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By PAULETTE ARTEAGA Love At First SightThere is no time like the present to hear a story like the simple yet beautiful love story found in the book of Ruth. Especially since everyone around the world and amongst us Christians as well, are thinking of what gift will express our love the best this year for our Valentine. Whether it may be a dozen red roses, a box of chocolates, a bouquet of balloons or perhaps a love letter. Allow me to share with you a love letter that was written by a young Apostolic brother in the year of 1936. He wrote:
It was love at first sight. The young sister had no intentions of ever responding to this letter. As a matter of fact she was quite angry. Her first love was Jesus. She was afraid that if she took interest in a young man, she would lose sight of her love for Jesus. The Lord was everything to her. He met and filled every need in her life to that point. This is her simple beautiful love story. She met Jesus through a stain glass picture window of Calvary, while being escorted by a Nun to her first Catholic Mass. She asked the nun, "Who is that man?" The Nun answered, "That man is Jesus. He is your heavenly father, and He died on the cross for you and me and for the rest of the world." You see, she did not know her biological father; he died a sudden death before she was born. The nun went on to tell her that she could talk to her heavenly Father anytime and any place. Her heart immediately filled with excitement. It was love at first sight. She separated herself from friends and classmates and began walking and talking with Jesus. Taking the long way home so her rondevues with Jesus could be lasting. One particular day she came across a path and heard music… piano music… she peaked in to the opened door of a white chapel where the music was coming from. She watched a Christian woman playing the piano. The next day she went again. This time the woman was waiting for her. It was as if she knew the young girl was going to return. She asked the young girl: "Would you like to come in?" Startled with delight she answered "yes!" The woman was the pianist of the Methodist church. She taught piano by note and offered to teach the young girl. Oh she didn't teach her traditional songs like, "Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star", or "Mary Had a Little Lamb". No, she taught her hymns such as "What a Friend We Have In Jesus, "The Old Rugged Cross", and "On How I Love Jesus". And it was through these hymns that she learned that Jesus was not only her heavenly father, but her friend too. Her passion to learn more about Jesus grew stronger and at times she felt overwhelmed. She needed the Holy Ghost Saints! An Uncle came to visit one evening. He invited her mother to church. She said, "No but take my daughter, she's always in church." The young girl went to an Apostolic service for the first time. And when entering, she felt the presence of the Lord like she never had before. She fell to her knees on the sand because there was no flooring of any kind. And with a shout! She said, "Lord this is what I have been looking for!" God filled her with his spirit, and she spoke the heavenly language from dusk to dawn. At the following service she was baptized in the precious name of Jesus and her love for Jesus became more intimate then ever before. She was one of the first pianists in the Apostolic Assembly and was loved and admired for her love for the Lord.
A few months after receiving the letter, she saw that the young brother had a great love for the Lord and for the church. She could see that his hands were gifted…gifted with the trade that Jesus had as a young man. He was a carpenter. He built pulpits for Pastors and put in hardwood floors as new congregations developed. She believed that if she was going to fall in love with any man, that he needed to be as much like Christ as possible otherwise she couldn't love him. She favored him with an introduction and at their first meeting, he offered her a soda, a 7-up. This was her first 7-up she ever tasted. In return she played the hymn "The Old Rugged Cross" while he hummed along. "It was love at first sight." They were married on November 21, 1937 in Los Angeles, CA. They settled in their first home on Van Ness Street in San Francisco and with the grand opening of the Bay Bridge, they crossed it and never came back. He bought a piece of farmland and built their first house. It was a brand new colonial two-story house! He was a brilliant carpenter. And as the family reached 7 children he built a bigger house. It seemed that their life together was going well. Then one day while working on a church in southern California he suffered a heart attack. Not fit to travel, he took 6 months away from home to recuperate. Only to be told that he would not be able to work again. This brought fear into the mind of the couple. The husband feared for his family that he would no longer be able to provide for them. He felt as though his wife would no longer love him. Torment, anger and frustration began to creep in his life. Pleasant it was not. Becoming caught up in the fear of survival for their family. He turned to achohol. This is the time when Satan takes advantage of us. It doesn't surprise me. The bible does not speak as much about the power of Satan as it does about his cleverness and deceitfulness. He looks for the moment you have your guard down and he makes his move. It was a time of crisis. It is known that a woman never shows her true colors until a time of crisis arrives. It is at this point that her life seems to parallel the life of Naomi. In the book of Ruth chapter 1 verse 20 reads as follows: "Call me not Naomi (pleasant), call me Mara (bitter): for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me." Naomi felt the Lord had dealt with her harshly. Her life began to be disappointing. But she knew and believed that even in the midst of the greatest of suffering and adversity, God is good and full of mercy. She referred to His power by calling Him "Shaddai", Hebrew for "Almighty" and understood by some to mean "all-sufficiency." The wife realizes that she was being put through the fire of purification. She began to believe that even though it would be temporary, they would be separated for awhile, because she knew in her heart that God would make a way. She missed him. However, she never let despair set in. Oh sure she had her moments where she would pour a cup of coffee for "Mrs. Self Pity", but never let her stay long enough to take her faith. She kept her faith intact. God must be trusted "for better or worse":
As time went by, she kept herself busy by playing her piano. Apostolic young couples were calling from all over the state of California asking for her to play the piano for their weddings. She never said no. She taught singers hymns to sing at these special celebrations of love. Prayers hymns and love songs. Some of her favorites were, "He can calm the raging seas, He can turn the tides"- Matthew 8: 27: "Who can this be, that even the winds obey Him". Another favorite, "Whither Thou Goest" - Ruth 1:16 & 17: "For whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, (where you die) will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me (if anything but death parts me from you)". And her all time favorite, "The Lord's Prayer" Matthew 6:9: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen." No one ever suspected that her own marriage had issues. They too were able to feel the love she had for the Lord, it showed, it glowed it over flowed. As the years went by, still trusting in the Lord, as Naomi had done, she went from motherhood, to mentoring their children as they began to grow. And one by one they came to be loyal to her and found refuge in God. Just as Ruth had done when she returned to Judea with her mother in law Naomi. She sought the Lord daily and the children watched, heard and learned her prayers. They also witnessed the answers. Proverbs 31:28… "Her children arise up, and call her blessed." In these last days, we seem to get caught up in the daily lives. We see our children grow rapidly before us. And before you know it they have reached their adulthood and leave the nest. And we ask ourselves did we do everything we could to lead them in the right direction? We can no longer have control getting them up early Sunday mornings for service. No more trying to watch over them 24 hours a day. No more trying to know where they are at all times. Just trust. Trusting in God for His protection. It is important for us to become mentors to our teenagers and our young adult children. We need to turn those "hard to follow church rule books" into "easy to follow no failure in prayer journals", so they can see for themselves the results of our prayer lives. Young people will fall in love with us in a whole new light, and will honor us for introducing Christ to them and soon they too will learn to develop their own relationship with Him. This love story goes on. She suffered a great stroke that had left her in a full coma. Doctors gave her 48 hours to live. "She is brain dead" they said. But the Lord… He had a different plan. During those hours He confirmed the promise of eternal life that was waiting for her (John 3:16) and told her it was not her time… but I need a carpenter. Five months later the Lord took her husband and she began to slowly wake from her coma. Today she lives on. And from her bed-ridden condition, surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren she still is able to lift her hand and PRAISE THE LORD!
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