Most Christadelphians would choose to live near an ecclesia and their brethren. I know I would but circumstances dictated otherwise.
Shortly before our daughter was born, we moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. We already had two boys aged two and four. Since my husband was not then in the Truth, I knew the responsibility for presenting God’s word to our children would be mine. As the Truth was the most important thing in my life, I had no fear of that, especially since I was confident God would help me accomplish what had to be done.
From the time the children were 2, 4 and 6, we attended the annual week-long gathering at Hye, Texas. The gathering was held on a rustic camp ground with no modem facilities. We slept on cots under the stars cooled by the breezes off the Pedernales River. For weeks, I would work with my children, helping them get prepared for the children’s program. Before getting them dressed in their best, I had to bathe each child in a wash basin. For the most part, that’s not like Bible schools today.
For many years, the children received Sunday School lessons that were sent to them by brothers and sisters in California. That was such a wonderful work; I was so grateful for their help.
When the children were teenagers, my husband announced he had taken a job in Vietnam. You can imagine how I felt. I was to stay behind with the complete responsibility of bringing up our children isolated from brothers and sisters. But more than ever, God was working in our lives. When our eldest was nineteen, he came to me and told me of his wish to be baptized. Because of circumstances, I had to put him on a bus to Houston, Texas, unable to accompany him on this wonderful occasion. That has been one of the biggest disappointments of my life. I was told he gave a wonderful confession of his faith and was baptized the next day.
My husband told me I could sell our house in Corpus and move to Houston, if that’s what I really wanted to do. Being a part of the ecclesia brought me more joy than I could have imagined. I became the pianist and had to be very sick before I would miss a meeting.
Later, the two younger children were baptized. But the greatest blessing of all came when my husband’s work transferred him to Houston. He asked if he could join me in doing the daily readings. Then, he started going to meeting with me. Soon, he was attending a first-principle class with the children; he so enjoyed that because they were marking their Bibles in detail. There he learned the basics of the Truth.
Later, we were transferred to North Carolina, back into isolation. But it wasn’t the same. For the first time, I didn’t feel like I was alone. Soon after we arrived there, my husband told me of his wish to be baptized. A brother who was leaving Houston for New Jersey stopped by North Carolina and examined Scotty. He was baptized in the Atlantic Ocean. Just as he was being “buried” in the water, an enormous wave covered him. We lived in North Carolina for four years, and then my husband was transferred again — this time to Glen Rose, Texas — where we live now.
It is much easier now that we are together in the Truth, but life still has its complications. We try to keep the faith because we know God is not far from us and we know His way will bring us ultimate blessings.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One