On Eagles Wings

On Eagles Wings

by Grace Ryerson Roos

Copyright © 1966 by Grace Ryerson Roos Copyright © 1984 Meditation for Today Carl H. Roos, Editor

Published by A Glorious Church Fellowship, Inc. aka Billye Brim Ministries aka Prayer Mountain in the Ozarks P. O. Box 40 Branson, MO 65615 (417) 336-4877

Preface Grace Roos prophesied that 1983 would be her year of jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-13), her year of complete fulfillment in the Lord. Her total freedom, complete victory, restoration of all things, and going home to the Father’s house, occurred February 7, 1983, after more than fifty years of serving her Lord and fifty years of being a devoted wife and mother to her family. Doctors said Grace was legally blind. She declared the Lord would heal her eyes, and He supernaturally enabled her to type eighty words per minute, write four books and Meditations, read for hours, drive a car, and do her own work without the aid of eye glasses. To God be the glory great things He hath done. For some time, Grace seemed to be looking over to the other side and more so during her last few weeks with us. I knew she was going to leave us on February 7, and she knew that I knew. We had lunch together that day and a lovely time of communion. Later in the

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On Eagles Wings

afternoon, while sitting in her favorite chair in our living room, in the presence of six family members and three close friends, without pain or struggle of any kind, Grace departed to her Father’s house. Her Jubilee fulfilled at last! Isaiah 41:10 John 16:13 Galatians 2:20 Revelation 12:11 Carl Roos

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Chapter I

“Hey, Red, what’s the color of your hair?" taunted tormenting boys to and from school daily. Much to their delight, it always made me mad and I would seek to demolish them with explosive words. It was my father, chuckling over my difficulties, who taught me to retort cheerfully, “Sky-blue-pink, what do you think?” which nicely turned the tables, silencing my enemies. Besides the despised red hair, I was nearsighted, wore glasses, and was definitely on the chubby side of life. I was the first child born to my stalwart Norwegian father, Peter Ryerson, and my lovely Swedish mother, Ellen Pauline Johnson. Born June 5, 1910, in the city of Chicago, I was christened Grace Ranghild (Ronghild), a name with a distinct Scandinavian flavor. I had a rugged start in life. When a month old, a serious eye infection caused me to go temporarily blind. Everything was done to effect a cure, but to no avail. God who watched over me even then, heard my mother’s earnest 7

On Eagles Wings

cry and my left eye began to manifest signs of sight. The right eye healed slowly, leaving a film over most of the pupil limiting me completely to side vision of light only and that very hazy. But I could see! I had one unblemished eye. My father was a fine man, but he was twenty years older than my mother, and for causes that I still do not understand I stood in a court room at the age of five and heard their marriage dissolved in divorce. The court awarded my three-year-old brother, Raymond and I to our father and my mother went to live with her mother and stepfather. She came to visit us regularly, bringing us small tokens of her love. Then one day she came for her last visit. It was October, 1918, and the Spanish Influenza was taking lives by the thousands in a terrible epidemic. I was sick with old-fashioned grippe, and Raymond had pneumonia. She comforted us in our fever and distress. The next time I saw her was in a funeral home. She apparently had taken the Flu and 8

Chapter I quickly she was gone. My strong father wept over her pretty form, while my own tears could not begin to express my loss. I was not permitted to attend the funeral. I was still too weak from my bout with sickness to risk exposure to influenza. My father hired various women to keep our house and send Ray and I to school. I was always in trouble, it seemed. I was head strong and hot tempered, but I know now it was my way of working off my grief over the loss of my mother. Frequently, I would hide myself in the solitude of the attic and write letters to her; expressing my loneliness, particularly when I felt myself misunderstood or misjudged. Eventually, I outgrew the need of such letters and burned them. One afternoon I got into trouble with our housekeeper, a younger woman than most of them. Very much displeased with me, she said she would punish me. I managed to lock myself in the bathroom to gain enough time to figure my way out of it. I was sure I had done nothing to be punished for. I caught sight of the 9

On Eagles Wings

bathroom window. We lived on the first floor, and it was no problem to slip quietly out the window to the ground, after, of course, silently unlocking the bathroom door! Cautiously closing the window, I got away. I played with my friends out of sight of the house the rest of the afternoon. As time for Dad’s homecoming drew near, I kept a sharp lookout for him and flew to him as I saw him coming up the street. Breathlessly I told him about it, describing how I climbed out the window and was afraid to go home until he came. There was a twinkle in his eyes as he took me by the arm, and we walked into the house together. The housekeeper was indignant, but Dad treated the matter with so little concern, she was forced to drop it.

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Chapter II

Across the street from our home was a small nondenominational chapel where my brother and I attended Sunday School weekly. Here I was introduced to the “Word of God” and brought under the influence of godly teachers, who took a definite interest in me. I was about twelve years old when I stopped one night with some playmates to listen to a street meeting conducted by Moody Bible Institute students. My heart was stirred by their testimonies, songs, and with simple faith I gave my heart to the Lord Jesus, praying with a lady student. Two years later, I joined a cousin in attending a confirmation class at a Lutheran church. My pastor was an excellent Bible teacher who whetted my appetite for Bible study. Eventually we were confirmed and took our first communion. Later I graduated from a teacher’s training class offered by the church and was given a class of primary children to teach.

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In February, 1927, I graduated from High School. I was too young to work under Illinois law, so I enrolled in a business college and took a secretarial course. I did secretarial work for the next five years. By this time it was 1932 and the depression of that period was in full force. Businesses were failing, banks closing, and thousands were without jobs. My employer kept me as long as possible, but finally had to give up his suite of offices. I worked at a few odd jobs after that, but did not have any more permanent employment. The year before, June 1932, my fine father had passed away, just four days after my twenty-first birthday. At this crucial time, the Lord brought Carl Roos back into my life. Carl was a chemical engineer who had been Sunday School superintendent at a Baptist church when I met him three years before. We often held meetings together; he preached—and I played the piano and sang solos. We held these meetings in missions on “skid row” and in the shelters provided at the time for the homeless and 12

Chapter II jobless men in the area. Carl was not well. He had a double fracture of the skull at the base of the brain (which caused a brain tumor to grow), causing him much pain and sleepless nights. Besides the head injury, he had chronic colitis that was of long standing. He was getting physically unable to follow his profession, so he went to Texas seeking a change. God so dealt with him there about his call to the ministry, that in desperation he yielded and made the consecration. How he was going to preach in his physical condition he could not fathom. The night he was ordained to the ministry in Fort Worth, Texas, God rewarded his obedience. One man in the ordaining committee laid his hands on Carl, praying, “Lord, if there is anything in this man’s body to hinder You from using him, heal him of it!" Instantly an electrifying shock raced through Carl’s body from head to foot. Momentarily he fainted, blotting out all consciousness. Returning awareness, however, brought the exhilarating realization that his headache was 13

On Eagles Wings

gone! Never having experienced the healing power of God before, he could hardly believe what had happened. Driving home alone, he reveled in his clearness of mind. What satisfaction to be able to think without pushing aside heavy curtains of pain! A sudden thought chilled him, was this blessing just psychological? No, he quickly decided, only GOD could reach a brain tumor! But Carl need not have feared. Day after day the healing held. Sight, hearing and fluent speech returned. There were no more falls from failure of equilibrium, no more pain filled nights, no more exhaustion, no more blackouts! The past five years of suffering, like a nightmare, were ended and this was a new day. So, this was a renewed Carl who returned to Chicago looking for me. He wanted me to assist him in house-to-house visitation work in Delphia, Indiana, in conjunction with a local Baptist Church there. I had never done any visitation work and felt completely unqualified, but I had no job and nothing to hold me in Chicago, so I went with him. We stayed in the 14

Chapter II parsonage with the fine pastor and his family. Carl and I prayed together each morning before starting out, and how I clung to Isaiah 41:10, “Fear thou not for I am with thee; be not dismayed for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” I needed that “FEAR NOT, neither be dismayed,” because I WAS AFRAID, I WAS DISMAYED at the prospect of knocking on doors and talking to strangers about their souls. But God gave me grace, and I grew under the challenge and I learned to know Him better. Returning to Chicago after this personal adventure in faith, Carl and I were drawn closer together than ever. As I looked to the Lord for wisdom and His will in the matter, it became clearer by the day that Carl was God’s choice for me. This was a deep-down conviction that brought me a quiet peace and rest. We were married in the afternoon of September 3, 1932 at the bedside of Adina Frizen who had been bedfast for years, the very 15

On Eagles Wings

place where we first met. She was my only attendant. My brother stood with Carl. Kenneth Oglesby, a missionary to Ethiopia performed the simple ceremony, while his wife, Blanch, sang “In the Secret of His Presence.”

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Chapter III

Neither Carl nor my brother could find work anywhere. We had the income from the lower apartment (or flat), which bought our food for the month, but had difficulty paying gas and light bills. Somehow the Lord made a way for us. We continued preaching and singing in missions and relief shelters, sometimes walking long distances for lack of car fare. We were married a year when the Lord spoke to our hearts about leaving Chicago. Then God raised up an old school mate of Carl’s, Walter Jaekel of Detroit, Michigan, who gave us a two-door Model A Ford Sedan, together with a canvas-covered box trailer. We sold our furniture and started to Texas. We settled in Wimberley, Texas, holding regular services in the community church. May 18, 1934, was a red letter day. God gave us our firstborn, David Carl. David means “beloved” and he was all that and more to us. Leaving Wimberley after several months,

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On Eagles Wings

we moved on into evangelistic work, holding revivals in a number of places. One night in Utopia, Texas, a small town not much larger than a widening in the road, Carl became desperately ill while preaching. He clung to the pulpit and managed to close the service without alarming the congregation. I hurried to his side, knowing something was wrong. He was in deep pain ... felt like he was dying. Signaling a minister and his wife close by, we helped Carl out of the building and to a bench under an oak tree away from everybody. Quickly explaining that Carl was subject to colitis attacks caused from a double injury to his intestines, we prayed. My heart cried out for a complete deliverance, once and for all. I knew what these attacks cost my husband. God, our ever “present help in trouble,” heard the cries of His children, and suddenly Carl felt hands taking his intestines and rolling them up, forcing the blocked food into his stomach, where it was promptly thrown out. He was so weakened; he was in bed for four days. 18

Chapter III About a week later, stopping at a gas station, Carl walked around to my side of the car and said, “Pray for me, honey, I have intestinal pain again.” Something rose up in me, and I replied flatly and firmly, “Carl, God healed you and the devil is a liar. We claim that healing!” Carl walked away and that was the end of the colitis. Sometime later, we were invited to hold a meeting at Lakey, Texas, on the Frio River. As we packed our clothes and loaded the car and box trailer, I questioned anxiously, “But, Carl, what are we going to do? We can’t make the trip without gas, and we do not have the money to buy it!” Carl was undisturbed. He nodded his head in agreement, but stated firmly, “God is sending us forth, and He will somehow supply our need.” We drove to the only filling station in the little town. The owner came out and said, “Well Preacher, sorry to see you go. We have enjoyed knowing you... going to miss you!” Removing the cap from the gas tank, he 19

On Eagles Wings

added, “Guess you will need some gas,” and proceeded to fill it. I watched fearfully, especially since Carl made no effort to stop him. Praying inwardly with every anxious heartbeat, I pleaded with God to work it out. Methodically our friend checked the oil, the tires, etc...., all the time keeping a running conversation with Carl. Finished, he flipped his cleaning rag over his shoulder and smilingly said, “This is all on my brother and me.... We want a small part in what you will do over there.” Shaking hands and heartily slapping Carl on the back with warm friendliness, he waved us good-bye. Tears of grateful relief stood in my eyes. “Oh ye of little faith,” I accused myself. “And all my fears were for nothing.” Carl squeezed my hand, “Let’s believe God is going to do wonderful thing for us,” he urged. “Now we need to pray that we will not get lost in this no-man’s land we will cross. They tell me there is no clearly marked road; just a few tire tracks to follow. Sometimes they 20

Chapter III will be crossed with others and we will be left guessing which way to go.” That road was all it was prophesied to be. It was a lonely trail with no houses or people anywhere within sight the whole way. Carl seemed endued with a right sense of direction, and we had to retrace our way only once. We reached our destination before dark and were quickly settled in a cabin on a campground of which the pastor was also the caretaker. We used a gasoline lantern for light and a coal-oil stove for cooking.

