We had a lady, Donna Huff, in the small church where I grew up. Her husband divorced her for another woman, and she was alone for many years before she met and married a godly layman in our church. They had a few great years together, until he contracted Dementia. He eventually passed away after a battle with cancer.
I remember sometimes hearing her sing the Andre Crouch song “Through it All.”
But in every situation
God gave me blessed consolation
That my trials came to only make me strong
So, I thank God for the mountains
And I thank Him for the valleys
And I thank Him for the storms He’s brought me through
For if I’d ever had a problem
I’d never know that God could solve them
I’d never know what faith in God could do
But it wasn’t her suffering that defined her; it was her service.
She served the church beautifully. She taught Sunday School—6th grade to high school freshmen—for 19 years! The first time I walked into her class as a 6th grader, I noticed she had everybody’s name written on the board, with one group of names on one side, and another group of names on the other.
On January 21, 1981, I came to faith in Christ at a Monday night revival meeting. On our way home, my mom said, “We need to call Ms. Donna,” and so when we got home, that’s just what we did. I remember her saying, “Dean, I’ve been praying for you to make this decision. It’s the greatest one you will ever make.”
What I didn’t know is that the board in her class represented her prayers: the names on one side were people who knew Jesus (spiritual life), and the names on the other side were the people who didn’t (spiritual death).
And on that Monday night, even though she was already ready for bed, she put on her robe, ran over to her parents’ home to get the church key, because they cleaned the building, and then she went over to the church, and erased my name that was on one side of the board and wrote it on the to the other.
It makes me thing of a song lyric: “Hell lost another one…I am free.” For 19 years, she prayed boys and girls like me from spiritual death to spiritual life. Unknown people like her in unseen places make spiritual investments and have gospel conversations, day in and day out.
For Ms. Donna, that meant 19 years of long obedience in the same direction, taking spiritual ground one inch at a time.
Learn more about the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and the missionaries it supports at anniearmstrong.com.