Jean Anderson

I am thankful for the Gospel, and thankful for a mother and father who took me to Sunday school and church from the time I was a young child growing up in Canada. I loved to go to church, and I called myself a Christian from the age of twelve, but somehow I never heard that I had to be born again.

As I grew older, I thought I had to try the pleasures of the world. I went into training to be a nurse knowing nothing of the deeper sins of life, but when the other girls came home telling about the good times they were having at the cocktail parties, theaters, and dance halls, I thought I was missing something. I determined that when I finished school, I would find out what it was all about. I did, and I found nothing but heartache, remorse, and sorrow.

I had corresponded with a Japanese girl since high school, and felt that I wanted to go to Japan to be a medical missionary. I went to the minister of our church and he began to make preparation for my training. I started looking at my life, though. I knew I would have to give up certain things like the cocktail parties, rouge, and lipstick. I didn’t think I could do it. I told the minister I wasn’t going, and from that moment, I headed deeper into sin. Finally, my father told me I had to leave home. I came to the United States. When I look back, I can see that the hand of the Lord was in it.

I married, and our home was in turmoil. One night while walking down the streets of Los Angeles with my husband, who was in a drunken stupor, and my little child, I came to the very end of myself. My husband had tried twice to take my life, and I was afraid he would try again. I didn’t know which way to turn. I thank God that I looked up and saw a light in the Apostolic Faith Church. I grabbed my little girl in my arms and ran up those steps for shelter. I went for shelter, but I found more than shelter – I found God.

When I became honest, God showed me that it wasn’t just the other person who needed help; He showed me my sin. When I saw it, I was only too willing to kneel at the altar and ask forgiveness. When I turned my back on everything the world had to offer, God made a change in my heart. He took the burden of sin away.

God has sanctified me, and baptized me with the Holy Ghost. I find it good to serve Him. When I was leaving Los Angeles for the Portland camp meeting, a woman said to me, “Now don’t convert too many souls.” I told her that was my very purpose. God has given me a vision of what it means to run this Christian race. When I stand before Jesus I don’t want to stand empty-handed. There is a determination in my heart to serve God, to be what He would have me to be, and do what He would have me do.

One day, I received word from Canada saying my brother had been stricken with polio and was in an iron lung. For a fraction of a second I thought, ‘Why, God?’ He reminded me that I had asked Him to save my brother no matter the cost. My brother prayed in the iron lung and was saved. I thank God for His love and mercy, and for the joy and peace He has placed in my heart.