WHEN I WAS LYING IN A HOSPITAL BED IN ULYSSES, KANSAS over 40 years ago, I had a Baptist Minister visit me as I was not in my HOME TOWN at the time. My sister's Pastor had come to see me after the birth of my daughter. My third child and so happy to be a mother of a couple of boys and now the chance to see how a baby girl would be.
I was in a weakened state as I had delivered a baby the day before. Not quite ready to jump up and down to run a marathon. I was in a weakened state like most women after having given birth to a baby. In walks a minister to minister to me. I guess he thought he was being a good Christian Baptist man to visit a sister of one of his flock.
Any ways, he was forward to tell me that having a baby really wasn't the right thing to do as we have such a wicked world to bring a child into it. I was a tad bit taken back as I was the one to have given birth to a precious baby girl. A beautiful baby girl that was made in the image of God. Yes, it is a wicked world we live in still I believe it is part of our earthly ministry to make this ugly 'ole world a better place to live. To God be the glory great things he hath done.
This same man had told me that his wife had died, that he didn't realize that she was as sick as she was and she died. Quiet in the room. I was a captive audience not going anywhere very fast. Perhaps this is why he came to the Hospital where he could unload statements to those who were held captive by their hospital bed in a weakened state? Now what?
Why would this elderly man come to see me as I lay in the hospital bed recovering from a BIG WORK OUT? What was his idea of ministering to me by telling me that bringing a child into the world really wasn't a good thing? How is that going to bring glory to GOD in the highest? It doesn't.
What a horrid thing to say to a mother? Where he was at mentally only God knows. His put down was awful. To this day, I do not understand his reasoning. If I can say I have had horrible things said to me in life, I can say that. This was an awful thing to say to a woman who had given birth. Awful.
After having a baby there can be a rush of hormones flowing through the weakened state of a woman's body who has given birth. Have mercy. I suppose this Pastor did not fully understand how a woman's body worked. I had things happen to my body that I had not experienced with the births of my sons. I did have postpartum something or other syndrome. I placed baby clothing in a drawer and when I went to look for them I couldn't find them. I sent a birth announcement to a friend and when I saw her she asked me what I had had. I sent her a blank announcement. grins. I had something going on.
It's been a long hard road for me traveling through this world entangled in religion. My personality type is one that wants to please GOD. I was tender toward God since I was old enough to understand that there is a GOD.
I was going to church since I was in my momma's womb. I was raised inside the Methodist Church where the salvation message isn't the same as it is presented in a Baptist Church. Still I love the LORD, believe HIS HOLY WORD and think about heavenly things. I don't completely throw out the earthly side on planet Earth. To one who actual believes in the salvation message, it doesn't have to be presented to you at a rally or Church altar call. The Bible tells us to believe and it is in believing that we are born a new. It doesn't have to be at a BILLY GRAHAM CRUSADE that tells you to come up front while the choir sings JUST AS I AM. You do not have to accept Christ only at Church to be truly Born Again through Christ. You can accept him in the privacy of your home or in a Fabric store.
Another time I was at my Sister's Church when a different Minister found out that I was Methodist and he told me to my face when I was being introduced to him, "I don't like Methodist!" What was I suppose to do and say to him, "Welcome to the club?"
My sister would apologize to me afterwards that this man said what he said to me.
Once I went to an AGLOW MEETING with a Tulsa friend over in a different town. My friend asked me to go with her, but since she was elderly I drove my car. The meeting was what I expected until afterwards when we visited with others. Here comes a pretty young thang with slender body and long hair. She asked me what Church I went to and when I told her Methodist, she said those are the ones who do not believe in Jesus's salvation. I told her that I did believe. Well, I do.
I wonder if this gave her something to think about that she didn't know before about other people not in her denomination. That there truly are real believers outside her clan. The one true Church is the body of Christ believers not a denomination. Do you know how many denominations teach that their's is the one true Church? Many.
I'm not sure what she thought of a Methodist that actually believed in Jesus's SALVATION. Being born again. The spiritual birth that Jesus speaks of. Did she go home that day scratching her head that someone outside her Church said they were a believer without being a member of her denomination? Did she question my sincerity that I really couldn't be born again because I was a Methodist? "That poor woman is so mixed up. She thinks she is going to heaven as a Methodist. Doesn't she know that she must be a member of my Church, the one true Church, in order to be born again?"
What I believe is what Jesus teaches, Ye must be born again.
Believing Jesus the Messiah is the only begotten son of God who died for mankind's sins, was buried and rose from the dead, sitting at the right hand of God. Born again with a spiritual birth.
The young woman was a Senior in High School that was HOME SCHOOLING herself as she was married and had a baby. I guess I was as surprised as she was that someone was living the way she was. She truly was an individual. I wonder where she is today as this was about 26 years ago. She'd be about 43 years old now days and her baby older than she was when I met her. Time flies. Like a vapor.
I was impressed that she was HOME SCHOOLING herself while being married with a child. She was doing something I hadn't thought of before. Schooling oneself.
My Mother completed her schooling by getting a GED when I graduated from the 9th grade ready to go to the high school the following school year. I remember Mom telling me to not tell anyone she was doing this in case she wasn't successful at it. She was successful.
She dropped out of school to marry my Daddy. She was about 16 and a half years old and got married! A child bride, but oh ever so mature. She'd marry my Dad and three years later have a baby. While she was childless, she worked various jobs. I can see my Mom as a young woman working in her pearls wearing red lipstick, pretty clothing and a stylish hair do.
I am so pleased that I have a BIBLE that I can read for myself growing closer to our CREATOR. You do not have to fly around the room watching Martha Stewart glitter fall from the ceiling or fall over backwards in a trance to have a personal relationship with GOD. You do not have to pay God off with filthy lucre to receive the Holy Spirit or to have God's favor.
As for that minister that said bringing a child into this world was a bad thing...that child that I gave life to over 40 years ago has brought so much joy into my LIFE. She is a joy. She is such a huge blessing to so many that it is a shame that that pastor never got to know her and how precious a difference she has made in this ugly 'ole world. A shame. I can pity the man that said what he said to me. Pity him. How very sad to believe the horrible thing he said to me so long ago.
When someone says something horrible to you, it may shock you. It might even offend you at the time and you might be held captive by the sound of what came out of their mouth. You may have been like a deer in the headlights or felt nothing at all. Perhaps the ugly things they said can be looked at as a gift in the long run. A gift. It gave you reason to think other wise.
~d~
PS. I am no longer a Methodist. Nor am I a Baptist. I am a child of GOD and a part of that remnant of true believers. It goes against the grain. You see it isn't the church building or name on the membership roll that saves you. It's your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life that you want. Receiving Christ is what puts your name in this book. You do not have to clean up your act before getting good enough to be saved. God will take you just as you are and then He will help make you a different person that now has His spirit in you. Knowing how you are to live can be read about in the Bible. If you know how to read, then you can read the Bible or listen to audio recordings. I like the King James Version. The thees and thous become second nature after a while and not hard to understand. God bless and He will see you through.
