cart at Walmart and she was distressed. She had gone back to look but to no avail. I told her I would go look. I checked outside and talked to the manager. The wallet was nowhere to be found. However, the whole thing led to me spending time with her in her room, discussing notifying her bank about the purse. During that conversation, I was able to ask her about her relationship with Christ. She told me that she believed all about Him, but she did not have what I had. After talking to her, sharing God's Word with her and answering her questions, she prayed to the Lord to tell Him that she just wasn't sure about being saved, and she declared her faith in Him. She hugged me with such joy! It is one of the best things about God...He wants us to KNOW that we are saved.
That was in April of 2010. Since that day she has not missed a meeting. She has brought other people with her and has a reputation of being a loving and caring person. When she told me about her son who is in a nursing home, she asked if I would go see him and talk to him about the Lord. Terry and I went not too long ago and had a good talk with him and after some questions, felt sure that he is truly saved. I suspect that his mother got to him first! There was one of our Bible verse cards hanging next to his bed, in a nice frame, with John 3:16 where he could see it!
Just this week I visited her in rehab where she is recovering from a broken hip. She is 90 now and this accident, I can see, is taking its toll on her. It will be 6 months until she can put weight on her foot and during that time she hopes to be back at her assisted living facility, taking care of herself.
As I knelt beside her bed, we talked about salvation and assurance and heaven. She told me that she wished so much that she would have become a Christian when she was young. Her religion had left her with a sour taste in her mouth. Now she was experiencing a walk with Jesus Christ. She asked me, "Would you pray a prayer that I can repeat after you just so that I am sure I am saved?" We talked about the truth of being a child of God after receiving Christ and being safe for eternity, but I did pray and she prayed after me. "I pray all the time that God will take me home," she told me. "This broken hip thing is very hard for me."
Watching the health of these folk decline has always been such a painful thing emotionally. There is nothing I can do to help them as it has to do with their physical health; but such comfort there is in knowing that when they breathe their last breath, those whose faith is in the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, will step into heaven with Him!
I hope she makes it. She's very tough! If not, I'll see her again soon.
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