Velma Garrison

My mother received papers from the Apostolic Faith Church when we lived in Kansas. When I was eleven years old, we moved to Portland, Oregon, so she could be with the Apostolic Faith people. During my early years, I loved the Lord with all my heart, but when I reached the mid-teens, the things of the world looked so glittery and bright that I had to go out and see for myself what was there.

I married a young man who had been brought up in this church, and we had two fine sons. We left God out of our lives, though. Oh, how sorry we are for that!

Through the years, day and night, I would hear God’s words ringing in my ears, “You are selling your soul so cheap! You are selling your soul so cheap!” Then Satan would say, “If you become a Christian, your husband will be ashamed of you. You will have a divided home.”

I was nearly forty years old when, one Sunday morning, I could bear the burden no longer. A childhood friend invited me to church and asked me to pray. It took many tears to pray through the mountain of sin that I had accumulated, but God heard my prayer and rolled away the burden of sin. He put such peace and happiness into my heart!

My husband did not look too happy that morning about my getting saved, but that evening he knelt beside me at the altar and the Lord saved him, too. Before we went to bed that night, we knelt beside our bed and prayed together for the first time in the twenty years that we had been married.

How good God was to us! The next day we made some changes in our home. Into the garbage went the liquor, playing cards, poker chips, and cigarettes. We brought out our Bibles and discovered that we had a Bible to replace each deck of cards.

Three times in ten years, I was told I had cancer.

Three nights later, as my husband and I knelt again at the altar, the Lord sanctified me—and about ten minutes later, my husband was sanctified. Six weeks after that, I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I never will forget those wonderful experiences.

My husband was happy on the job, singing and praying, but was so hungry for the baptism. One day he phoned from his work to tell me how earnestly he was praying. That night on his way home, he drove onto a side road and stopped the car. The Lord wonderfully baptized him right there in the car. He was an hour late coming home from work, and when he came in the house, I took one look at him and said, “You did not.” He said, “Yes, I did!” I had wanted to be there when he received it, but I was happy for him.

Shortly after, our teenage son was saved. What a blessing he has been to us through the years! Now he has a Christian home of his own, with a Christian wife and four lovely children who love the Lord also.

Three times in ten years, I was told I had cancer. God saw me through it and not for one day did I feel sorry for myself. “Three-time winner,” the doctors called me. “Very unusual,” another said to me. I told them that the Great Physician was on my side and that many Christian people were praying for me.

Just recently, a sorrow that we did not know could exist came our way—our elder son passed away suddenly. Our hearts were broken. How we appreciated the prayers that were prayed for us during that time! We felt we were resting on a blanket of prayer. The prayers could literally be felt. We surely appreciated the love shown to us in our time of bereavement.

The love of God and of His people is the greatest thing in all the world. We want to be faithful to the end of the Christian race.