Love, Joy, Peace...

A Faith that Lives by Patsy Danec

Perhaps more than a treatise on “faith”, these next few thoughts will be a tribute, an encomium to two people who embodied the faith of the scriptures.
Hebrews, the eleventh chapter is an often read commentary on faith, but not so much on the “faith-life” as it is a memorial to those persons who evidenced their faith by the way they lived their lives.
The first verse of this chapter is probably one of the most quoted, most memorized verse in the entire New Testament. The NIV says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”. The King James translation says “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen”.
My mother and father manifested that “substance”, the essential nature of faith, in every area of their lives. Life for them was not an easy one. It was fraught with much illness and a meager amount of this world’s treasures. Yet God used them to build a church in a small rural area which to this day is still a candle burning with the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ in its little dark corner of the world.
If I would have written that wonderful “heroes of faith” chapter their names would have been among them. How blessed I was to grow up in a home which displayed that kind of faith.
The following story is told partly in my words and partly in the words of my mother.
It was June 1944, a small group of girls were having a wonderful time “playing church” out under a tree in the back yard of our home. (I was privileged to be one of those little girls.) This caught the attention of my parents who many times had expressed a definite conviction that God wanted a work for Him established in that community.

The girls were invited into our living room where we had a piano and there they began a real Bible Class accompanied with singing, refreshment and games. This became a regular Wednesday afternoon event throughout the remainder of the summer.
In the words of my mother, “One very special afternoon, I shall never forget, following the lesson, my husband gave an invitation and five or six little girls bravely came up to where he stood to receive Jesus Christ into their hearts, unashamed by the tears that were flowing freely. He knelt with them and pointed them to the Savior.” God was beginning to honor the faith of two of His saints.
When school started the girls wanted to continue to meet so it was suggested that the day be changed to Sunday and an invitation given to the parents to come also.
At that time World War II was in full swing, gasoline was rationed and most people didn’t have gas to drive into town to attend church. Of course, God had it planned that way. His timing is perfect and my faithful parents followed as He led.
Invitations were sent out, parents and children came. Sunday School classes were organized, preaching services began and souls began to find Christ. To quote mother again, “These were precious days. Folks seemed hungry for the gospel, the Spirit of God was truly working in hearts.” All of this was taking place in our home. My father was working a fulltime job, pastoring this infant work and trying to further his knowledge of the scriptures by taking correspondence courses from various Bible Institutes.
Life was hard, but I never heard them complain because their faith was beginning to establish a church.
In November of 1944, an offering basket was placed on a stand near the front door of our “church-home”. A small savings account began with the hope that someday they would be able to purchase a small building. This was a poor community, a war was going on and this seemed like a faraway dream. However, faith was there working the evidence of things not seen.
The church was charted in 1945 and given the name “Myland Memorial Community Church” after a godly man by the name of Dr. Wesley D. Myland. In his declining days Dr. Myland spent much time in prayer that a gospel center be raised up in that little community. Many years later the name was changed to “Faith Bible Church”. What an appropriate name for this work of faith.

Dr. Wesley D. Myland

By 1947 our house was bulging at the seams. Efforts were made to find a place torrent but to no avail. With the donation of property purchased by my father adjacent to our home and $1,800.00 in the savings account, in the spring of that same year the men began digging the footer (by hand) and laying the foundation. The building became usable in the spring of 1948. Let me quote mother, my hero of faith, “We bow our heads in awe and thanksgiving as we recall the marvelous way our Father provided for our every need. Many times supplies would be ordered without money to pay for them and without fail, by the time the supplies had arrived the Lord had proved the money.”

God was blessing this little work and Satan hated it and worked overtime to try and destroy what God was doing. There were many sleepless nights, tears, prayers and hard labor that went into the building of that work, but never lack of faith.
As the fledgling work began to grow it saw the need of supporting missionaries and took on the support of two ladies, one in Japan and one in Africa.

The summer of 1948 was a blessed one. The little church was able to move from our home into the new building even though there were many things yet to be finished.

In 1951 two more lots next door to the church were purchased and used for a parking lot with the faith that someday it could be used to build an additional “wing” onto the existing building.
In 1958 this dream became a reality. The bank approved a $13,000.00 loan which along with the $5,000.00 that had been saved was the exact amount of the lowest bid accepted by the board for the building of a brand new wing which would house nine extra classrooms, a nursery and an assembly hall.

By the last of October 1958 the “new wing” was up and under roof, but it was during this period of that God once again began to test the faith of the two people whose faith gave them the vision for this work. My mother was diagnosed with cancer and even though many prayers of faith were lifted up for her healing God chose to take her home to be with Him in February 1959. Shortly before her home-going mother wanted so desperately to see the new wing. My father picked her up bundled in blankets and carried her thru the new section. Her words were “The new section is far beyond my wildest dreams. All glory and honor and praise to Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.”

Mother’s home-going was a sad but precious time as many people honored her for her deep and abiding faith. Someone said of her once “she has shown us how to live and now she has shown us how to die.”

How I praise God for parents who consistently showed me how faith lives. They fixed their eyes upon Jesus and with faith and perseverance ran the race that was marked out for them.
May that be true of each one of us and may our prayers be that we will truly be women committed to showing others how faith lives.

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