My mother knew there was power in prayer and her petition was . . .

God, You Stop Dolly!

By Dolly Walker

Though I was just a child of seven years at the time, I well remember a day when my mother’s pastor came to our house. The year was 1934, and we lived in the State of Florida. The pastor and three others were planning to leave for the Apostolic Faith camp meeting, which was to be held across the country in Portland, Oregon.

That was during the Depression, but my mother wanted to do something for the pastor and his wife. She prepared food for them to take on their trip, and as they packed it into the rumble seat of their 1928 Model A, I could see how thrilled my mother was that they were going to our church headquarters.

When they returned from their trip, they brought exciting news. Although we children weren’t allowed to join in the conversation, we listened! What wonderful stories we heard of how the Lord was working and answering prayers.

Called together to pray

The most important thing to my mother, in bringing up her eleven children, was that we would know Jesus and serve Him. She had a strong love for the truth, so though times were hard and we were unable to get to the Apostolic Faith Church about twelve miles away, mother made it a practice to have family worship in our home. She would call us together to pray, and we had to keep quiet unless we were talking to Jesus. Mother would get on her knees and say, “Everybody pray.” Then she would go around to us children on her knees. She would lay her hands on our backs one at a time and pray for us.

Those times of prayer made me uncomfortable, because deep in my heart I wanted the ways of the world. When mother would come to me, she would say, “O God, You stop Dolly in her wild career!” I would look around out of the corner of my eye and think, I wish she would quit. But my mother knew there was power in prayer. When she would get to the end of her prayers, she would say, “God, when I’ve done all I can do and justice is satisfied, I want my children to be with me in Your Kingdom.” Many times she would then break down and start praying all over again, and it would seem as though she prevailed another hour for me.

Went my own way

In spite of those prayers, I went my own way. My ambition in life certainly wasn’t to be a Christian, though I had felt the call of God from my earliest childhood. At the age of fourteen I left home. I was supposed to be going away to work so I could buy myself some school clothing, but I thought of it as getting away from the family altar and from the mother who was praying so earnestly for me.

To my surprise, I found that when I got away from home, I missed it. I went to the shows and danced the heels off my shoes in a dance hall. But wherever I went, mother’s prayers followed me: “God, You stop Dolly.” A few weeks away from home was enough for me. Conviction settled so heavily on my heart that I went back to our little country home and began seeking the Lord.

I didn’t want Mother to know I was praying, because I thought if I could get rid of the awful conviction that was making me so miserable, then I could go on my way. However, instead of lessening, the conviction became greater. I remember once that I went into the backyard to a little place where I thought I could pray in secret, not knowing Mother had been watching me. When I came out of my place of prayer, Mother was standing under the hickory nut tree with her hands behind her. She knew I was praying—she went into the house and called us all to prayer!

I knew then that Mother knew I was seeking the Lord. I still don’t know where she got the money, but some way arrangements were made, and a little later she announced that I was to go to the Apostolic Faith service that night. I went to that tabernacle, and I cried my heart out to Jesus, but I knew I hadn’t really prayed through. Mother had said that when you got saved you would know it, and I wanted to know that I was saved.

A promise to Jesus

By the next day, word had gotten out that Dolly wanted to be saved. There was no preacher to hold a service that night, but our Sunday school superintendent and my mother held a cottage meeting with a group of us young people. That night, as I knelt and prayed with my face buried on my arm, I promised Jesus if He would come into my heart and make me happy, I would serve Him.

I will never forget what happened. As I began to raise my head toward the sky, peace dropped into my heart. I knew that God had forgiven my sins. I knew that my name was written in Heaven. Oh, the peace, the joy that I felt! I had never lived for Jesus, but I knew I had victory in my soul and I would be able to live for Him. The next day, I began to realize how complete the change was. I didn’t want to dress as I had dressed before. I wanted to look like the other church people. I felt different inside and out.

The day I was saved was August 15, 1941. The following Sunday, Mother took us to the Apostolic Faith meeting that was held near Flomaton, Alabama. I knew there was more and I wanted whatever God had for me. A real revival was breaking out; the night I was saved, three other young people had given their lives to the Lord also. The devil had told me before that if I got saved I’d always just be with old people. But the night I prayed through, I didn’t care. I had such a hunger in my heart for Jesus that I felt I would be willing to stand alone with old people.

