Nina Paulson

I have peace and joy and blessing in the service of the King. In 1913, almost sixty years ago, a neighbor told my mother that some people from the Apostolic Faith Church were coming to Seattle, Washington, to hold evangelistic meetings. My mother went with her to the first meeting, and when she came home, she was different. God had saved her.

I hadn’t known what it meant to be a real Christian before that, although my mother had done her very best to rear me right. I grew up in a good home, listening to Bible stories and learning to pray at Mother’s knee.  I had gone to church and Sunday school for as far back as I could remember. However, Mother had not known what it meant to be saved. I believe God looked down into our hearts and saw the desire to do right.

I went to the meetings and heard the testimonies. They told that God could make a real change in one’s heart. They said a person could live above sin after being saved. I did not know before that time that I was a sinner. I had tried to live morally all my life. However, I had never had a change of heart.

As I sat in the services, God convicted me. He showed me that I would have to repent or be lost. I am glad that I did not turn the Story down when I heard it. One afternoon, I made my way to the altar and asked God to be merciful to me a sinner. I was only fifteen years of age and had not committed many outward sins, but the change in my life was as real as if I had been in the depths of sin. The sinful things of the world dropped off and I found it very good to serve God.

I went to work in an office a few years later as a bookkeeper in the City of Seattle. I worked with many people my age, and found I could live a Christian life among them every day.

I married, had a little family, and trusted the Lord for the healing of my three children. I never gave them a drop of medicine. Our oldest daughter had polio and it left her with crossed eyes. Then, some of the Apostolic Faith workers stayed overnight in our home. Before our little girl was put to bed that night, the ministers prayed for her. When she got up the next morning and came to the breakfast table, her eyes were as straight as before the illness had struck her.

I have proved the Lord in many places and He has never failed me. Just this morning, I was suffering and I told the Lord, “I need help!” I knelt at my bedside and He touched me instantly.

I am glad I found God, who hears and answers prayer. He has proved to be faithful and true in my life. I praise Him with all my heart, and I love Him more than anything in the world. It has meant so much to me to be able to give Him my life all these years.