Chapter Three
He Reached Down His Hand for Me
After reaching my lowest possible point in life, God really worked on my behalf, but I did not know it yet. Some time passed and I was no longer involved in most of the sinful pursuits that beset me. Behind the scenes, God orchestrated the events that would bring me closer to Him. Unbeknownst to me, part of the plan was to meet Shelly, who would soon become my wife.
My mind goes back to a cold January night in Pennsylvania when the supernatural hand of God touched our lives. I was suddenly awakened about 4 a.m. to some very unfamiliar sounds. I did not realize my wife had been up praying most of the night. While I was sleeping, Shelly was having the most glorious supernatural experience. She was sitting on the floor in the hallway, without the ability to stand up, speaking in a language I could not understand. When I confronted her, she had such a radiant, supernatural glow about her; I had never seen her so happy and full of joy. She radiated with an incredible peace, but yet was extremely excited.
She began reading the Scriptures to me. Keep in mind, she was a former Catholic and I grew up a Baptist. I used to read the Scriptures to her because her Catholic church never explained the Scriptures to her. I knew I was going to heaven because I was baptized in the Baptist church. I had my baptismal certificate and my once saved, always saved belief.
She explained by the Scriptures how she was born again, how her sins, which were of scarlet, were now white as snow. She told how she was going to spend eternity with our Lord and related different Bible stories to our personal lives. She then told me how God loved me and had a work for me. This was odd to me as I thought I was already born again.
One of the main stories in the Bible told her we were going to have another child and that she would be pregnant in exactly three months. You can choose to believe whether it was God or not, but we had a baby boy whom many of you know today. His name is Robert and he was born exactly one year later.
I had no idea what to think about the condition my wife was in. The only thing that made any sense to me was to take her down to the mental hygiene to see if she was all right.
I tried to see what was on the television, but with a major snowstorm going on the only thing available was the 700 Club; Gerald Derstine was giving his testimony. I called them and when I told them what was happening, they found it very amusing. They assured me she was okay and was having a supernatural experience with the Lord Jesus. All I knew was, if this was for real, I wanted it also!
They referred us to some local ministries that ultimately led us to the founder of Christian Retreat, Gerald Derstine in Bradenton, Florida. This is where we attended ministry school. It is interesting that Gerald Derstine was the one on the 700 Club that snowy January night.
During this period of time, we became personally acquainted with Gerald Derstine and his family. Our Lord used them mightily to play an integral part in Shelly’s and my transformations.
We attended the powerful School of Ministry there at Christian Retreat. They sponsored a different prominent guest speaker/teacher every week, which gave us many different approaches to our new lives. We stayed there for many months after the school was over, sorting out God’s next move in our lives.