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Chapter IV

God visited the services, and souls surrendered their hearts to Him. Many received a new vision of service. The church was lighted with gasoline lanterns, and every night we had a visitation of bugs and bats flying low over the heads of the congregation. Such competition made it hard for Carl to hold their attention. Urging them to ignore them and just pray God would move them to leave, the air would soon be clear and the service would go on. This part of the country had suffered a three year drought. Cattle were starved for grass, and everywhere ranchers were burning off the needles on the prickly pear of the cactus, enabling them to be eaten. It was a common sight to see a man followed by his cattle, as he went from one cactus to another applying his blow torch to their needles. One night Carl awakened with a sense of something pending. He heard the wind howling around the cabin in a strange fashion.

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On Eagles Wings

Having heard tornado stories, he wondered if something of the kind was headed our way. Walking out into the night he saw the sky was completely obliterated with black clouds. The wind grew stronger and more savage with every minute. Hurriedly he fastened the wooden shutters to the windows and ran back into the house. I was awake by this time. “Should we try to find a storm cellar? Do you think we are in danger?” I asked. “I honestly don’t know, dear. I am afraid if we leave here we may run into trouble. God knows our ignorance, so let’s just commit ourselves to Him and trust Him to take care of us.” Carl answered as he got back in bed. Holding hands in the darkness, we prayed. The storm by this time was increasing in velocity and noise. Rain began to beat on the roof, hitting the sides of the cabin and the closed shutters with force. The little structure seemed to tremble under the attack. I reached out for our little son to make sure he was alright, but he slept. Suddenly I began to sing. 24

Chapter IV “Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you. Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you.” Carl joined in singing, and the warmth of God’s comfort and the sense of His Presence filled the room. Wild, angry winds tore at the cabin. Pitch black darkness blotted out everything. Occasionally a flash of lighting illuminated the interior. Strong winds swept under the building, and momentarily we felt a little lift as though the greedy fingers would catch us up and hurl us away, building and all. But the little house settled down again as though a giant hand had pushed it back on its piers. Undaunted, the frenzied wind tried again to raise the cabin from its foundations. A tremor went through the building, only to settle down again in triumph. I tightened my hold on Carl’s hand, but never lost my song. Somehow fear had departed and only peace filled my heart. On raged the storm, hail mixed with rain hitting 25

On Eagles Wings

from all sides, but we sensed a weakening in the attack. Its velocity was lessening by degrees. The storm was slowly passing, and the worst was over. The next morning we learned the heart of the tornado had struck ten miles above us. There the hailstones had been as big as baseballs and had beaten to pieces the roofs of the houses. Carl closed the two weeks’ meeting right after this, and being deeply impressed not to wait another day, we hurriedly packed and left. We made the trip back over the same dim trail to the little town we had come from. There John and Annie Harp invited us to spend the night. After dark heavy rain fell, the break in the drought had come. The sky was lit up for miles with brilliant flashes of lightning, revealing great black clouds of rain billowing like an angry sea. We watched this wonder from the porch of the house. Such an electrical storm was a rare sight. Rain, rain, rain... deluges of rain fell over 26

Chapter IV this part of Texas. The hard ground could not receive it fast enough. Rivers and creeks became swiftly alive with the crowding and pushing waters, filling and overflowing them. For three weeks we were water-bound. Our hospitable friends made us comfortable and welcome. Soon, word trickled through that the Frio River had overflowed and flooded the entire campground where we had lived during our meeting there. We had gotten out just ahead of the flood. As soon as bridges were declared safe, we started north. We felt the Lord would have us return to Chicago.

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Chapter V

Our home in Chicago, left to my brother and I, had been quite a responsibility so far away. Ray and I agreed to sell it. It was 1935 and people were suffering from the effects of a severe depression. But GOD gave us a buyer, to the utter amazement of the real estate man. With the money we bought a used Silver Dome trailer. To our eyes it was lovely... it meant home, a place of our own. It meant privacy and the same place to put David to bed every night. People are kind and quite hospitable, but evangelists and missionaries understand well the strain of living under strange roofs, having to adjust to various households, each distinctly different, and especially with a small child. Our business settled, we left Chicago and pulled our house trailer to Detroit, Michigan, where we visited with friends and relatives. Carl’s upper teeth were giving him much trouble. The dentist was pulling the last of the molars when Carl fainted in his chair. His

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weakened heart rebelled. The dentist refused to pull any more of his teeth. But Carl was in no condition to have the rest pulled. The poison from his bad molars almost crippled him. When he recovered sufficiently, we returned to Chicago in February, 1936, and then on to Lufkin, Texas. Carl realized the trip had cost him more physically than he had anticipated. His heart was tired, his energy very limited. I spared him everything I could, but he did not seem to climb out of his fatigue. I was deeply concerned. Surely the God who healed him twice would heal him a third time. I got desperate, and one night, between naps, I brought Carl’s heart to the Lord, asking for another miracle, pointing out how useless we were in the ministry because of this hindrance. Just at daybreak, I opened my Bible and read, “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds” (Jeremiah 30:17). Knowing the Lord had spoken, I wakened Carl and showed him the promise. Together we claimed 30

Chapter V its fulfillment and that day, going by faith, Carl went about a normal man’s activities (he had just got up from a heart attack!) and God honored it. He had no more heart attacks. Five months later, a baby girl came to bless our lives ... a little black-haired miss whom we named Dee. She was much too small to be called Adina Grace which was her official title. Carl had been suffering with erysipelas in one foot for several weeks and could barely stand to put it to able, but his daughter chose that time to arrive. He had just finished reading, “Ever-Increasing Faith” by Smith Wigglesworth. It was such a tonic to his own spirit, he decided he would make full use of its teaching and put it to work for himself right then. His foot was swollen all out of proportion, so grabbing an overshoe in the emergency, he anointed his foot with oil in the Name of Jesus and stuffed it into the boot, and stepped out firmly by faith. When the foot stopped aching and the healing took over. Carl never knew. Hours later he realized he was getting around 31

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on his afflicted foot without a bit of trouble. So, in one day, God gave him a small daughter and a much needed healing. This revelation of God’s power and tender care deepened our hunger to know Him better. We experienced a longing for a greater understanding and more of the power of God in our lives. Twice we spent all night in prayer, seeking God for what ... we knew not! We had studied Dr. Torrey’s book, The Holy Spirit, in which he clearly taught the infilling of the Spirit was an experience apart from salvation. It was to be accepted by faith. God met us in these night prayer vigils with unutterable peace. We came away from them with this conviction ... we knew Him and He knew us.

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Chapter VI

Our longing for greater understanding, and more of the power of God in our lives, continued to grow. God chose this time to send along a man who could lead us on to our heart’s desires. He was just an average person, nothing compelling about his appearance or personality, until he opened his mouth and started to relate how God met his spiritual need. Carl and I recognized a kindred spirit, and we listened eagerly. He told us how God had led him to seek Him for the Baptism in the Spirit as recorded in the second chapter of The Acts. How satisfying was his portion when the Holy Spirit came in. How it changed his ministry, and how God led him supernaturally. We plied him with questions, and he was able to answer most of them with clear, definite statements. Many questions were asked about speaking in tongues and the need for interpretation. He illustrated with an incident from his own ministry.

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“I attended a revival meeting in a strange town where I was invited to the platform. I got to my feet to testify when suddenly the Spirit of the Lord came upon me in such power, I was striding up and down the platform speaking in other tongues with such compulsion and authority, I was amazed at myself. But knowing God was doing something I could not understand... I yielded to Him. I guess I spoke for thirty minutes, all in other tongues. When the Spirit was through, I sat down.” “I wandered about for a long time. Going through this town some time later, I stopped at a store. The Jewish owner looked closely at me and said, “Aren’t you the man who preached to us Jews one night several months ago?” “Well,” I replied, “I attended a meeting here, and I did speak.” “Good!” he exclaimed, suddenly excited. “When are you coming back to preach to us Jews again about our Messiah? You spoke the purist Hebrew I have ever heard!” “There had been 150 Jews in that meeting and I did not know it.” 34

Chapter VI Continuing, he smiled, “I had quite a time convincing that man that I did not know one Hebrew word from another, and that it was the Holy Spirit speaking through me that had delivered the message.” “So,” he concluded, “tongues do not always have to be supernaturally interpreted... you may unknowingly be speaking directly to someone’s understanding, as it was in this case.” Because of the deep hunger of our hearts, we read everything on the subject that came our way. Someone loaned us Smith Wigglesworth’s book, Ever-Increasing Faith. Upon completing it, I said one day, “Carl, if this book is the absolute truth, then I do not have the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that I have claimed. What I received was only an anointing and not the fullness.” Speaking in tongues bothered us. Did God still follow the same pattern in the Book of Acts when baptizing His people today? “Oh God,” I prayed, “I want to be sure, and You said to ‘try the spirits,’ so Lord, show me somewhere in your Word outside of the Book of Acts where tongues is mentioned in 35

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connection with the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.” Several days later as I was reading the sixteenth chapter of St. John, I read and re-read the thirteenth verse over and over again. “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come.” The Lord said to me, “How can He speak except He use your tongue?” Filled with wonder, I drank in the truth that tongues was still a part of the message for today, and God was confirming it to me. Satisfied at last, Carl and I sought the Lord diligently for His fullness. One night I dreamed I was walking across a great plain, following a path very clearly marked. “My! A lot of people have trodden this path,” was my thought. After walking some distance, I began to notice the path was growing up with tufts of grass, and it was not nearly as discernible as it had been. “I guess fewer people reached this far on 36

Chapter VI the path,” I reasoned. I traveled on until I was walking through grass ankle deep, then knee deep, then waist deep, but always I could just make out the path because the grass on each side of me was taller than that in the path. By this time I was making my way through by parting the tall grass with my hands. Suddenly I came across a grass shelter which had been neatly twisted together enough to shut out the view if not the weather. “What an odd place for a tramp to go to sleep,” was my mental reaction. “Doesn’t he know that this is a public path?” But at that, I corrected myself, “It does look like no one has come through here in a long time.” Leaving the tramp undisturbed, I went on, only to find another grass shelter on the side of the path farther on. By this time the long grass was well over my head, and I was having difficulty sticking to the path. Along the way I found two more grass sleeping quarters, each holding its tramp. On the last one I nearly hung myself on a clothes line on which the tramp had hung out some 37

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clothes. “Well,” I mused, “he’s well established. He’s evidently here to stay.” A half dozen steps, fighting grass, brought me unexpectedly into a great clearing. Right in front of me was a small cart. Placing my foot on the step I was suddenly seated in the cart looking down at a large English type bulldog that was harnessed to it. “I don’t see any reins. How will I drive this thing?” I wondered, but just then the dog turned his head and looked me right in the eyes with such a tender, gentle expression I knew I had no need of reins; the dog would obey my slightest wish. Waking from the dream, I carried into the world of reality, a love for my beautiful dog... there was such a kinship feeling between us. Knowing the dream was from God, I prayed and sought for its meaning. The plain path was the plain way of salvation millions have traveled making the way very clear. But many stop short of the deep things of God, so fewer feet had traveled the path that leads to more truth. Some had even 38

Chapter VI attained to various depths, but had grown satisfied along the way and made camp, parking by their experience. One even camped right on the threshold of his heart’s desire only to become too easily satisfied and fell “asleep” short of the blessing. The cart represented the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The bulldog, known the world over for its power and tenacity, typified the Holy Spirit... gentle, tender, easily entreated, but mighty in strength. I was thrilled to realize I had gotten in the cart, which to me meant I would be filled with the Holy Spirit.

