My Testimony

The Lord Jesus has opened an opportunity for someone to build a website for me, so I wrote out my testimony to go on the site, and thought I would share it on my blog, as well:

Saturday, November 17, 2012

I was born and raised in Akron, Ohio (USA), the middle child of five, but the oldest of three girls. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at summer camp at Beulah Beach in Vermillion, Ohio, when I was a young child, possibly at the age of seven. I know as I sat on that hard bench seat in The Pavilion, and I listened to the speaker preaching about God’s saving grace, that my heart was heavy with my burden of sin. So, I got on my knees, poured out my heart to God in repentance and faith, and turned my life over to Jesus Christ to be his forever.

I was brought up in the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church, a solid evangelical church at that time with a strong emphasis on holy living and worldwide missions. When I was a teenager, I received permission from my parents to sit down at the front of the church auditorium where I could take in the sermon, with very little distraction. I drank in the word of God and wanted nothing more than to obey God fully in all things. I joined Youth for Christ, a Christian campus organization at my local school, and I became actively involved in that club. I was also very active in my youth group at church. Then, I got involved in Child Evangelism Fellowship and began teaching Backyard Bible Clubs for children.

I attended the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, from 1968 to 1972, with a major in Music Education, and with a concentration in voice. It was there that I met my husband in University Singers. In 1972 I married my husband Rick, who was also a student at Akron U. He joined my church, and we began to be involved in ministry together there. We both sang, so we sang in the choir and in ensembles. I also did solo work, and we, as well, frequently sang duets in church. We also helped organize a mixed quartet with some friends of ours. We called our group The God Squad. We sang together all over Akron. We are still friends today with the other two members of that group, we still remember the songs we used to sing together, and our voices still blend. Rick and I also became the youth leaders of the church, and some of those youth are still friends with us today (on Facebook).

Fast forwarding… In 1982 our family of six moved to the Southeastern United States, and that is where we have been ever since. Our four children grew up, got married, and had children of their own in the Southeast USA. All but one of them lives nearby. We have one son in the U.S. Army.

My husband and I have now been married forty years. Over the course of our forty years of marriage we have been involved together in various Christian ministries and in community volunteer work. The last ministry we were involved in together was a ministry God gave us to college-age adults in our community. [We have two colleges in our town.] We provided Bible study, prayer groups, music, recreation, meals, community outreach projects, and ministry opportunities for some two hundred (+) young adults over the course of the seven years we housed and facilitated this ministry, primarily out of our home. Then, one day the Lord closed the doors to that ministry, and he opened up another door of ministry for me.

In 2006, the Lord called me to write out what he teaches me each day through his word, and to post that on the internet. I do this nearly daily. Then, in April of 2011 the Lord gave me a new gift – the gift of writing simple songs of faith, of praise and worship to my Lord God, and of sharing the gospel (of salvation) of Jesus Christ. I home recorded the songs, and the Lord had me include them with many of my daily devotions. Then, this past September, the Lord led a music producer to contact me about coming to Nashville to professionally record some of my songs. The Lord said for me to “go to the regions beyond,” that he would “make a way where there seemed to be no way,” and that “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” So, my husband and I stepped out in faith, went to Nashville, and recorded the song For Our Nation.

Afterwards, the Lord led me to send the song to several radio stations. Two stations wrote back and said they would love to air the song. One of them also requested audio recordings of short devotionals. I had never done anything like that before, but the Lord gave me the words, and so we now have two recordings to date. Praise Jesus! The Lord also laid it on the heart of a friend of ours, and fellow musician, to help me get the rest of my songs recorded more professionally and with live instrumentation, so that is a work in process. As well, this website is a creation of a new friend who volunteered his services to help me get the gospel of Jesus Christ “to the regions beyond,” and this is also a work in process. To God be all the glory, honor and praise for all that is accomplished through this new work of HIS! Amen!

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.” ~ 2 Co. 2:14-17 NIV 1984

Last night, as I was praying through this new extension of the ministry to which the Lord Jesus has called me, the Lord Jesus spoke to me through the words of this old hymn:

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah / William Williams / John Hughes

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,

Pilgrim through this barren land.

I am weak, but Thou art mighty;

Hold me with Thy powerful hand.

Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,

Feed me till I want no more;

Feed me till I want no more.

Open now the crystal fountain,

Whence the healing stream doth flow;

Let the fire and cloudy pillar

Lead me all my journey through.

Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,

Be Thou still my Strength and Shield;

Be Thou still my Strength and Shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,

Bid my anxious fears subside;

Death of deaths, and hell’s destruction,

Land me safe on Canaan’s side.

Songs of praises, songs of praises,

I will ever give to Thee;

I will ever give to Thee. Amen.

My Lord encouraged my heart to proceed forward without fear, that he would guide my steps, that he would hold me, and that he would give me (feed me) all I need to do this new work to which he has called me.

“Songs of praises, I will ever give to THEE! Amen!”

Sue