When my wife, Debbie, and I visited Romania in 2006, it was as if we had stepped back in time. Though Communism had collapsed there with Ceausescu’s overthrow in 1989, the impact of that oppressive government system remained evident. It seemed time had stood still; the homes and farms we visited felt and looked like where I spent my childhood in the 1950s and 1960s.

Our visit to one family’s home especially stands out. We walked past cows, chickens, and sheep to get to the door of their well-kept, but very modest home. In fact, the room where we visited and ate that afternoon also served as sleeping quarters at night for some of that family of six. The smell of livestock and hay reminded me of the Roseburg, Oregon, farm where I grew up. The bountiful meal our gracious Romanian hosts served was prepared from their home-grown garden and farm-raised livestock, though the food was different from the food I grew up eating. They served sarmale (cabbage rolls), schnitzel, ciorba de perisoare (meatball soup), mamaliga (cornmeal), salata de vinete (eggplant dip) and placinta cu branza dulce (sweet cheese roll), plus other dishes that I also didn’t recognize. To top it off, there were prejituri (desserts) aplenty! They brought out plate after plate, and it was only right to taste some of each.

We also took notice of their simple faith and devotion to God. After dessert, the four children treated us to vocal renditions, violin playing, and poems and Scriptures recited by memory. Since music was important to their mother (who was a professional singer before the Lord saved her), it was an essential part of family life that now was done for the glory of God. Those children have benefited from the faith of their parents.

Rodica Musgrave (read her testimony) shares how she similarly benefited from the faith of her parents and grandparents during her Romanian upbringing. Would anyone expect that a failure to learn to read would benefit someone else? Yet, the fact that Rodica’s grandmother never learned to read is what caused her to ask Rodica to read the Bible aloud to her. And that resulted in God’s Word being planted in her granddaughter’s heart. Rodica and her husband, John, have passed along the same steadfast faith to their own children.

The importance of a steady faith in God transcends time, as well as changes in countries and cultures. We pray that the sermons and testimonies of this issue of Higher Way will inspire you to be always settled in the Lord.