A Complete Change
This first miracle in my life changed me completely, as you can well understand. I had a desire to live with my parents again to support my sister. My father thought differently. He felt he would like to move out of the city where people knew him well. He was ashamed of my previously questionable reputation. It took a while before they found a suitable home in a small village.
Now I needed a job. Not too far from our new home was an ammunitions depot from the Ministry of Defence. I read in the paper that a secretary was needed.
I applied for the job, but after my medical examination, I was turned down. My lungs did not appear to be healthy. According to the x-ray, I had dark spots on my lungs, and the doctor thought that I must have suffered from pleurisy at one time. I told him I had never been sick with anything like that, but that I had been a very heavy smoker. It didn't matter; I did not get the job.
I visited a lady preacher, and told her how much I needed that job, and what the x-ray had shown. I said, "If the Lord can heal my mentally sick sister, He could heal my lungs and make them clear." So, I asked her to pray for me, but she did not think it was needed. "You show faith by making that statement, so the Lord will do according to your faith," she replied. And He did.
Another Miracle
I reapplied, knowing that not too many people would be seeking a job in such an isolated area. Once again I underwent the medical examination with the same doctor. He asked me, "Haven't I seen you here before?""Yes," I smiled, knowing that this time he would see something different on the x-ray. After a while he came out of the dark room with a large piece of glass (old fashioned x-ray) with the picture of my lungs.
With bewilderment in his eyes, he walked up to me and said, "Weren't you recently rejected? Wasn't there something wrong with your lungs?"
"Yes," I replied, "But something has happened." Again he went into the dark room and came back with another x-ray from my first exam. "I don't understand this at all," he went on, "The same person and two different x-rays within a couple of weeks." He looked at me for explanation. "I know," I said, "It is hard to explain, but my lungs have been healed by the Lord."
Of course, that explanation was not good enough for a doctor. "The Lord? Who is the Lord?" he replied. This gave me an opportunity to give my personal testimony, and -- I got the job. The doctor was never the same again!
So, I went to live with my parents, had a job and supported my oldest sister, both emotionally and spiritually. It was not always easy, but the Lord was good, and all things were working together for my good.
Whenever friends and family came to visit my parents' house, I had to clear the downstairs of anything that revealed my presence. My life had changed and I had accepted Jesus as my Savior, but my parents could not fathom any of it. I was too fanatical for their liking.
Unwanted
One afternoon someone drove up the driveway to visit us unexpectedly. I had to go out the back door and wait until the visitors were in the living room, then sneak down the hall and upstairs to my bedroom. My father did not want anyone to know that I was living with them. I often cried and felt unwanted, but I knew the Lord was in charge of my life. He was on my side and working on my behalf.
One evening the minister and an elder from the church came to visit. They had heard about my sister's healing. The minister said to me, "So, you think that God is just like a light switch? You push the button and the light goes on?"
"Well," I replied, "You sing Psalm 81, verse 7 in church, 'Thou called in time of trouble and I delivered thee,' and verse 10, 'Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it. Ask and thou shall receive.' That is what the Scriptures says, not me." Then I asked my sister Maria if she would tell the minister what had happened. Maria stood up and said, "I cannot explain what happened to me, but I know that Jesus Christ has healed me." I was sent upstairs because my father thought I had responded inappropriately.
I had met the Savior and nothing was going to come between us. The joy of the Lord was far greater than any suffering I faced. Within a year I met a young Christian man and we were married two months later.
Irresponsible? Not knowing each other.
Humanly speaking - yes. But God was in control of my life. And this exciting story is another story!
The Lord knew us, and by now we have been married for many years. I learned that God does not make mistakes! The Lord gave us four children and we immigrated to Canada in 1966.
This is only part of my testimony, and I have just touched the tip of the iceberg. God is unlimited and He will manifest Himself in our lives, if we let Him.
To Him be the Glory, great things He has done.
Dr. Trudy Veerman is a Licensed Clinical Christian Therapist. You can visit her Web site at A Christian Counselor.