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Chapter VII

An all day meeting was announced at the church we were attending. In my heart I purposed this was the day I was going to receive my Baptism. One disappointment after another so discouraged me, however, I was out of the notion of seeking the Lord for His enduement that night. Carl, realizing a little of what was going on within me, took me gently by the arm and steering me to the aisle, said, “Come on, dear, we started this; let’s see it to a finish!” Some time was spent in prayer, and then one by one the helpers and workers began drifting over to the piano and singing. Soon I realized I was alone. “Now, Lord, it is just You and me... pour out Your Spirit upon me!” I entreated. My tongue almost instantly became unmanageable, and before I knew it I was uttering sounds and pronouncing words I did not know the meaning of. The compulsion to speak and continue speaking was strong. It gave a sense of relief to the inner man to utter, and utter, and utter all that was on my tongue. 41

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What an exhilaration filled me! On and on the Spirit spoke through me. Those still at the church gathered around me, sharing my joy. Carl got off his knees and sought a chair to watch in wonder. Knowing me, he knew I was not manufacturing a language. THIS was God and he wanted his share. For two hours, the Spirit of the Lord took charge of me in general and prophetic manifestation. He led me to prophesy to one young mother that she was going to receive her Baptism shortly. There were other messages to individuals present which time proved were all from God. For many days after, I found it difficult to speak English. Going to the door to greet visitors, I would speak in the Spirit what I had intended to say in English. Most of my visitors were sympathetic and just smiled. Crooning over my babies, I would sing and talk to them in the language of the Spirit without intending to. All this stirred Carl, and for the next three weeks every occasion was turned into a prayer 42

Chapter VII meeting that he might seek the Lord for his own experience. Many times the power of the Spirit rested upon him, but he found it difficult to surrender his tongue and would come away with an incomplete experience. One night in a cottage prayer meeting he was kneeling, lost in prayer. The Spirit of God moved upon him, and he began to sing. While he was lost in song, his spirit blended with the Heavenly Spirit and he began to sing in other tongues as the Spirit gave him utterance. For just a little he was too lost in praise to realize what was happening... but then the realization! His face lit up with joy and his tongue loosed itself of all hindrances, and with great freedom and boldness the Holy Ghost manifested that He had indeed filled another hungry vessel. Knowing nothing of Pentecostal people and their doctrines, Carl and I were in a brand new world spiritually. Our former knowledge of God and His ways seemed so inadequate. We realized our immaturity in the deep walk of the Spirit and hardly knew what God required of us. But the satisfying revelation of God’s power 43

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and grace, the deeper vision of Christ that consumed our hearts, encouraged us to lean heavily on the tutelage of the Spirit Himself. He did not fail to perform His office work in us, but led us from truth to truth. I, particularly, was troubled over the question of divine healing. I knew people DID live completely by faith, recognizing Jesus Christ as their sole Healer. I knew God DID heal for He had touched Carl, healing him of afflictions no man could cure. What was my position? When I stood in some physical need, I knew I would have to be sure of my ground and sure of the Lord. God, in His wisdom, answered my questions in His own way. A few days later, I was reading the second chapter of Galatians, when the twentieth verse held my attention. I read it through the second time, and the last half of the verse seemed to raise up from the page in tall capital letters. Again I read, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet, not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave 44

Chapter VII Himself for me.” Quoting it softly to myself, I repeated, “... and the LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD.” The Spirit of the Lord said softly, “There is divine healing.” A great witness of the Spirit within me drove the revelation home with force and conviction. This was God’s answer to my particular search.

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Chapter VIII

A few weeks later, Carl and I had a real occasion to test the validity of God’s Word to us. Carl seriously injured his right hand while working in the close quarters of the closet in our house trailer. It pained him, but he ignored it and finished his job. The next day while chopping wood, his hand suffered further injury from the shock of the axe blows, and trouble set in. By night the hand was swollen until every finger looked like it was pulled out of place. Carl spent a restless, feverish night. Prayer brought no relief seemingly, and day by day the hand grew worse. The fourth night Carl’s fever soared and angry red streaks crawled rapidly up his arm. He was in great pain and felt like he was on fire. We prayed together and the Spirit of the Lord said to him, “Wherever you put your hand I will stop the blood poisoning right there.” Carl was holding his right hand in his left, cradling it for ease and did not really “take

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in” what God had said. But right where he had held his hand at the time, there was where the Lord gathered the blood poisoning. A large black spot formed at the base of his fingers in the palm of his hand. Eventually a black discharge having an awful odor came from it. For eleven days and nights I practically lived on my knees, getting about two hours rest out of every twenty-four. Carl’s hand drained constantly and caused him much pain. Visitors predicted his hand would rot off if it didn’t kill him first. But Carl and I hid away in the Word of God, reading it aloud by the hour. The Holy Spirit quickened our faith and drowned out the scoffers and alarmists. On the morning of the twelfth day, while in prayer, I heard the voice of the Spirit deep within say, “It is enough!” and I knew I had heard the Spirit’s rebuke to Satan. I sensed a great change in our trial, and from that hour Carl’s hand began to improve remarkably. The drainage ceased and exposed cores, which when removed, were as long as the fingers they 48

Chapter VIII came out of. The wound began to close and the hand began to peel. Underneath was new pink flesh as tender as a baby’s. The healing was slow, and Carl had a long journey back to his former strength. When he finally got well enough to attempt to walk to the barber shop he found he had lost thirty-five pounds. Without the beard he had grown during his illness, he looked skeleton-like. When Carl was able, we moved our house trailer to a country community, where we held meetings under the trees. It was a thickly settled farm community, and people turned out from everywhere to attend. A number of them surrendered their lives to Christ, transforming them. The conversions were lasting and a testimony to the countryside. Our little girl, Dee, was a year old when one night, after service, I felt constrained to stay at the altar praying. The Presence of the Lord was exceedingly real, and a great calm and stillness settled over me, literally wrapping me up. Holding still before the Lord, I heard His voice saying way down inside, “Preach! Preach! 49

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Preach! Preach!” over and over again. “I am imagining things,” I accused myself. But the voice would not be silenced. Quietly but firmly, “Preach!” came from the depths of my being. “Lord,” I exclaimed, “I know you are not calling me to preach because I can’t preach, and anyway, I don’t believe in women preaching!”

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Chapter IX

Feeling the burden to spread the printed Word as far as possible, Carl began visiting the dipping vats where the farmers and ranchers brought their livestock. He passed out thousands of Gospel portions and tracts in this manner, reaching people who never attended church. Years later we were still hearing reports from this seed-sowing. During this time we were expecting our third child. Money was scarce and times were lean. I wondered at the wisdom of having another child. Should we have planned our family, I questioned. The problem weighed heavily, so I slipped off into the woods to get alone with God. “Lord, what is your will? I feel I must have an answer of peace. I do not feel I can take the responsibility of a decision so important. You told me to live this life in the flesh by faith, and I am finding it a little hard to be willing. But the important thing is that Your perfect will is worked out in my life. Reveal Yourself to me.”

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Pouring out my heart brought a measure of peace, and I grew still before the Lord. Then God began to speak, “I did not mean to burden you; I meant to bless you in giving this child. Remember ‘children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is HIS REWARD.’ (Psalms 127:73). You are not a worldling, therefore do not measure your life by worldly standards. My ways are not your ways, neither are my thoughts your thoughts. “Look around you, Grace, and see the thousands of children that are brought up in the ways of the world. Satan has free access to them. I desire to have some children brought up in my ways, understanding my thoughts toward them ... vessels that I can fit for my eternal purposes from their infancy. You can give me such children.” By this time I was sobbing softly, great tears dropping into my lap. To see AS GOD SEES... what a privilege! My burden was gone! It had turned into all blessing. With my life in focus again, I began to happily plan for our baby. “Lord, what shall we name this child?” I 52

Chapter IX prayed. Over and over throughout the remainder of the day the Scripture verse, “There was a man sent from God whose name was John,” churned over in my heart. I tried to push it away, because I did not particularly like the name John, but it would not be silenced. Telling Carl about it later, I added, “But John What? John is so flat and short and standing alone.” Regarding me thoughtfully, he suggested, “Why not John Enoch? They were both preachers of righteousness.” Some weeks before the baby was due, I awakened in the night with a sense of the Presence of God. Lifting my heart in quiet praise, I waited for the revelation I felt forthcoming. Distinctly I heard the voice of God saying, “Grace, do not call the doctor. Trust me!” I could not believe my ears. Not have a doctor at childbirth? Whoever heard of such a thing. Surely I misunderstood. The persistency of the thought bothered me. It would crop up at the most unexpected times and trouble me all 53

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over again. Afraid I might be ignoring the voice of God, I began to pray about it. “Jesus, Lord, I’m mixed up. Straighten me out someway. If you don’t want me to have a doctor, work out the circumstances so there won’t be any. I just commit the whole problem to you.” “Brother Roos, you better get home to your wife. There’s been a change in the moon, and you know what that means,” laughed a neighbor. “Well, I guess you’re right. It would be wise for me to hurry back and check on her,” agreed Carl. Five miles from Lufkin and no telephone close by, no car handy to send for help, I was having my own problems. When Carl left to be gone just a short while, I had felt all right. Then without warning labor set in, and I walked to a grove, praying between breaths, “Oh, send Carl home... make him hurry, Lord.” Realizing that anything could happen, I returned to the trailer. There Carl found me and 54

Chapter IX took charge, sending David for a neighbor lady who arrived breathlessly to help just a few minutes before John Enoch made his appearance. It was over before one could think. Carl felt he ought to allow the doctor to pass on what happened anyway, so he went to a phone and met the doctor, guiding him on to the trailer. Doc was amazed, but pronounced everything in order and the baby properly cared for. So well had God preserved me through this experience, that I felt wonderfully strong and able to be up immediately. I did not need recuperation. There was nothing the matter with me!

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Chapter X

Feeling the urge to get out in evangelistic work again, we left to fill calls to other places. Many of them were held out of doors in the river bottoms or in small towns. We were willing to go anywhere we felt we could fill a need. Having our own house trailer simplified things for us and assured the little tots their own bed every night. Times were difficult and people had little money (1938), but they brought their garden produce, shared their meat when they killed their hogs and cattle, and somehow (God ONLY knows!) our daily needs were supplied. During one prolonged financial trial, circumstances were very pressing. The day came there was no money and no food. It did not hurt me to fast, but Carl could not stand up under it. He had to go to bed. It looked like prayer was never going to be answered, and deeply concerned for his loved ones, Carl handed his watch to me the next morning and told me to go by a jeweler he knew and borrow some money on it. Doubtfully I took the watch. 57

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Sensing my reluctance, Carl added, “Do whatever you feel led to do about it.” I walked to town. The car was without gas or license plates, so it could not be used. Hopefully I visited the post office, but turned sick inside when there was not even a letter of any kind. How much I needed some encouragement... even a friendly note of cheer could have buoyed up my spirit. But here I felt cut off from everyone, standing alone. Walking slowly down the street wondering what to do next, I remembered the watch. The jeweler was just around the comer from where I was. I was soon at the door. A great feeling of restraint came over me as I studied the watch. Leaning back against the side of the building, out of sight of the door, I closed my eyes and held up my problem to the Lord. “Beloved Lord, it would be so easy to go in and borrow money to buy the food we so desperately need. It would be the answer to our problem you have not solved for us yet. But Lord, THAT is not the way of faith. Faith does not take things into her own hands and deliver 58

Chapter X herself just so her way will be made easy. Lord, speak to my heart... what shall I do?” Taking a New Testament out of my purse, it fell open to I Corinthians 5:6, “Know ye not a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Purge out therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” The eighth verse compelled my attention, “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven ... but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” “Let us keep the feast,” I murmured, “not with the old leaven of self-works but faith in God and His goodness.” My mind made up, I thrust the watch back in my purse and started home. Once there I handed Carl the watch and told him what the Lord had said. He was satisfied. The situation had not changed. We were still hungry and the children were fretful. I proceeded to take them on my lap by turns and sing to them... asking the Lord to put them asleep. God had spoken to our hearts and we were no longer afraid. We knew we could wait for 59

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His deliverance. The next day brought God’s plenty and blessing showered out upon us, we were able to “keep the feast... with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” as the Lord had prophesied. This did not end our financial straits. Over and over we were pressed to the wall, but out of it all Carl and I emerged “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” We learned NOT TO FEAR hunger, NOT TO FEAR desperate places; but to walk on quietly with strong confidence, knowing deliverance WOULD COME. God was training us, and rigid training it was. Further, it was teaching our children to pray and to look solely to the Lord for their own needs. David, then about four and a half years, decided he wanted a leather jacket. He began praying for one, much to the consternation of his father and mother. WHERE could we provide him with one we wondered. But God had His own way of revealing Himself to the child’s heart, and a box came from the north one day containing a number of needed things 60

Chapter X and among them, a lovely new leather jacket just David’s size. “See Mother,” he caroled, “I knew Jesus would give me a leather jacket.”

