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Into My Father’s Arms

Henry will be off again during New Year’s to be with us. But in the
meantime, he must return to work.
Now the children are saying, “But Daddy, I wish you can be home
with us.”
He explains to them again why he has to work.
And they seem satisfied with his answer.
So once Henry’s left, I begin to clean house. I straighten our
bedroom and replace his reading books on the proper shelf. While
doing this, I spot the Scofield Reference bible that we’d purchased in
Phoenix, NY, before Davis was born.
And for some reason. I’m drawn to open it. I don’t even know what
I’m looking for. But I flip through the pages before stopping in the book
of John. “In the beginning was the Word,” I read aloud, “and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God.” Although I’d never been taught
to read, I’m captivated with each word. So the fact that I can’t even
open a daily newspaper and put its words together doesn’t cross my
mind at this moment.
Chapter 1, verse three, tells me that all things were made by Him.
I swallow hard because I’m being given the answer to the burning
question I often had in mind as a young girl. Often when I would study
my surroundings, I instinctively felt that there must be a God who
created all this great stuff.
So here in this Bible, in the book of John, the first chapter tells me
that it’s so.
I couldn’t be more thrilled. Then I finally lay the book down to
return to my cleaning. But I’m so amazed by my discovery that I go
back to read the same passages several times throughout the day. I keep
remembering all the things I thought about as a child. Now the answers
are right in front of me in God’s Word. “All things were made by
Him,” I repeat. I’m so happy but choose not to speak with Henry about
it for the time being.
He knows I can’t read and might figure I’m hallucinating or
something.
>
It’s the second day after Christmas, and Henry arrived home,
complaining about coming down with a cold.
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I told him to take it easy. So here we all are, sitting around in the
living room.
Henry’s reading in one chair while I’m crocheting on the couch.
I’m also listening to the children and watching them play.
Davis says that he’ll fly his airplane tomorrow, Linda wants to paint
with her watercolors, and Evangeline will make something for her doll.
They’re such cute kids and good company for me while Henry
works. I’m so glad that they’re here with us and quite healthy.
Davis’ feet are paddling away while he rides about the room aboard
his toy truck. But now that he’s noticed something loose, he says,
“Daddy, I got to use your schoosclapper. I’m gonna get it, okay?”
Henry just laughs. “All right, Son, you can use my screwdriver.”
I smile, and the words I’ve read in the Bible’s New Testament return
to mind. So I quietly retrieve the book. I’m curious to know what else is
written inside and decide to go to the beginning of the Bible. I see on
the first page of the book of Genesis that it tells of how God created the
world.
The way that He had formed it is exciting to me. I’m reading that
He set the stars in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the
earth. He also made trees, every creeping thing, birds, and all the fishes
in the ocean. It’s amazing that He just commanded all those things to
come into being, I think. It confirms my many thoughts when I was
small.
God had made everything we’re surrounded by down here.
Everything we see when we look up to the heavenly skies, too.
It’s thrilling to see this in writing because I never knew it for sure
when I was a little girl. Those thoughts were often in my mind, but I
didn’t know what it all meant. So I’m thanking God that He’s opened
my eyes to read this and learn the answers to my questions.
I crave to know more and guide my finger further along the page.
Now I discover that He had made man. He formed him from the dust of
the earth.
So that’s how we all came to be! I think, I had no proper education
and can’t read as other people do. So I’m so blessed to look at His
word and be able to read and understand what it says.
I’m sure that God is helping me by teaching me to read His word.
There’s no other explanation for this. So I can only thank Him for His
wonderful help to me.
I now think about the time I first came to the United States.
My husband’s family had taken me to church with them. And it was
there that I heard the whole story of Christmas. We also went to see a
play about Jesus Christ’s birth.
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I enjoyed those programs but didn’t grasp much then and there. The
messages didn’t touch my heart the way they should have. Then during
Henry’s college days, we attended church from time to time. But most
of the sermons weren’t strong enough for me to be able to understand.
Of course, there were words spoken here and there that I recognized, but
that was about all.
I always wondered about God ever since I lived in the Philippines.
And since Henry was raised in the Baptist faith, I didn’t want to remain
in the Catholic Church without him. So I thought that by joining the
church of my husband’s choosing might be better for my children. This
way we could all attend together.
Besides, the masses I’d been to in the past had been spoken in Latin.
So since I didn’t know the language, I wasn’t being spiritually fed. I
longed to know more about God. And deep within, I believed that there
had to be some other way to get close to our Heavenly Father.
Otherwise, why would I have sensed the strength of His presence?
>
Today is Wednesday, December 28, 1955.
Henry is staying home from work because that virus is making him
miserable.
So as I clean house, I have the urge to read the bible again. “Play
here beside me, Davis, while I read the book.” And today in John,
Chapter 10, I read that Jesus is speaking of the door.
