Mary Carver

There is praise in my heart for all the Lord has done for me. I thank the Lord for a Christian father. My father was saved when I was four years old. I remember many times in his testimony he told how he ran away from God in his youth, came out to this western country and ended up in the northern part of California on a dry-land homestead. The Lord caught up with him. It seemed nothing went right on that homestead; his crops didn't grow and he had to work away from home.

While he was clearing off that land he was bitten by a wildcat that was rabid and he was taken to a hospital. They couldn't rush him very fast; it took a long time to get him there. He hovered between life and death and he wasn't saved. He awoke to the fact that although he almost died, he never even had conviction on his heart. After that he began to pray that the Lord would talk to him again and that he would feel the Spirit of God.

On that homestead, in a little schoolhouse not very far from our house, a man came through the area to preach the Gospel and my dad was saved. As much as he had run away from God before he was saved, he was just that strong for the Lord after he was saved.

I was brought up around the Word of God in our home. We had family prayer before breakfast every morning; I still remember the beautiful little altars we made around our mother's knee, how my parents would pray for us children, and how the Lord would talk to our hearts.

I have sung the Gospel songs since I was a very little child. I am thankful for a Christian mother and dad who taught us the way of salvation and who planted the love of God in our hearts. I thank the Lord for these memories, but, more than that, I thank Him that I ever bowed my stubborn knees at the altar of prayer and asked the Lord to come into my heart.

I was washed in His precious Blood, and I knew my sins were forgiven; it was really wonderful.

We children had been shielded from the sins of this world, but as I grew older, I thought I wanted to try out the world, and I would do things that I knew were wrong. The Lord condemned me for every sin I ever committed, until one day I surrendered my stubborn young heart and asked Him to come in and save me. At an altar of prayer He wonderfully saved my soul. I could never tell you the change He made in my heart. Such a peace came into my soul. I was washed in His precious Blood, and I knew my sins were forgiven; it was really wonderful.

The Lord took the stubbornness out of my young heart and gave me a heart that wanted to serve Him. It has been many years ago, but the Lord has been so good to me and has answered my prayers, and led and guided my life. I went on and sought the Lord for my deeper experiences and how the Lord blessed!

While we were bringing up our family, the Lord would come down and answer prayers so many times in our home when our children were ill. I remember when our little girl was five years old and how seriously ill she was. Because she had such a high fever that would come and go, we thought it might be rheumatic fever or perhaps it was polio. As we trusted the Lord and laid her on the altar, the Lord came down one Saturday night and touched her and healed her completely. The Lord gave her strength, and she was hungry the next day. That summer, we were back East to see my husband's folks, and she was well the whole vacation. The Lord has added health to her body, and I just thank Him that we can trust the Lord in these things.

He has answered prayer so many times and in so many ways in our home. I thank Him for the times He has healed our bodies. I was so sick a few years ago, terribly ill, and I just put my life in the Lord's hands. I didn't know which way it would go, but after about two weeks of this illness the Lord touched me. I was not completely healed, but about a week later I could turn over in my bed and the terrible pain in my side was gone.

There was such rejoicing in my heart. The Lord healed me completely. I never had a bit of trouble with that thing from that day to this, and the Lord has given me very good health ever since. I thank Him today for His many blessings and for all He has done for me. I love Him with all my heart.