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Chapter XI

In September, 1938, the Lord spoke to me a second time about preaching. “Preach the Gospel! Preach the Gospel!” echoed and reechoed in my heart, but I dismissed it, still not convinced. The following summer, 1939, while we were building a brush arbor on the edge of the City of Lufkin, the Lord dealt with me the third time. Early one morning Carl and I were praying together. The tender voice of the Lord spoke entreatingly deep within, “Grace, WON’T you preach for me?” Amazed and dumbfounded by turns, I could only stammer, “Yes, Lord, I just didn’t realize you wanted me to!” Great tears began to flow as the whole thought of MY CALL burst upon me. But I knew I could not preach, so my understanding Teacher arranged a lesson for me. A friend, a mother like myself, came to visit and attend services under the arbor. Carl invited her to preach that night. As she

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ministered, God pointed out that she was just talking out of her heart to the congregation, and said, “You can do that, Grace!” “Yes, Lord, I can do that. Is that all?!” I answered. So greatly encouraged, I began my first attempts at preaching. Visiting in a service on Sunday morning, I listened to a woman preacher expound the Word of God under a heavy anointing of the Spirit. So freely did she preach and with such authority, I was fascinated. Sadly, I whispered, “Lord, I can’t preach like Sister Polk!” “I did not tell you to preach like Sister Polk,” came back the firm voice of the Lord. “I want you to preach like Sister Roos!” A gladness rushed all through me. All God wanted of me was to be myself! From that day on preaching became a joy! Expecting our fourth child, I sought the Lord about what He wanted me to do at the birth. I was strongly impressed to trust Him to see me through. He so filled my heart with peace and quiet 64

Chapter XI confidence that endured through all the months of waiting. Not knowing whether the little cramps I was feeling were the beginning of labor or just the results of too much yard cleaning the day before, I walked the path outside the trailer and prayed. A sharp hard pain caught me and held me for fleeting seconds... that was my answer. Carl went off for help. I had no more pains. Carl was soon back with our friend, and then not knowing what to do next, we went inside and prayed. A quietness settled upon us, and then in the midst of our prayer, God’s hand moved the unborn child on its journey into the world. Things happened fast for the next ten minutes before the quietness of the trailer was rent by the cry of a newborn son. Paul Herschel had arrived in good shape, a plump little mite weighing about eight pounds. He soon earned the name, “Peaceful Paul.” I had especially asked the Lord for a good baby, one who would be satisfied and contented, a pleasure to me ... and he was all of those things! So quick and easy had been the delivery, I 65

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was completely myself immediately after. Paul was born at 12:30 noon and I spent the rest of the day waiting on and admiring our new son, and doing the usual things about our trailer home. The next day while cooking a meal which required watching, I was interrupted. Not wishing to burn my dinner, I ran back to the trailer to check on it, without thinking how my actions would effect my visitors who were following. Here I was with a baby twenty-four hours old... running! To God be the glory!

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Chapter XII

With a family of six in a trailer meant for only three, I was having my problems. Rainy, cold weather was particularly trying with four active children. We learned of a two-room house five miles from Lufkin, and moved in. Friends furnished odd bedspreads, springs, mattresses, tables, chairs, etc ... until we had sufficient furniture to keep house. Eventually we sold the trailer. Carl went to work in order that our bills could be met. Things were slow and there were no meetings. During these weeks of marking time, the whole sole of my right foot became very raw, feverish and swollen. I could hardly endure walking on it. “Lord, what is the matter? Why haven’t you healed my foot?” I questioned as time went by and no relief came. It was cold at night now, but it felt good to the feverish foot which could not stand the cover. I got no rest. My foot throbbed throughout the night, and my nerves would not allow me to relax.

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One day little red haired John, now four years old, was sitting on the floor playing. Looking up at me every once in awhile, he would say, “Jesus knows your foot hurts, doesn’t He, Mama?” Still engrossed in his play, he went on, “Jesus knows Daddy needs to make some money, doesn’t He, Mama?” “Yes, honey,” I answered. “Jesus knows we are going to get another baby, doesn’t He, Mama?” he continued. This time I just smiled and nodded my head. “Jesus knows that I need a pair of new shoes, too!” he announced. And on and on went John’s little sermon on “Jesus knows!” I let him preach to my heart, recognizing God was using my small son to reassure me He did know and care. A few days later, I drew a card from the promise box. Hebrews 10:35-36 stared up at me. “Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need 68

Chapter XII of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” I read it a second time savoring every word, “... after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Somewhere, I thought, I have failed to do the will of God, but what is it? The Presence of the Lord enveloped me, and suddenly I was reminded of a bundle of unanswered letters in the bottom drawer of my desk. Letters from tried hearts, discouraged souls; letters from people requesting prayer which should have been answered immediately, instead of being placed in a bottom drawer (regardless of my own physical need that loomed so large just then!) I felt ashamed of my neglect, “Lord, forgive me,” I breathed. “I’ll begin today to answer them.” Almost overnight my foot began to heal. The raw flesh healed, the swelling and fever left, and I was able to wear a shoe again. I learned another lesson: Obedience brings healing. The housewives who prophesied my foot would heal after the baby came were wrong. God can heal any time. 69

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Three weeks later, I awoke about 1:15 in the morning conscious my back was aching. Was THIS it? I wakened Carl. While he hurriedly made things ready, I found myself repeating, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me,” The Spirit of God was witnessing to me of His Presence. It warmed my heart. Carl turned anxiously to me, “Dear, how do you feel? Will I have time to go into town and get Sister Wight? She said she would come.” I just shook my head, “I can’t tell. You better go though, but stop and tell Polly to come up and stay with me until you get back.” Polly was our neighbor. In the stillness of the night, I heard Carl stop at Polly’s and heard the roar of the motor as he headed his car toward town. Reaching for my Bible and lifting my heart in prayer for God’s overshadowing care and power, I seated myself on the side of the bed. Noticing Carl had placed the baby’s things on the dresser beside the bed instead of the table where they should have been, I thought, “I 70

Chapter XII ought to change that.” But just then a hard gripping pain struck me with such force, I involuntarily stood to my feet. I waited, expecting it to recede, but this pain was there to stay, growing worse by the second. “Oh God,” I breathed, “and I am all alone!” Feeling a strong urge to settle myself in bed, I did as quickly as the grip of pain would allow. Just then Polly opened the door and stopped short when she realized what was happening. “Oh Sister Roos, let me run and get my sister,” she begged, “She is good at this sort of thing.” Recognizing her uncertainty, I could not bring myself to say NO, though the urge to keep her was strong, I just nodded my head, and I was alone again. Things were happening so fast, and here I was alone! Alone! A panic struck my heart and fear flooded my being for just a brief second, for right on the heels of it, the promise God had given me months before sang in my heart, “For He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.” The Presence of the Lord was real, and all fear fled before Him. But I did 71

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not have time to think all these things through. Joseph Earl made his entrance into the world, and I was busy with more important matters. Fearful lest he have the cord wound around his neck, I sat up and inspected my new son. But he was free of it. I picked him up and slapped him sharply on the back to make him cry. Soon the air was filled with his lusty yells. Reaching for the receiving blanket on the dresser close at hand, I wrapped him snugly in its folds while praising the Lord for His forethought in having Carl place it there. Polly was back, “Oh, I heard his cries as I came around the corner of the fence,” she explained. “Laura will be here right away. Now what can I do?” she added. “Well, I guess the first thing is to transfer this boy’s clothes over to the table where Laura will have to oil and dress him,” I suggested. “Say, by the way what time is it?” “It’s two o’clock Thanksgiving morning,” Polly answered. “And it’s a real Thanksgiving morning,” I replied. “Why, it’s only forty-five minutes since 72

Chapter XII I wakened. How good the Lord is to me!”

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Chapter XIII

In January, 1943, we left Texas and went to Leesville, Louisiana, nearest town to Camp Polk, home of Uncle Sam’s 11th Armored Division. Brother and Sister Greer were pastoring the Assembly of God Church there, and welcomed our help warmly. We found a tourist cabin vacated just that morning, which was nothing short of a miracle in any Army town. In no time we were fitted into the work and enlarged the efforts to reach the soldiers. We assisted in services in the church and then held street meetings and passed out thousands of tracts and Gospels to passersby and the crowds that gathered to listen. It was here that I got my first taste of preaching on the street. I was amazed at the boldness God gave and the forceful presentation of salvation truths God brought out of my mouth. It was a joy to stand as a witness for Christ in a war torn world and among men who were on their way to the battle front. The novelty of a woman street preacher caused even the careless to stop and listen. 75

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Christian soldiers who attended services at the church would frequently back us up in our street meetings. Some would testify, and others helped with the singing. Our portable organ faithfully produced the old familiar hymns, stirring memories. One Saturday afternoon the meeting was prolonged. Thousands of soldiers crowded the streets. Our congregation was constantly being replaced with new faces. Carl heard that a new division of men were in the area on maneuvers. These men looked world-weary, just a little hardened somehow. One could pick them out in the crowd. More and more of them were stopping and listening. Carl and I took turns preaching to them the simple ABC’s of the Gospel. It was growing late, the sun had set and the street lights were shining brightly. Services at the church were beginning, but this crowd would not be dismissed. They were so interested and attentive. “The salvation of your soul is not in a church, friends,” the messenger proclaims. “It is in Jesus Christ who died for your sins and shed 76

Chapter XIII His Blood to cover them. We know of a man who was saved from a life of sin, who had also been reared in a church which claimed it alone could save. This man, after he had given his life to Christ, became troubled one day. He came to us and asked, ‘This church says you must join them to be saved; this man preaches this and another preaches something else... what are we to believe?’” “That’s easy,” was the reply. “Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” (John 14:6). Follow Jesus (Romans 10:9, 10), believe in His Death and Resurrection for the forgiveness of sin, confess to Him and He will save your soul forever. No church on earth has the right to declare that they are the only way to heaven... Jesus said He alone was the Way. Jesus is the Saviour. He is the crucified, resurrected Lord and Lover of your soul. You can trust completely in what He has done for you!” The message went on in this vein, enlarging and emphasizing that Christ was the ONLY WAY of salvation, and FAITH in Him would 77

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save. One had the feeling the words were sinking deeply into hearts. Possibly not all of them comprehended the message in its fullness just then but the seed was sown and the fruit would come forth in “due season.” Many raised their hands for prayer, and then one man stepped forward and offered his cap to Carl. He had been slipping around the crowd and taking up an offering. It amounted to better than eighteen dollars. Since no one was pledged to support us, we lived completely by faith, and this was a provision of the Lord. Our hearts were troubled. This man confessed he was the brother of a notorious New York gangster and had never heard the plain truths of salvation before in his life. “I heard the truth tonight,” he declared. Most of the men in their division came from similar walks of life and were more or less hardened in sin. They were headed for a battlefield and possibly death, and they had nothing to hold to in their need. Most of them had a formal church in their background, but not the Living Christ. They did not know HIM!

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Chapter XIII Many months later we learned this division of men was completely wiped out in retaking the Philippine Islands. God knew their future and tenderly provided that they should “Know the truth and the truth should make them free.” One Saturday afternoon Carl was preaching on the courthouse lawn to quite a company of soldiers and citizens. Suddenly drunken shouts from across the street pierced the air, directed at Carl and his message. Carl ignored them and preached on. The sordid, blasphemous remarks kept pelting him as the drunken soldier kept up his barrage of insults, leaning against a light post for support. Many of the soldiers in the crowd stirred uneasily. They did not appreciate that one of their number should so disgrace them. A sergeant proceeded to take off his coat and started across the street, ready to settle the score, muttering aloud for everyone to hear, “Religious freedom is one of the things we are fighting for, you dope!” Before an incident could turn ugly, MP’s arrived and took the troublesome character off the scene.

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One never knew what to expect at a street meeting. You might preach in competition with armored tanks and jeeps, half-tracks and a company of soldiers maneuvering right down the main street. How we were ever heard above the roar and confusion was always a miracle to us. The Greers found it necessary to go north, leaving their church for three months. We took over the work in their absence and continued preaching to the soldiers. These were busy days. David and Dee were attending school in Leesville and Carl and I were concerned with the evil they were constantly associating with. When the Greers returned, God opened up the way for us to pastor a small church in Zwolle, Louisiana, and we moved there in June, 1942.