That Sunday a group of young people had heard about what had happened on Friday. As I knelt, seeking the Lord for sanctification, the altars were filled with seekers. Some were seeking salvation, others sanctification. The Lord came down and sanctified me and some others who were seeking that experience. Before the day was over, several of us were seeking the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

A smile from the inside

Shortly after I felt sanctification take place in my heart, the minister saw the glory of God on my face and he said, “Look at the smile!” I didn’t realize I was smiling, but I knew that something had taken place in my heart that was different from salvation. Somehow I felt that God had cleansed my heart.

As my Sunday school superintendent knelt before me, he said, “Dolly, God will baptize you if you will believe it.” He encouraged me to praise the Lord. As I praised Jesus, each praise got better, got sweeter and deeper, until it seemed all I wanted to do was praise the Lord. As I began to say, “I praise You, Jesus” I could tell something was happening. The Spirit of the Lord took over and baptized my soul with the Holy Spirit, and I heard myself speaking in a language I had never learned.

After I was saved, I felt that I would have to give up my education because I couldn’t go back to school with the old crowd and live for Jesus. But as I walked out of the tabernacle after the Lord baptized me, a Voice spoke from Heaven and said, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” I didn’t know that was in the Scripture at that time, but the Lord let me know that I could go back to school and live for Him. I was a sophomore in high school that year, and Jesus kept me there with the victory.

A trip to Portland

The spring I finished school, a group of us young Apostolics were in the potato field, and we began to talk about Portland’s camp meeting that was coming up. I knew we were poor, and I never dreamed I would ever get to Portland, but Mother heard us talking. She asked me, “Would you really like to go to Portland?” Of course I said yes. A bit later that evening, Mother walked the two miles into town. When she came back, she told me to get my things ready; I was going to Portland! An elderly sister was planning to go, and I was going with her. Excited? I should say I was!

We went by train, and the trip in the early part of July took several days. I shall never forget how I felt when I came on the campground for the first time, that summer of 1944. The campground looked so beautiful. When I came to the meetings, I wept when the people testified. I wept when the preacher preached. I wept when I went to the altar. Everywhere I went, I had a song in my heart: “It’s Heaven on earth to me; I’m as happy as I can be.”

When I arrived, I think I had less than $3 left, but I did some laundry for some of those staying there at the camp meeting, and God provided. In fact, I stayed in Portland until the fall of that year and worked and made money enough so I could go back to Florida.

That trip was a beginning. I knew that God was calling me and that I wanted to dedicate my life in service for Him. By the time I was nineteen years of age, I made the consecration to do anything Jesus wanted me to do. In 1949, I left home again, but this time to go to Kansas where I ministered for more than twenty years. Then God called me to Oklahoma to work with the Cherokee and Ponka Indians. A co-worker and I were there for some time, having vacation Bible schools and workshops, especially with the children. We saw God work in a miraculous way, and many were saved. Later, God called us to move to Newfoundland. It has been our privilege to labor in that part of Canada for a number of years now. We’ve witnessed healings and conversions; we’ve seen people receive sanctification and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

My Great Physician

The Lord has been my physician for almost forty-four years. When Jesus saved me, He dropped faith into my heart to trust Him for healing. I can’t say I’ve always had perfect health, but I’ve never met with a circumstance but what I’ve known that Jesus was there to help me. My trials along the way have been to prove the power of God. I have never had to take a backward step because of my faith, and God has proved a match for every situation.

Someday by God’s grace I know that I am going to walk on streets of gold. There I want to see Jesus—the One who died for me, saved my soul, sanctified me, baptized me, and Who has given me power all these years to live a life above sin. On that day it will be my privilege to bow before Him and to thank Him for His redeeming grace. It is my determination to be faithful to the Lord and never to compromise this wonderful Gospel.

Dolly Walker ministered in many Apostolic Faith churches, and was a faithful servant of God until the day in 1988 when she stepped into the presence of Jesus.