He’s saying that He’s the door and if anybody comes in any other
way, they’d be just like the thief. And He’s speaking about being a good
shepherd that lays down His life for His sheep. He says that He has
other sheep who are not in the fold but that He must bring them in, that
they’ll hear His voice.
I read aloud, “but ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I
said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father,
who gave them to me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father’s hand.”
“I’m hungry,” whispers Davis.
I stop reading to feed him lunch but hope to get back at it soon.
Then tonight after supper, Henry tells me he’s not well enough to
take the family to the weekly prayer meeting at church. “But if you still
want to go, you can try and find a ride with somebody else. I can keep
the children here with me.”
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So I telephone a church deacon and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Snitchler.
After speaking with them, they say they’re happy to pick me up.
Once we’re seated at church, Pastor Ellis preaches his message from
the book of John, Chapter 14. He reads to us, “Let not your heart be
troubled; ye believe in God, also believe in me. In my Father’s house
are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may
be also. And where I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not where thou goest; and
how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the
truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (New
Scofield Reference Edition). Then the moment Pastor Ellis finishes
reading those verses to the people, I leap to my feet and rush to where
he’s standing below the pulpit.
He appears startled and says, “Yes may I help you?”
I repeat what he read in that last verse and tell him, “I want to accept
God--I want to accept Jesus in my heart!”
So he immediately requests that a deacon take over to complete the
sermon for him. Then he and his wife lead me aside to one corner.
They begin asking me questions. “What in particular touched your
heart?”
“Well, earlier today, I was reading John, Chapter 10. But I only got
as far as verse 29. I was reading about Jesus saying that He is the door,
the shepherd, and so on. I didn’t get to read the whole chapter. And
now tonight you read another chapter where He says that He’s the way,
the truth, and the life and that no man can come to the Father but by
Him.
So I know I can’t come any way, other than to accept Jesus into my
heart. In the past, I only became a member of my husband’s family
church because I didn’t want to confuse my children. I didn’t want us to
be going from one church to another. But at the time, I had not
accepted Jesus. I just joined for the sake of my children.
Now tonight, I want to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior!”
They both express their amazement at how I was able to grasp all I
had. So they bow their heads and lead me in prayer for me to ask Jesus
to come into my heart.
Afterwards, I tell them that I wasn’t educated the way most other
people are. “I don’t know how to read. But I asked God to help me, and
He’s been helping me to read His word.” I go on to say that when we
first arrived here in Binghamton, we went to another church. But
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we weren’t accepted there. Then we came to this church with everyone
so loving.
“You each took us into your arms as though we’re one big family.
And it was such an encouragement to us, newcomers to this community.
I’m thankful for that. So many strangers here in America have been
friendly. And I know that some people are not kind, but that’s to be
expected. I’ve seen and experienced that, too, in my own country.
But I’m grateful to God for all the people that we know that have
prayed for me and my family. Their embrace of love in the Lord is so
wonderful.”
Now I tell Pastor Ellis that I surely want to be able to read God’s
word and to know more about His plan in my life.
So they finish counseling me and instruct me on what to read. “You
started reading in the right place,” states Pastor Ellis, “because it’s
exactly where I would have told you to begin. Then after you finish
reading the book of John, you can go on to read the entire New
Testament. From there, the book of Psalms is helpful, as is the book of
Proverbs, too.”
Now everybody in the congregation breaks into separate groups to
pray.
Each and everyone is praying for me and thanking God for bringing
me into His fold. They’re all so happy for me and can’t give enough
credit to the Lord for what He did tonight in their midst.
I can’t stop thanking God, too, for letting me realize that without
accepting the Lord Jesus, I wouldn’t be in the fold. Without taking Him
into my life, I’d still be outside. I’m also thankful for the Holy Spirit
that moved in my heart to urge me to go up and stand with the Pastor.
Now I’m truly blessed to know that I’m saved and destined for
heaven. I can say, too, that I finally see the pattern, which God used to
raise me and bring me to the United States. It was so that I could hear
His word to read and understand his plan for my life. Little did I realize
that when I met my husband, way back in the Philippines, it was also
part of God’s Divine course.
I couldn’t see it then, but I do now. Yes, at the time, I wasn’t eager
to be deeply involved with Henry, but we did eventually marry. I took
this man into my life without realizing that God created him specifically
for me. And though it may not seem right in some other people’s minds
that I married someone of a different race, I can see why it was meant to
come about. Henry was the vessel used by God to bring me to America
to hear His word. And by eventually reading the good book, the Lord
was able to touch my heart to let me know that I need Him as the Savior
of my life.
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I can’t thank Him enough, too, for each person who played a part in
praying for me. I do know that there have been quite a few that were
interceding on behalf of my salvation.
The Lord has honestly been good to me. He’s blessed me thus far
with a good husband and three healthy children. He’s been guiding and
directing our every step.
So I owe my all to the glory of God.
He brought me into being. And my prayer now is for me to be able
to live for Him and share His love with others as long as I walk this
earth.
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