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Chapter XIV

Zwolle, Louisiana, was just a widening in the road, so to speak, containing a few stores, a cafe or two, a small sawmill, a few service stations and two schools. There were four churches, one of which we pastored. This church was located on the highway that ran through the town, and one that the Army used in their mock war maneuvers. Many times it was dangerous to walk the highway to church and equally dangerous to drive it. Half-tracks, loaded with soldiers and equipment, huge trucks, etc., streamed up and down the road in their maneuvers, many times traveling fifty miles an hour and following closely behind one another. It was taking your life in your hands to squeeze into this procession and only a skilled, confident driver could do it. Our church had only a handful of people... two families in fact, and we soon saw if we were going to reach souls we would have to go where they were. Saturday was the big day of the week for the surrounding country, and Zwolle was a 81

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beehive of activity. Carl decided a Saturday afternoon street meeting would be the best way of reaching as many as possible. I pulled out my portable organ, and we went into the heart of town and preached, sang and passed out tracts and Gospel portions. These meetings were always well attended and the literature eagerly received. Many parked their cars conveniently so they could hear without seeming to. Others stood in nearby store doorways, listening attentively. Many tracts were quickly taken from our hands and slipped hurriedly into pockets and purses to be read later. No open confessions of faith were made here, but the Gospel seed was sown and eternity will reveal the results. Seeing we were at a great disadvantage as far as getting people to our church, we secured the loan of a lodge hall for a weekly service down on the Mexican side of town, and there we had good attendance for as long as we continued the work. Times were lean in Zwolle, and we saw 82

Chapter XIV many trials. Our church people were kind and thoughtful, but they had problems too. One grocer offered Carl a Saturday job in his store, which would have assured us of our own groceries weekly, but after prayer we decided we were in Zwolle to reach souls for Christ. Saturday was the only day we could hold a street meeting that would amount to anything. If Carl worked that day, we would have to give up this effort. So, he turned down the offer, and we continued to just look to the Lord for our needs, which were as ordinary and simple as a mop to clean the few rooms in back of the church we called home... or a wash tub for the weekly wash... but God gave grace, and what we could not buy, we borrowed. I was teaching my Sunday School class in my small living room one Sunday morning, when eleven month old Joe wedged his hand against the hot wood heater with a stick he had been playing with. I heard his scream and ran to him, grabbing his hand loose from the heater, and was almost overwhelmed by the smell of cooked flesh. Picking him up, I ran to the bedroom where I poured olive oil over the 83

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tortured hand in the Name of Jesus, and then hugging little Joe to me tightly, for he was screaming and struggling with every breath. I walked the floor, tears streaming down my face, calling on my God to do something for my poor baby. Carl got there then, and together we prayed, then he was compelled to return to the church and continue the service. As I paced the floor, still holding wee Joe to me with the main force, the devil taunted me with, “This is one time you will have to lean on the arm of flesh. This is one time you need a doctor... you know you do!” I emptied my heart out to the Lord, spilling out all the fear, the doubts, and then added, “Lord, I KNOW You are all I need. You taught me that Yourself!” Suddenly Jo-Joe stopped crying, nestled his curly head on my shoulder and relaxed against me. He was exhausted and was soon sound asleep. My heart sang with thanksgiving as I laid him on the bed. My GOD HAD answered! I found his hand to be in terrible shape. On 84

Chapter XIV the fringe of the burn the flesh had curled up like miniature wood shavings, and better than half the back of his hand was deeply burned. He wakened refreshed two hours later, all ready for dinner. I placed him in his high chair and fixed his plate. For the first time he noticed his burned hand. He regarded it curiously, and then began to pick at the curled skin on the fringe of the burn. Carl, watching him, rose from the table saying, “I can’t stand to watch him. I’ve got to get out of here.” Joe ate a hearty dinner and seemed none the worse for the burn. God had taken every bit of the fire and pain out of it. Although it took several weeks to completely heal, he never cried or lost a moment’s sleep from it. I would have to catch him asleep to clean the hand. As it healed daily from the inside out, it oozed out a watery bloody-looking matter that would crust over. I kept this loosened with applications of olive oil, and cleaned the rest of the hand at the same time. God did all the rest. To this day, Joe carries the scar of that burn, although it has faded much with the years. 85

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Another time David was playing ball with some neighbor boys away from home. They had only a bat, so used an old can for a ball. David pitched the can to the batter who hit it with a hearty swat, sailing it right back to him, hitting him full in the forehead, cutting a deep gash with a jagged edge. Blood flowed and excitement reigned. The lady of the house hurried out and tried to put him in her car to take him to the doctor, but he stubbornly refused to go anywhere but home. Greatly worried, she brought him to us, exclaiming over the incident. I assured her David would be all right, thanking her for her kindness and concern. Indoors we carefully washed and cleansed the wound, taping the cut edges of flesh together to close the gap. Carl and I prayed for him then and sent him to bed to rest. The wound healed quickly, leaving a slight scar which over the years finally obliterated.

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Chapter XV

In June, 1944, God opened the door to a small church in Pineland, a sawmill town in East Texas. The first thing Carl did was enlarge the parsonage which was a boon to us with five children. The church went along smoothly, pastor and people learning to love one another and shouldering each other’s burdens. I was delighted with the fellowship I had with the women of the church, and we had prayer meetings and Bible studies together during the week. The following December, 1944, James Daniel was added to the Roos household, God working to deliver him easily and quickly, preserving me wondrously. A few weeks before he was born, a sister said as she passed me at the piano, “I’ll take over whenever you are ready.” I laughed softly and whispered back, “I’m not planning on losing any time on this job!” “Now I know what you meant,” she 87

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chuckled after James’ birth, and I went right on with the piano playing without missing a service. One day in April, 1945, I was alone praying in the church, when the Spirit of the Lord kept saying to me, “Prophesy! Prophesy!” Never having prophesied before, I yielded the best I knew how. Then came the announcement, “You will have a child in the spring. Carl has long wanted a girl to bear his name, so name her for him. She will be my gift to him.” My thoughts flew! James was only four months old, and have another child so soon? But knowing the Lord “doth all things well,” I dismissed any thought of worry and immediately wrote down the date and prophecy as the Lord directed me. I kept this prophecy in my heart. I fully expected to conceive but time went on and nothing happened. Months went by and finally the day came when I was certain. I was secretly delighted, but as weeks flew along I realized something was wrong. I was too crowded, and she was far too active. I had weak spells 88

Chapter XV whenever I tried to exert myself in the least. I only felt good and strong when I “played lady.” I would be so weary and swollen by night fall, it was only by faith that I attended services. I still played the piano, determined I would continue to put “first things first.” But each time, the Lord tenderly renewed me by His resurrection power, and I felt like a new creature, relaxed and so cared for. “There is something very wrong with you,” the enemy would taunt me. “You’re going to have trouble on your hands this time.” “God will do no less for me than He has in the past,” I would reassure myself, and the dear Lord kept me in peace. On Monday morning of June 17, 1946, I wakened with sharp pains. Carl went for Vera Baker. I was cooking when Vera arrived. “You don’t look to me like you are about to have a baby,” she declared. “Oh, my pains quit entirely,” I replied, “but they may begin any minute. If you have plans for the day Brother Roos can take you home 89

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again, and we will call if we need you.” “No,” decided my friend, “I’ll just spend the day. I would be coming over here for prayer meeting this afternoon anyway.” By two o’clock the ladies had assembled at the church and Vera and I joined them. We sang a few songs and then went to prayer. Everyone understood why Vera was with me, and it seemed to burden them. Such a spirit of prayer came upon them and went on one hour, two hours, three hours! Then intercession finally was replaced with glad cries of faith and triumph. I was amazed. I felt only a deep, deep peace. I was not the least worried about myself. The five o’clock mill whistle blew and our ladies had to hurry home to prepare supper. Sister Baker and Sister Osborn decided to remain with me. At the parsonage Carl asked me how I was... he needed to take one of our ladies to the highway and would be right back. I agreed it would be all right. Carl was barely gone when, instantly I was 90

Chapter XV in hard labor without warning. Pressure and pain kept piling up so rapidly I could only raise my heart in a mute cry to God. Something would not give. Such breathtaking labor I had never experienced before. I felt as though I were flying to pieces. Only with great effort did I hang on to my self-control as I fought a wild desire to scream! My whole being was just one wordless cry to my God for His intervention. And then, when I thought I could not bear another minute of it, my God moved and in seconds it was over! I relaxed with a great sense of relief. I was trembling from head to foot. “Thank God! Thank God!” was my grateful expression. “It’s a girl!” announced Vera as she ministered to the baby and then handed her to Sister Osborn for further attention. “Your pains were much harder this time... do you know why?” asked Vera. “No,” I replied, “I only know something was wrong.” “Your baby was turned wrong. She was 91

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born face up. That generally means an instrument birth under ordinary circumstances. The Lord certainly brought her along without help and there isn’t a mark on her... perfect,” Vera declared. “I don’t suppose I suffered more than a few minutes in all, but it seemed like an hour to me. I never experienced such pain before,” I said. “I’m going to tell you something I have been keeping to myself,” Vera said. “I dreamed a few months ago that your time had come, and Brother Roos came after me in the night. When we got to the parsonage, you were not on the bed, and I couldn’t find you. Then I heard your groans and I looked down and saw you on your hands and knees on the floor, suffering terribly. You were in such misery you did not recognize me. Finally you told me that you had been in terrible pain for hours, how many you couldn’t remember. You just could not give birth. Your suffering and agony was awful to watch. I woke up then with such a burden for you I could not sleep the rest of the night. I have been afraid for your welfare ever since. I know God 92

Chapter XV could undertake, but the dream had been so real, it was hard to shake off.” Vera’s face sobered with the recollection. I nodded my head, “The Lord showed you what would have happened in the natural, without His divine power to deliver and also how Satan had plotted to take my life if he could, but God!” I paused, and said thoughtfully, “I am glad it happened this way. There is a joy and exaltation in my heart that makes me want to shout. I am HIS and HE is mine!” Carl came in surprised to find it all over. He gazed wonderingly at his new small daughter. “We waited a long time for you,” he murmured, slipping one finger into a tiny hand that immediately closed around it and hung on. “I was just thinking,” I laughed (feeling completely myself again!) “The Lord told me that Carleen would be born in the spring, and she just made it, four more days and summer begins!”

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The work grew slowly, but there was such a need for a real working of the Holy Spirit in the midst, that our ladies spent special time in prayer for this. One morning, the Lord spoke, “You have heard of a chain of prayer... have a chain of prayer with fasting.” Volunteers quickly responded and every meal for the remainder of the weeks was accounted for. No one was to bear all the burden of fasting. Each did her share, a meal at a time, just so there was a continual fast before the Lord for the church. Three months slipped by as we cried out for revival, the fast continuing with prayer. One service night the Spirit of God moved in the midst and poured out His blessings. I danced in the Spirit for the first time in my Christian experience. Others danced and rejoiced. Children were so lost in the Spirit, they danced three and four together with arms about each others’ waists, singing joyously in other tongues. It was a beautiful sight. That was the beginning of a new day for the congregation. God began to move. He spoke to 95

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Carl in prayer to build a new church. Carl had one dollar in his pocket and no prospects of getting any more for such a purpose. So sure was he God was leading, he went to town and saw the mill manager about lumber and materials. World War II was still raging and building materials were scarce. He received so much encouragement, that the following Sunday he announced a building program to begin immediately. The members rallied behind him with what they had. Down came the old building piece by piece. Termites had destroyed the studdings, and the further we tore into the old framework, the more obvious was our need. The work was hard and tedious, and it seemed the new building would never begin going up. But once the foundation was ready, the framework arose quickly and reassuringly. Nails, roofing, etc., precious and so scarce in a war torn world, appeared when they were needed and the building went on uninterrupted. Getting ready for the dedication service already scheduled, volunteers were varnishing 96

Chapter XVI windows and wainscoting, among them Carl and I. I was standing on a make-shift scaffold varnishing the top of a tall window when I had a strong premonition of trouble. I stood there, pleading the power of the Blood of Jesus for my protection, hardly knowing why I was concerned. Someone came up behind me and spoke. Shifting my feet to turn, I fell head first to the concrete floor. Somehow I was turned as I fell, and I landed on the small of my back with my head hitting the floor with an ugly thud. Completely stunned, I made no attempt to rise. Carl, much concerned, had me on my feet before I was ready. I begged to sit down, and then they gathered around me and prayed for my body. I, still dazed, took no part in the prayer, except to rise up in spirit within, against the power of darkness. Lying on the bed in the parsonage, I contemplated my feelings. Everything inside me felt as though it had been torn loose. My back and head ached terribly. “Dear Lord,” I prayed, “you have so 97

