Glovenia Montgomery

When I look back over my life I didn’t have the privilege of being reared in a Christian home. I had a good mother who was an old fashioned Quaker and knew the love of God as a child; but when she married my father she let the love of God leak out of her heart. There were two of us born into that home and it was an unhappy home that was broken up when I was just a small child.

Such bitterness and hatred filled my life, and for years I tried to drown it out in the things of the world. I loved the dance halls and the theatre; and as far as the world goes, I had a good time. But there was always something in my heart that was never satisfied. I had never been told about Jesus. Many a night after a dance or after a party I would go home and cry myself to sleep, and wonder why I didn’t have the good time the other young people seemed to be having around me.

Many a night, going down Broadway Street here in Portland, Oregon, I would read a sign on the top of the church headquarters building, “JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.” I didn’t know what “Jesus the Light of the World” meant. But God showed such faithfulness to my soul! My husband came home from his place of employment one evening with an invitation to go to church. When he promised someone, his word was good. I didn’t want to go, but he made me go and I was angry. In that condition the Lord talked to my heart. I was a grown woman, had a home of my own, but it seemed as if I could never keep that home together.

I shall never forget that night as we sat in the service at Sixth and Burnside. I knew from the very first service I sat in, that it was what my heart needed, what I needed, and what I had never found in the so-called pleasures of the world. It was the darkest hour of my life. One Sunday night after God’s spirit had striven with my heart for months, I met God’s conditions. I’m glad I knelt at the altar of prayer and asked Jesus to give me what these people told me about—that peace, joy and happiness. I wasn’t disappointed that night for the Lord came into my heart and rolled away that burden of sin away and He saved my soul. He took out the bitterness and hatred that had me bound. I was told about sanctification, the second, definite work of grace. That was just what I needed. I prayed and consecrated deeper, and He gave it to me. On Christmas Eve, I knelt at another spot at this altar, and there the Lord filled me with the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. These experiences are so real to me. For years I didn’t even know what Christmas meant, but now I know.

For years I didn’t even know what Christmas meant, but now I know.

I sought to find my father. I knew he wasn’t happy, and that if he could find what I had found what I had found, then he would be happy too. A 28 years the Lord helped me to locate him. I wondered if I would ever feel that he was a father to me. I have a Father in Heaven, because these people of God told me the story of Jesus and His love. In turn, I could tell my father the story and pray for him.

My mother prayed on her deathbed too. Mother is in Heaven tonight because I was told the story of Jesus, and I’m happy I have the opportunity of telling the story of Jesus to others.

The Lord has done a wonderful healing in my body. I didn’t go to the physician to find out what was wrong, but I knew it was something serious. I wasn’t able to go to choir practice, and one of the choir members asked the ministers to pray for me. The very moment they were praying for me God came down and touched my body and I have much to thank Him for.

When I came into this Gospel I wasn’t even able to do my housework—I was in bed most of the time. One day the founder of this Gospel asked if I would like to work in the correspondence office. I’m so thankful I started in the office after not being able to sit up for days, weeks, and months. But the very first day I went to the office I was up all day long and began gaining strength. There are days I have wonderful strength and health. I thank God for His goodness to me.

It hasn’t been just a few months or a few weeks ago, but it has been 34 years ago this month since the Lord came into our home and gave us a happy Christian home—gave us something to live for.

It hasn’t always been flowery beds of roses or ease. There have been some hard places, but I’m so thankful for every one of them, and for what the Lord put in my heart through them. The Lord has helped me through every trial and test, and He will help you also. There is a determination in my heart as never before to see the end of this Christian race. I, too, have a desire to see precious souls saved through the Blood of Jesus.