In my personal dealings with Father, God manifested himself and showed
himself mighty in caring for me. Once as we were going to meeting, the team
became frightened and hard to hold and I became so frightened that I had a
spasm after we got to meeting. Father was ashamed because I had had a spasm
in public. He seemed to think he was disgraced, and concluded that in the
future I should stay at home. I was now saved and sanctified and enjoyed
very much attending public services, so Mother and I prayed earnestly that
God would put it into Father's heart to let me attend meetings again. Our
prayers were answered and I had no more difficulty until sometime
afterwards. At that time I had been to a meeting several miles from home
and had remained over night with some friends without asking permission. As
a punishment, Father again refused to allow me to go to church.
Again Mother and I sought the Lord with prayer and fasting, and the Lord
soon showed me that we had gained the victory. We felt impressed, however,
to spend another day in fasting and prayer. Although Father did not know
that we were praying, he came to me and said, "Mary, you can go to
meeting"; and from that time he never kept me at home from services.
Father owned the farm on which we lived in Pettis County, Missouri. It
contained 244 acres of fairly good land and was sufficiently stocked.
Although, in a financial way, father was doing as well as his neighbors, he
had for a number of years been growing discontented. These periods of
discontentment seemed especially to trouble him in the spring before farm
work began. At such times he wanted to mortgage his farmland and to move
out of the country.
Every spring for a number of years, Mother and I would get on our knees and
pray earnestly to God that he would overrule Father's roving disposition
and make him content to stay at home. Again and again the dear Lord was
gracious and answered our petition. Things would go on well for a while,
but with the coming of the next spring, we would again have the same
experience.
One spring when we took to our knees as usual to pray in behalf of Father,
the Lord gave me to understand that our petition would not be answered,
that Father would have his own way. This seemed almost unbearable, and I
cried and prayed for Father until I almost lost my voice. God answered my
petition with this suggestion: "If nothing else but to go among strangers
and have a hard time will bring your father to the Lord are you willing
that he should go?" I answered, "Lord, from this standpoint, but from no
other." From that time the burden left me. Father went, and the Lord said
to me, "Now you have no excuse for not going into gospel work." Father had
been unwilling for me to go, and with his going my last excuse was removed.
Father went first to Oregon, but some years later came back as far as
Wymore, Nebraska, where he bought property and settled. A few years later
he came and stayed with us at home for one winter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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