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wondrously preserved my body and kept me well and strong these years, and now Satan would undo all, so he could gloat over it and set Thy work at nought. But Lord, I believe whatever he planned has already failed, and you have undertaken for me. I do not believe you would allow him to get away with such evil because I gave this body into your keeping long ago.” God faithfully nullified the effects of the hard fall, and though very stiff and sore for several days, I fully recovered and was able to help in finishing the church interior. I was busily washing dishes one morning when eleven year-old David walked into the kitchen. “You know, Mother,” he began, “for a long time every time I prayed I would hear a voice saying, ‘Preach! Preach! Preach! ’ I could hardly pray because of it.” Carefully I answered, “What did you finally do about it?” “Well,” replied David matter-of-factly, “I 98

Chapter XVI decided God was calling me to preach, so I told Him I would!” “Do you hear the voice any longer?” I asked, smiling down at my seriousfaced son. “No!” replied David, “not since the day I told the Lord I would preach if He wanted me to.” Then, child-like, having shared his experience, he was ready for other things. He went outdoors to play, leaving a very thoughtful and grateful mother behind. I was literally filled with melodies unto the Lord, so happy was I. It was one thing for God to reveal Himself to me, but it was thrilling and precious to know that He could reveal Himself to my young son and give him understanding! While attending a church convention in Crockett, Texas, one spring, Carl walked out the side door of the church in the dark, and stepped into a hole, wrenching his ankle severely. It pained him, but sitting in the services it gradually eased. Sometime later he walked out the same door and stepped into the same hole, this time breaking his ankle. It hung 99

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agonizingly. The ministers assembled prayed for him and we went to the house where we were to spend the night. He managed to get to bed but did not rest that night. His ankle pained incessantly. The next morning we left for Pineland in the car of a neighboring pastor. Carl insisted on walking on the injured foot, so he got in and out of the car himself. We reached home, and since we always had a Saturday night service, he was determined to carry on as usual. As he walked into the church, hobbling painfully, the Lord instantly healed his ankle. The work was completely done! Early in 1948, six weeks before Phillip was born, I developed a cough which stubbornly refused to leave. I coughed so hard and so frequently my abdominal muscles were weakened. I sought the Lord for healing of this condition, but though God preserved me through it, He did not deliver me from it. Looking back now, I realize that probably my heart was not right before Him. I was rebelling against a set of circumstances that had me locked in, and though I cried to the Lord for a solution, nothing was happening. I knew the 100

Chapter XVI Lord was answering my prayer in dealing with people, but they were not obeying Him and there I was shut up by my own rebellion and refusing to say the word that would bring me out. Of course, the Lord was not pleased, and I was miserably unhappy. The enemy worked out a trap for my feet, and so I faced my hour of delivery weakened in body, but God was gracious and our fine son was born without incident. We were thrilled with our boy, naming him Philip Andrew. As the days went by something was missing. Finally I cried to the Lord, “Jesus, Lord, where is my JOY? I have no joy... no waves of pure joy over the birth of this baby!” I loved him, he was so dear, but no joy. The prayer was hardly out of my mouth when I knew the answer. It was the ugly feelings I was entertaining in my heart toward others that had robbed me of my joy. When one is seeking to walk in the Spirit, one cannot come down on the natural plane and entertain the carnal mind without paying the price of your peace and joy. I sought forgiveness and peace 101

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healed the wound.

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Chapter XVII

In June, 1949, we left Pineland where we had spent five busy years and accepted a pastorate at Arp, Texas. In December of that year, Elizabeth Ann was born feet first. I was resting one afternoon on my bed when I began to say in the Spirit, “Elizabeth, sweet Elizabeth!” I knew the Lord had given me the name of our unborn child. I also had a dream in which I cradled her little feet in the palm of my hand. If I had been more alert to the Spirit of God, I would have known she would be born feet first. Having no doctor in attendance proved embarrassing to some members of our church. Imagine being apologetic for Almighty care and tender provision! We were in the midst of a revival then, so I attended the service that night, playing the piano as usual. Our new daughter was laid on a pillow on the pew. I sat down beside her as the evangelist stepped to the pulpit, where he led the congregation in praising the Lord and

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worship. Softly in the depths of my being, I heard a voice say, “Shout!” I put it down to imagination and sat in my seat. Again the Spirit commanded, “Shout!” I thought, “But I don’t feel like shouting. I don’t have any spirit of shout about me!” I tried to dismiss the idea. The Lord would be obeyed and for the third time, ordered, “Shout!” This time I knew it was God. Swiftly the events of the day sped through my mind, and I thought, “I have a lot to shout about!” Getting to my feet, I shouted and danced up and down in front of the church with my hands above my head, praising the Lord with all my heart for His goodness to me. When I seated myself, I still felt nothing. The next day the Lord revealed His reason for my shouting. One of the ladies who had been with me when Elizabeth was born, told her unsaved daughter-in-law about the miracle of her birth. She declared, “Well, I wouldn’t believe it if you 104

Chapter XVII weren’t the one who tells it!” That night she insisted on accompanying her mother-in-law to church. She was going to see if Sister Roos was at the night service. They came in late. She noticed I was seated in my usual place. “I’ll bet she is wearing house slippers and Brother Roos had to carry her in!” was her mental comment. Just then I got up, walked to the front of the church, and danced and shouted and I was wearing high heel dress shoes she could plainly see. Oh, my lovely Lord Jesus doth all things WELL! During family prayer one night, Carleen then about four years of age, picked up something from the floor. In a sleepy moment she put it in her mouth and choked on it. We heard her struggles and rushed her to a table under a bright light where we could look into her throat. There appeared the point end of what seemed to be a small fine hairpin. It was so far in her throat we could not grasp it. Carl pushed it down further in an attempt to make 105

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her swallow it. She began to turn black in the face and her eyes swung back into her head. She was choking to death. Desperately we called on the Lord, utterly helpless, imploring Him to undertake. Suddenly she relaxed and her eyes swung slowly back into their normal position. I asked if she had swallowed it. She merely closed her eyes in agreement, too exhausted to speak. Quickly I undressed her and put her to bed so thankful she had been spared to us. She fell asleep immediately, waking the next morning her usual self, apparently none-the-worse for her near-shave with death. Elizabeth was about a month old when I began to have dizzy spells accompanied with blindness and nausea. I had to fight to stay on my feet long enough to prepare lunch for my school children. I did not know what was wrong. I committed myself to the Lord, remembering Jonah 2:8, “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.” These attacks occurred regularly for maybe six weeks. One night I accompanied a friend to a 106

Chapter XVII healing service out of town. We were late and had to sit near the front to one side. When they finished singing, a minister came to the pulpit and said, “The Lord has just told me that there is someone here tonight who is suffering from diabetes, and if you will come forward for prayer, He will heal you.” I waited, very much interested. He repeated his statement adding, “You may not know that you have diabetes, you just know you are sick.” The Spirit began to move upon me and as I looked to Him, He said emphatically, “He means you!” “Why, Lord,” I replied, astonished, “I’m not sick!” A mental picture of myself staggering around my kitchen just that morning flashed before me. Again the Spirit said, “He means you!” Sure that I was being led aright, I went forward and said, “Brother Hagin, I don’t know about the diabetes, but the Lord wants you to pray for me.” Looking at me searchingly, he smiled and answered, “Well, you are the one!” He laid his hands on my head and prayed for my body, rebuking the disease. I returned to 107

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my seat not a little amazed at the tender provision of the Lord. I felt no different. I was feeling just fine. My trouble only came in spells. I went home that night believing God did the work in my body. The next morning, I was just as sick as I had ever been. “Lord,” I prayed, “you do not make fools of your people. You said if I would allow that brother to pray for me, You would heal me, and I will believe You before I’ll believe what I feel now!” Taking that stand day after day, I realized about two weeks later, I was completely free of symptoms and that several days had passed without one attack of any kind. That was the end of this trial; Healing brought about by the redeeming work of the Great Physician. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.” Psalms 103:2-4. In May, 1950, David graduated from high 108

Chapter XVII school, and in June we left Arp to pastor Cottonwood Church near Alba, Texas. This was a country church, and they went all out to welcome us. The fifteen months we spent with them is a warm memory. In July, 1951, God gave us another redhaired doll, Lois Priscilla, weighing six pounds and five ounces. Three weeks before her arrival I wakened one night feeling something was wrong. I got up and instantly I stood in a pool of my own blood. I was stunned! Nothing like that had ever happened before. Carl propped my feet higher than my head, but I was hemorrhaging and no way to stop it. I had no pain. I simply felt nothing. Praying together, God’s promise to me months before came sharply to mind, “And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfill.” (Exodus 23:25-26). 109

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Carl and I laid hold of this promise, claiming its fulfillment. A peace possessed me and I KNEW the work was done. It made sense to me to spend the next two days in bed, staying off my feet because my delivery was very near. Two weeks later, I had another hemorrhage, but not as severe as the first. When “the number of my days were fulfilled,” Lois was born easily and quickly with no after effects. How tender and gentle is the dealing of the Lord!

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Chapter XVIII

In September, 1951, we moved to Lufkin, Texas, where friends had kindly rented a nice apartment for us. This was purely a move of faith. God had opened no other door, and yet He would not allow us to remain in Cottonwood. Some asked for services, so we opened our home to them. Later we moved this work into an office building and continued meeting there for a year or more. In October, 1951, we withdrew from the church system with which we had been affiliated for a number of years. God had prophesied through a gifted brother that He would “remove the bit and the bridle and set us free” before we even left Cottonwood. He promised further to lead us to a land where there were many giants, but we were not to fear them. Of course, we had no idea what all this meant, but filed it away in our memories against the day it would be made plain. December, 1952, one of those giants reared his head and roared. Our children were dismissed from school because they lacked 111

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smallpox vaccinations. Carl appeared before the school board and presented our case. The board itself was friendly and probably would have granted exemption to their ruling (as so many other schools had for us), except they were under obligation to back up the superintendent of schools in all his policies whether they agreed or not. Carl met this superintendent in his own office and gave him our testimony for about thirty minutes. He was cornered and miserable, but adamant in his stand. The children must be vaccinated before they could return to school. Because they sought to enforce this ruling in our case, it made it necessary to fine-comb the entire school system for every unvaccinated child who was compelled to be vaccinated immediately. Of course, we did everything possible to see that our children were placed in some school, but found that schools outside of Lufkin district who were willing to accept them unvaccinated, also required a fee of from ten to twelve dollars a month for each child who did not live in their 112

Chapter XVIII school district. Since we had six school children at the time, this cost was prohibitive. Twice in the three and one half years they were out of school we tried to move into another district, but were definitely stopped by the Lord. It was so obviously the hand of God, we suffered the discipline of continued waiting although we could not understand. We were sharply criticized by even our friends for our stand. But what else could we do since we had a choice. There is NO LAW in Texas demanding smallpox vaccination of school children; this was just a school ruling. If it had been a law we would have had no choice. For years we had leaned heavily on the arm of the Lord... had tasted of His resurrection LIFE and found Him faithful in every instance. Should we now turn back to the inadequate, muddy stream of what man could do to PLEASE MAN? We counted the cost and submitted to pay the price... a price with tears! We told our older children they were free to make their own decision. Dee was a junior in high school, John 113

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was in ninth grade, Paul in sixth, Joe in the fourth, and James in second. David was already in college and away from home. They decided they would trust the Lord to work out our difficulties and would NOT be vaccinated. We tried to set up study periods at home, but found it difficult. The older children started corresponding courses in high school subjects, and eventually Dee took an accounting course at the business college in Lufkin. Later she took entrance examinations and entered college for two years, majoring in voice. To this day we do not know the reason for this trial. I cannot describe what I went through personally. My suffering for my children was a d-e-e-p down thing that only God could handle for me. Why, Why, Lord? was the constant cry of my heart. He drew close to me and comforted me, but did not change the circumstances. I knew a dying to self that I had never experienced before... it was agony. I felt like an Abraham offering up his Isaac. We had started on a road, and there was no place to compromise or turn back. 114

