A young woman learns that God’s will is perfect.

By Holly Friesen

While I was still in junior high school, I prayed, and the Lord saved me. Then He sanctified me and filled me with His Holy Spirit. I know that was what kept me a Christian through the hard times in high school. No doubt everyone who has gone through high school has had some hard things.

I’m so thankful that the Lord teaches us all along the way. When I was a sophomore, my Sunday school teacher brought up the issue of music: What kind of music do you listen to, and what effect does it have on your life, testimony, and reputation? My heart was tender, and the Lord told me I needed to change what I listened to. A collection of a hundred CDs or tapes is expensive, and I didn’t have the money to go buy tapes that would be edifying. However, the same month that I purposed to obey the Lord, my grandma decided she did not need her collection of tapes, and she gave me the entire case. There was nothing unedifying in Grandma’s collection! The Lord takes care of every situation. He knew that what I was listening to was having an effect on my life, and He knew I could do better if I would just go His way.

After high school, I went to college and had some part-time jobs, two of which involved a lot of driving. Recently, I was thinking about those hours on the road, and that I never had an accident, even though I didn’t have much driving experience. My company required me to use two telephones at a time, with a computer in the truck and a map and notes in my hand, but the Lord was always there to protect me.

God is able to do anything, and He has taught me that it’s all right to pray about everything. I remember praying over my computers—they got out of control sometimes, and I didn’t know what to do. The Lord knew what to do. There’s no technology beyond His wisdom, that’s for sure. I’m so thankful that it doesn’t matter where you are or what’s going on, the Lord can take care of it.

At camp meeting one year, the Lord cornered me up and said, “You know, you keep telling Me that you want My will in your life, but there’s one thing that you decided, and you did not ask My opinion.” I had decided that I did not really want to get married. My intention was to buy a Victorian house and restore it. I had my life all planned out. When the Lord told me I needed to let go of that, I just broke down before Him. It was really hard because the plan was so firmly decided in my mind it never dawned on me that it might be vetoed. Finally, I said, “OK, if You promise to tell me who and when, so I will know without a doubt, then I’ll do it.” God fulfilled those requests, and I knew for sure who and when to marry. I still have no doubts or regrets about my marriage. My husband is my best friend, next to the Lord.

After we were married, I had a health problem. The doctor found some growths. He gave me medication and told me to come back in a certain number of days so he could measure and see if they were growing. I took the medication for a couple of days and then thought, This is kind of interfering with God’s design. The next day, three ministers prayed for me, and I didn’t take any more medication. When I went back to the doctor, he could not find anything to measure. There was nothing there. That’s how well the Lord can heal.

One Saturday our toddler crashed when he went down the driveway a little too fast on his tricycle, and I thought I might need to pick out the crumbs of his teeth and straighten his nose. I was thankful to see it wasn’t quite that bad, but when it was time to go to bed, his face was still pretty sore, and I could hardly get the shirt off over his head. We prayed and asked Jesus to make it better really fast. When we said Amen, he reached up and rubbed his face and said, “All better, Mom.” Oh, my faith is so small. If I could just learn from that!

The Lord is still teaching me in His gentle way, and I want to thank Him for everything He has done for me.

Holly Friesen is a member of the Apostolic Faith Church in Chehalis, Washington.