Rose Haggerty

I have heard so many people say that they were reared in a Christian home. My story is different. My father was a wonderful man, and my mother was a nurse in a hospital where there was prayer three times a day, but we got away from religion.

When I first became a Christian, my father said that he would only believe it if an angel from Heaven came down and said it. Then the day came when he said, “If I could be a Christian, I would choose my daughter’s religion.”

When I came from the East, I was about eighteen years old. I asked God to lead me to His people. My teacher had told me the story of salvation and I wanted to know more about it. God led me to some people from the Apostolic Faith, and they asked me to go to church with them. They told me I could be saved. I didn’t know how God could ever become real to me, but I wanted Him, and when I prayed He did become real to me. It was a glorious thing to know I could be near to God.

When they told me about sanctification, it was a joyous night—to know that I could draw even nearer to God in consecrating my life to Him. When they told me of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, I wanted that. I had never heard of anyone getting the baptism. I thank God for it. When I heard my voice praising Him, it was like another voice from Heaven singing the praises of the Lord. It was like an instrument—an instrument of my heart. It wasn’t me. I knew it was from God.

There is a song that says, “How do I know it? I know it because He is in my heart.” I know it is God that is in my heart. I praise Him for making Himself real to me.