Chapter XVIII In September, 1956, the Lord suddenly moved and proved His power to put our children in another school district without cost to us. Each child was allowed to select the grade they wanted to enter. Joe, who had left school in the fourth grade, became a freshman in high school and graduated four years later with honors. James entered sixth grade, Carleen fourth, and Philip the first grade. Of course, their adjustment was a difficult matter, but God stood with them in this and helped them to surmount all obstacles. In 1953, Paul, then about thirteen, was roller skating with Dee, when he fell and broke a bone in his right forearm. Picking himself up, he noticed the bone protruding under the flesh, and gritting his teeth, he struck it sharply with his other hand, knocking it down in place. Instantly he was deathly sick and suffering intense pain. Dee brought him home. Carl made a splint to support the broken bone, and then we prayed for him. The pain tapered off, and when he went to bed he slept all night. With God all things are possible. He wore the splint for a day or two and then just a leather 115

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strap for the next few days. In a matter of five or six days he was using his arm normally. About the time Carl was meeting with the school board seeking an exemption, the Lord was speaking to me of other matters. “Call him Peter,” said the Lord. “He will be your last child and will be a great blessing to you!” Comforted by this revelation and happy over the thought of the joy promised to me by Peter, I asked the Lord to do two special things for me. We lived in a two story house and our bedrooms were on the second floor. There were about twenty steps in the staircase that led upstairs. I knew from past experience that coming down stairs for a short time after a new baby came, I felt a dizziness that could be serious on such a long flight of stairs. I knew, too, I would need real strength to climb the staircase, perhaps many times a day. I asked the Lord to make me completely equal to the challenge. Little red-haired Peter was born just before midnight June 30, 1953, with just Carl to assist. 116

Chapter XVIII The birth was quick and completely normal. I rose with my family the next morning and went to the head of the stairs. “Now Lord,” I whispered, “Let it be!” I took hold of the railing and walked downstairs without a trace of dizziness or weakness of any kind. Climbing the stairs was no problem either. I felt good, my strength sufficient for many more steps than were there. How my heart rejoiced. Being now the mother of eleven children, I knew something about afterpains. One mother of eight had confided to me, her afterpains after her last child were equal to her labor pains at birth. I had never had such an experience, and I did not want one. I had afterpains that made me uncomfortable, but never unbearable, and they were always gone the third day. So I asked the Lord to greatly temper the wind that blew and reverse the order of the natural body and let my pains be nothing. This too, He did! I had merely light cramps spaced far apart and completely gone after two days. My nerves were steady and the whole experience a thing of joy. Peter was a healthy 117

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strong baby. So strong he could sit entirely alone at three months, two months ahead of our other children. I was now forty-three years old and completely sound from head to foot. Truly our God had kept and “preserved from all evil” the body that had been committed unto Him. But still another challenge lay before me; the menopause. A time of nervous torment for many women. For years I had thanked the Lord for letting me triumph over even this when my time came. He had delivered from ALL THE CURSE, which included this also. When Peter was three months old, I began to have periods when I would lose all sense of balance. I would have to reach for something to steady myself from falling. A friend informed me it was “the change” working on me. I recognized it then as my enemy and took a stand against it in the Spirit, refusing to entertain the curse that Jesus delivered me from. Oppressive headaches attacked me in the base of the brain, trying to make me sick, which I also steadily refused. This was not easy. It 118

Chapter XVIII took a constant vigilance to withstand these symptoms, but I resisted until they went. It was not always won immediately, but the victory always came. For about three months on every sign of these symptoms I held my ground by faith. Then they were gone for some time. Occasionally I resisted these headaches from then on; sometimes free of them for months, sometimes battling an hour or a half day. As I write this almost thirteen years later, I can testify the menopause has had no power to distress me. I am well, enjoying physical wellbeing. I have experienced the deliverance from all the curse of the law that our Lord Jesus purchased at Calvary. Such love and provision for our physical frames equals the care He provided for our eternal souls. He is LORD OF ALL.

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Chapter XIX

When we returned to Lufkin, Texas, in September, 1951, we believed God sent us to do a work for Him. We were not wrong about the work, but it was His work, and He took charge ordering our steps in strange ways. Our biggest frustration was that He would not permit us to build a church. When a building fund was set up as others insisted, God refused to prosper it. For years we sought to be led by the Spirit in our services realizing this was God’s way. God intensified this, BINDING us to His leading alone, no forms, no service arrangements which are common in most churches, but just what His Spirit ordered. We were dismayed to find many Pentecostal people do not like such leadership. They wanted forms! They wanted a program! They wanted church as they had always had it! Many left us to go back to the old order of things. There they had no responsibility. The minister did it all. Under such an order nothing was required of them but to be present.

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Our services were totally different. Everyone was responsible to seek God for His will. The Holy Spirit was the leader, choosing one and then another to contribute to the meeting, as He in His own way met the needs of the congregation. Here was a wonderful opportunity to grow, for actually we were in school with the Holy Spirit as teacher. All appreciated the spiritual atmosphere of the services, realizing God was beckoning them on to a deeper walk and a greater understanding of His ways, but to pay the price of submission to the Spirit ALONE, was more than they could do. So they left and we learned to let them go cheerfully. Sometimes for three or four months we would have a sizeable group, and then again we were reduced to a handful. Seeking the Lord desperately over this state of affairs, the Lord answered, “Grace, you have to be a failure!” I was dumbfounded, but as I sought for understanding. He made me to know that Carl and I were not ready for the ministry He had yet for us. We were in His 122

Chapter XIX school to learn thoroughly that there was nothing in us. No amount of talent or natural abilities was going to produce God’s work. No amount of holy zeal or fervent devotion was going to produce His work. He alone would do it. When we learned WE could not reach people, we could not hold people, THEN He would trust us with the larger ministry. Sometime in the year of 1959, Carl began to notice that a mole on his right temple was irritated and showing signs of infection. The condition gradually grew worse, until pains would shoot from his temple down his cheek to his chin. Hot pains would run in back of his eye, causing him suffering. The mole itself was extremely itchy and seemed to manufacture layers of corn-like substance until the mole “grew” out from his temple in a very noticeable way. We took the matter to the Lord and then daily by faith ministered death to the “curse.” A friend of ours who suffered from similar conditions and growths about his face, met our son, Paul, and urged him to get his father to a doctor and have the mole cared for.

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“I know what that is,” he insisted, “and it is serious!” Paul just smiled and reminded him that his Dad had trusted the Lord for years with his body, and he didn’t believe anything he could say would change his mind. But we had taken the matter to a doctor, the Lord of Glory, and He was mindful of us. This growth continued for over a year and a half, growing worse all the time, causing much pain and discomfort. In February, 1961, Carl discovered that some time during the day, the growth had dropped off, and all that remained to prove that it had been there at all, was a tiny scar. When the healing took place he was unable to tell. God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform! In November, 1961, Carl suffered a heart attack behind the wheel of our station wagon. He had just loaded an order of floor tile in the rear of the car. He managed to make it to the driver’s seat and relaxed as much as possible while he prayed and sought the Lord’s help. After about thirty minutes he recovered enough 124

Chapter XIX to drive the half mile to the shop. But that attack had taken its toll and he suffered another heart attack about Christmas of that year. In the following days he had two or three more light attacks. He grew more tired each day and life was very difficult. Yet, he felt if he ever gave in to his weariness and stayed in bed, everything was over. I believed the Lord was leading him in this resolution, and so did not question it. He went to the shop each day. I had installed a folding cot for him in the back room where he rested when necessary. One day in February, 1962, he was especially weary, very anxious to get home and to rest. Just before closing time he was helping a customer solve a problem, when a young man in his late 20’s entered the shop carrying a wellworn suitcase which he deposited on the floor and turned to me. He said a minister whom we knew thought maybe he could be of help to us in the Lord’s work and had dropped him off at our door. I was surprised, of course, but invited him behind the counter to a chair where we 125

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talked. He was very shabbily dressed but clean and neat. He was blond and fair complexion and very uneducated I realized, as I listened to him talk. None of this bothered me, for as we talked I was struck forcefully by the sweetness of his spirit; the mingling of our spirits together in the Holy Spirit. I recognized here was a rare soul and I was drawn toward him in a manner that was too precious to describe. I told him that we had no meetings scheduled and it would not be feasible to call one, but I invited him to go home with us and spend the night. At home Carl went immediately to bed. I served dinner, and while the rest were eating, I checked on Carl. He was very ill and freezing... a deep down cold that was FROM WITHIN him. His electric blanket was on high; the room was unbearably hot with a fire blazing in the fireplace and the gas heater throwing out waves of heat also. Yet he was growing colder and colder by the minute. We both understood that his heart had slowed down and his circulation was failing because his heart was not able to keep up with 126

Chapter XIX his need. Although we recognized the danger, somehow such peace possessed us both and we were not alarmed. I went back to our guest who told me some of his preaching experience and again the sweetness of his spirit drew me. I loved him; I couldn’t help it; it was that love promised by the Word that would “be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,” and it was beautiful. Our rapport was something “out of this world,” entirely of another world. Suddenly he looked intently into the dining room adjoining and then back to me, saying so casually, “I just saw an angel!” Greatly startled, I managed to answer, “You did! What did you see?” “I saw a tall man in white standing in the doorway to the kitchen,” he explained. I WAS THRILLED! I KNEW what that angel was doing in our house! As soon as I could I excused myself and hurried to see what had happened to Carl. He was sitting on the side of the bed, and had thrown off all the covers. He had been up and turned down the heater and opened both doors to the bedroom, airing the 127

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room. Answering my look of inquiry, he said, “I’m feeling wonderful! I don’t know what happened but all of a sudden I was too hot!” I told him what our guest had seen and WHO had been responsible for the miraculous change. “Praise God!” was our heartfelt cry. Carl and I are convinced that we “entertained an angel unaware.” No human being could have been that humble and yet project such godly assurance and communion to such a rare degree. He had to be more than a man! After Carl was so miraculously delivered from death by the angel (for he would have died that night without this intervention), we expected him to completely recover. But to our surprise, although the Lord had rebuked death, He did not heal Carl. For the next three years Carl dragged, and he never seemed to have sufficient strength to meet the need of each day. I could not understand it. I often asked the Lord why he hadn’t healed Carl at the same time, but He chose not to answer me. The result was I took over the running of 128

Chapter XIX our business with an assist from Carl now and then. And I was learning a new way of life also. Becoming a businesswoman and dealing with the world everyday I had so many lessons to learn. One of these was I need not fear anything. Due to Carl’s sudden illness, our gross income dropped drastically. We owed thousands upon thousands of dollars, and were not able to pay the indebtedness. We borrowed as much as possible from the bank and paid off what we could, but that was only the beginning. I had to learn to answer companies that threatened to sue us with, “Go ahead and sue!” One company sent us a note to sign in which I was to pay them so much a month of their share of the indebtednesses. I refused to sign the note, telling them they would have to be content with my promise to pay them as I could; that my circumstances were so uncertain I could make no commitments to add to my problems. They had to be content with that, and they were paid off as I promised when the Lord made it possible. In the process of time all the debts were paid in full. Where the money came from I don’t know. God kept us sustained with 129

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miracles. He was general manager of our little business. The time came when the Lord moved for us to close our business in February, 1967, selling off our stock and disposing of everything connected with it. Our children were very concerned for their father. One day Joe, who was away in college, came home and suggested that his dad take a course at the same college and start something new to get him back into the flow of things. He felt any professor he had would make allowances for his physical limitations and would cooperate with Carl in any way that was necessary. The idea appealed to Carl, so Joe drove him over to the college and he talked with one of the faculty. As Joe had prophesied the professor agreed to whatever it took to have him in class. He was allowed to arrive late because he walked slowly, and could leave at anytime he felt he needed to. This worked out well for Carl and gave him a new interest. Since he had always been a student, the challenge to study was inspiring to him. Carl at this time 130

Chapter XIX was about sixty-two years of age. He completed the course he had chosen and did well. One day in the 1965-66 school year, Joe who was still attending the university, ran into the head of the Chemistry Department and was asked, “Isn’t your father a graduate chemist? Do you suppose we could interest him in coming over here and helping us with our chemistry stockroom, it is a mess!” The chemistry department and laboratories were all located on the third floor of the science building and there were no elevators. However, he was allowed to go at his own pace and organized the chemicals in whatever way he saw best, and he was given a six-hour day instead of the usual eight. With this new challenge it seemed to be God’s time to begin to touch Carl’s body. With the help of chemistry students allotted to him, Carl reorganized the stockroom and had everything in order and operating efficiently in a short time. At the end of that school year, he felt led to leave the college and so resigned. A high school principal attending chemistry classes that summer, began immediately to talk 131

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him into coming to his high school and teaching math and chemistry classes. Carl was not particularly interested in doing this, but committed it to the Lord; besides he had no teaching certificate. Oh, he was assured, they could get a temporary certificate for him to start with. For the next eleven years he taught the math and some chemistry classes in Zavalla High School. During that time he took education courses at the university each summer, and made up the requirements for a permanent teaching certificate. Having accomplished that, he set out to get a Master’s Degree in Education and at the age of sixtyeight years received it. In 1977 he retired from teaching, only now he is called for substitute teaching which keeps him fairly busy. Today Carl is still not completely healed of a heart condition, but knows the Lord is having His way and the complete healing WILL come. He knows his limitations and tries to use wisdom in taking care of himself. During the three years of nip-and-tuck living that was so hard on him and all of us, he looked like a man in his late 80’s, he had such a blue color under 132

Chapter XIX his skin. Today his flesh is healthy and pink and his strength sufficient for every day. He is a walking miracle to many of his teacher friends who associated with him every day. One of them told him one day, “Mr. Roos, when you first came here to teach you looked so ill, that any noise we heard coming from your end of the building, we were certain was the result of your passing out. But that never happened.”

