I was raised in a fundamental Christian family and at a young age I realized that the Lord had a purpose for me. Of course, I did not have any idea what that was. I only knew that I loved the Lord and wanted more than anything else to be close to Him. I received the Lord and was baptized at the age of nine; and with my family, I pursued the Lord to the best of my knowledge.

My father was the head of our household and was a man who truly loved the Lord. Because he was a successful business man, he was often called upon to donate certain items to those in need. He never minded giving what was needed, but he resented to the uttermost that the next Lord’s day the preacher would tell everyone in the congregation about this gift. He read the Bible, and he knew the verses in Matt. 6:3-4, “But you, when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you”. He gave because there was a need and not because he wanted anyone to pat him on the back. This practice eventually caused him to decide that he would no longer meet with this place, and for many years he has not met with anyone. He felt that his walk with the Lord must be something very personal, just between God and him, and not in a denomination. So, this was my example as I grew up. I knew how much my parents loved the Lord, but they would not be influenced by the practice of denominations.

When I reached high school and got my driver’s license, I began to go back to that place because I still felt a deep stirring in my being for the Lord; and I knew of nowhere else to go. My parents supported me in this decision but did not return with me. As a junior in high school I met the young man that I would later marry and began to go with him to his denomination. There they taught that only they were saved and everyone else was doomed to hell. I knew in my being that this was not correct, but as I searched for the Lord’s purpose, I joined that place and was re-baptized. Eventually during college we married and continued to meet in that place, but I never agreed that everyone but us was doomed to hell. My husband went on to medical school and during this time our walk with the Lord was tested a great deal. After he graduated, we came back to Arlington and again met with this same place. Because we both loved the Lord so much and wanted to go on with Him, we gave ourselves fully to this place and tried to find out what our purpose in the Lord was. At one point while my husband was in college and medical school we thought that in order to really give ourselves to the Lord we would plan to be medical missionaries. We just wanted to be in the Lord’s will for our lives.

While my husband was beginning his medical practice, my sister-in-law gave me a book and asked me to read it. It spoke of things regarding the Holy Spirit that I had never even heard of. After reading that book, I went to the Lord in prayer and begged Him to give me this manifestation of the Spirit and told Him, if He was doing something on this earth, I wanted to be a part of it or I would just give up my search for His purpose. Within the next few months I experienced this manifestation of the Spirit. Shortly, afterwards, the Lord brought me to the church in Dallas; and through the opening up of the Bible through the ministry of Witness Lee I finally found out that not only did the Lord have a purpose for my life He had an eternal purpose for man. Wow!

During the last twenty-three years I have been helped by the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee to love the Lord, to touch my human spirit that is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and to “pursue, if even I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12). I was indeed greatly privileged for more than twenty years to actually sit under the ministry of Witness Lee and to see a man who only cared for Christ and His eternal purpose without any care for himself. He was a man after God’s heart!

S.R.

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