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Epilogue The following pages of this book have been written by the children of Carl and Grace. After Dad retired from teaching at Zavalla High School, Mother and Dad traveled a good bit. Some of the places they visited were: Fort Heritage Village in North Carolina; Tulsa, Oklahoma to see Oral Roberts University; Houston, Texas to hear John Osteen; Fort Worth, Texas to the Kenneth Copeland meeting, and many other places including their children that did not live near them. The primary purpose of all these trips was always to hear some Servant of God teach the Good News of Jesus’ love and His coming. No one would have called these two people elderly, because they certainly did not look or act like it. They never met strangers, just friends. People who loved the Lord and enjoyed hearing His word seemed to be drawn to them. Mother continued to answer the many 135

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letters she received from her readers. With Dad’s help she wrote and published the three hundred intercessor prayer letters and “Meditation for Today.” Dad supervised everything and everybody. Many of their readers who were traveling in Texas would stop by to visit them. They enjoyed the fellowship of each person who came. They were never lonely because they had their God and each other. In June of 1982 the Roos family held their second reunion. The entire clan gathered to celebrate Mom and Dad’s 50th wedding anniversary. We invited all of their friends to a party given in their honor at Carleen and Junior’s home. At this reunion, Mother told the family that the Lord had told her to remind everyone of their roots and that He had a purpose for their lives. She also informed them that in 1983 would be her year of Jubilee. Mother and Dad had been attending the Word of Life Center in Lufkin, Texas, where Simon Purvis is the Pastor. They had known Simon for years. Mother told her children that 136

Epilogue the Lord told her and Dad to attend Simon’s church and to help him in anyway they could. The church has a Christian school where Dad volunteered to teach science classes for a few hours a day two days a week. During the latter months of 1982 certain things began to become clear concerning Mother. She seemed to be so quiet. She spoke only when spoken to and went only to church. It was a rare occasion for her to visit anyone during this time. Visits to her house were short and quiet, for she spent her time, writing, praying, and reading her Bible. There was no idle chit chat and Dad was staying very close to home. On January 30, 1983, Joe’s wife, Ruth, called from Colorado stating she was coming to visit Mother and Dad and wanted someone to meet her at the Houston Airport. The next day we attended church and at the service Pastor Purvis stated, “The Lord told him to have everyone who had been at intercessory prayer that morning to come forward and they would pray for the needs of the people. Lois went 137

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forward to ask prayer for Mother, and Tina Fowler, who is a good friend of Mother’s, told Lois that the Lord had told her that Mother had already received all her healing. Tina could see her standing, with all her healings, and just as beautiful as the first day she met her. She related to Lois that the Lord told her to send Mother a valentine card and to tell her she loved her. Tina said she questioned the Lord about sending a card so early and He repeated his instructions and added, “Send it now!” While traveling to the Houston Airport we discussed what we thought this meant. Carleen and I were amazed that we both had the same dream concerning Mother. We related this to Lois, but still we were unsure of the answers. Ruth stayed with Mother and Dad for one week. During that period Mother spent most of her time in prayer by herself. She did not seem to be aware that anyone was around her. On February 7, 1983, Dad left for school around noon as he always did on Mondays knowing in his heart what was going to take place. His last instructions to Carleen and Ruthie was to keep 138

Epilogue her awake until “I get home!” Mother had eaten lunch with Dad earlier so they took her for a short walk. Upon returning she sat in her favorite chair and Ruthie read some letters to her. She would close her eyes, rest, and then open them again. Carleen would tell her to talk to them and she would reply, “I thought that was what we were doing.” They asked, “What do you feel like?” She responded, “Just like nothing.” Suddenly Mother said, “It’s the Holy Spirit,” and they looked at each other knowing she had not heard them at all. They recognized what was happening. They began to make calls to the school trying to get in touch with Dad. When I arrived at the house about 3:00 p. m. Ruthie met me at the back door and explained what was happening. I went into the living room and found Kathryln and Carleen praying for Mother. Carleen kept rebuking death and talking to her. She kept saying, “You can’t go till you tell Dad bye. He’ll be mad at me if I let you go without you telling him good-bye.” I knelt down by Mother’s chair and held her 139

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hand knowing she wanted to leave us, and there was nothing I could do about it. Calls were quickly made and more members of the family arrived. Dad arrived about 3:45 p.m. and immediately started praying for Mother. Pastor Purvis arrived after and we all began to rebuke death from taking Mother because we just didn’t want her to go. Then Pastor Simon told Mother that if she had seen Jesus and Heaven and wanted to go home, we would let her, but she must tell us her choice. Dad told her to say, “Jesus” in unison with us to signify her choice. She formed the name “JESUS” on her lips three times and then her spirit departed. I saw her spirit leave her face. It was like a shadow and then it was gone. It was so very quick and painless. It was now 4:30 p.m.! It was truly HER JUBILEE! She had now gone home to her Heavenly Father whom she loved so very much. My mother loved Jesus there is no doubt about it. She loved to worship the Lord. I can see her so clearly in the living room dancing in the Spirit with hands held high softly saying, “Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus, oh for Grace to 140

Epilogue love HIM more.” Since Mother’s homecoming I have had a lot of strangers tell me how much they appreciated her prayers, her words of comfort, and her support. They tell me what a privilege it was to know my Mother because she was what you saw. She was genuine, a real believer, who lived everyday by what she believed. Dad now fills his hours by answering letters, reprinting the Meditations and teaching at the school. He’s still the handiest man I know to have around the house and is in constant demand by his daughters. He has always been known as “Mr. Fix It.” This December 26, 1983, we helped Dad celebrate his 80th birthday. Dad loves the Lord and he is continuing to look forward to his own Jubilee! He likes to talk about it in great detail, already giving orders as to what is to be done. We’ve told him since he’ll be gone, we will do what we want and there is nothing he can do about it. If he wants to see it done right then he will just have to stick around. He just laughs and says he is ready anytime Lord Jesus is ready for him.

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A Tribute to Our Mother Our Mom had a heart as big as a number three washtub—and she needed it to take care of a multiplying brood that finally numbered eleven. Some people collected stray kittens. Mom collected many kids. She always had room at the table for one more, no matter what the fare might be. Sometimes it was exceedingly slim. She just added more water or decided she wasn’t hungry! Mom had eyes as gentle and soft as velvet, and yet as piercing as Teflon coated bullets. Her hands could pound a typewriter, slice up a bushel of French fries, tickle the keys of a piano, or apply a peach tree switch to a recalcitrant child. Her voice could send shock waves of fear through the heart of a kid-type wrongdoer, and yet she could melt icicles of despair from a youngster as she sang, “It’s Just Like Jesus to Roll the Clouds Away.” She could laugh at human foibles, smile at disaster, and kiss away hurt. She made us all feel special. As Joe Roos said, “She loved each one of us in such a way that we each considered ourselves to be her 142

Epilogue favorite.” Mom and Dad never disagreed in the presence of their children. United they stood before us so we could never play one off against the other. Instead of digging ditches, they built bridges. Because they had strong wills and high principles, we developed the same virtues, and because they were remarkably disciplined in family devotions, we inherited a legacy of spiritual commitment that know few parallels in our day. Our mom was Mom to many. She was a listening ear, Mother confessor, confidante, counselor, senior prayer partner, yielded vessel for the gifts of the Spirit, evangelist of the proclaimed Word of God, and an editor and writer of perceptive insight and rare talent. She offered the Bread of Life for the journey, the Balm of Gilead to the sick and broken hearted, and the Oil of the Holy Spirit for those who needed empowerment. She gave and gave, and then gave some more of herself. She was characterized by singularness of vision, obedience to God, a disciplined prayer 143

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life, purity of heart, faithfulness, perseverance, and spiritual discernment. She and Dad always spoke the truth in love as they understood God’s will for them and never gave one thought to the consequences even when it meant public ridicule or religious ostracism. Thanks, Mom! Thanks, Dad! for setting for us a bright polar star to light our way.

Addendum David Carl has his Doctors’ degree in Pastoral Psychology. His wife, Glenda, has her degree in education and is still teaching at this time. They have three daughters. Melanie is in her first year of college; Amy and Debra are in high school and will soon be following their older sister to college. Adina Grace (Dee) has a business college certificate and three years at liberal arts colleges in accounting, music and education. She and her husband both were in the Air Force for four years after their marriage and have visited or lived in five countries and as many states in the course of their careers. 144

Epilogue John Enoch has his degree in computers. He and Charlotte have one son who is still in high school. John has retired from the U. S. Army after twenty years and he is a consultant in business and computers. Paul has his own business. His wife Barbara is a very talented musician, piano tuner and repair person, as well as a mother. They have three children. Paula Sue, the oldest grandchild, received two degrees in 1983; her computer science degree and her MRS to Thomas Ford. Paul David is in his last year in college and will be getting married in the spring of 1984. Steven Carl is in Bible College. Joseph Earl has his master’s degree in math. He owns his own geophysical computing company. His wife Ruth has her degree and is a mother of two fine boys. Eric is in junior high school and seems to enjoy computers like his father. Earl is giving his brother a close race in showing him that he did not get all the brains in the family. James Daniel has his degrees in business and has several small businesses besides 145

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holding down a full time flying job. His wife Barbara is a teacher and a very fine secretary. They have two fine children, Ryan, who was born in Germany and Rebecca, the only redheaded granddaughter. Joanna Carleen and her husband, Junior, have two fine sons who are a big help to their father in his business when they are not in school. Carleen was Dad’s bonus from the Lord and she and Junior have continued to be a blessing to him every day. Trey and Michael go to the church school and get to attend their grandfather’s class sometimes. Philip Andrew has his degree in business. His wife Melanie was a school teacher when they married and she helped put Philip through his last year. They have one son and twin daughters. Philip II has his work cut out for him to hold his own with his lively sisters, Angela and Joanna. Elizabeth Ann attended two years of college and is now married. She and Donnie have one son. Jamie keeps his mother on the go trying to 146

Epilogue keep up with him. He also attends school where his grandfather teaches and he thinks that is great. Lois Priscilla and her husband have two businesses and they keep her in shape attending to them and her family. She and Richard have two very lively children, Jo-Jo and his sister Michelle. They think it is great to be alive. Michelle is the youngest grandchild at three years of age. Peter Julis is working on his degree in computer science, and helping his brother Jim with one of his many business ventures. Peter is the only one of Grace’s children not married at this time. Pete was the youngest child so he had a lot of examples to follow and overcome. This section of this book has been written to give you proof that we are all alive and that our Lord Jesus gave everyone of us a fine mind to use and the health to use it. If we did not use our minds and bodies to their full potential, then that was our choice, because we were given much more strength in both mind and body than any of us could use. There is not one 147

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of us children or grandchildren that had a serious illness of the mind or body. Our BLESSED LORD JESUS FULFILLED HIS PROMISE TO OUR PARENTS and we are all serving our Lord Jesus each in his or her way. Our prayers go with whoever reads this book that it may encourage all who need encouragement and bless all who stand up for Christ in today’s world.

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Other books

by Grace Ryerson Roos The Blood Handfuls of Purpose Prayer Letters Nuggets Spiritual Warfare Love The Voice and Leading of God

Available from: Billye Brim Ministries P. O. Box 40 Branson, MO 65615 (800) 972-3447