A Call that Reached Heaven A young girl makes a decision that changes the course of her life. By Lisa Butler

As I sat by the phone, Donna's words rang through my mind. “Give me a call if you ever need a ride to Sunday school or would like to come to church, and I will pick you up.” Should I do it? I longed for something to ease the guilty feeling in my heart. For a moment I hesitated. Then I picked up the phone and slowly dialed Donna's number.

I didn't know that phone call would change the course of my life.

When I was a very little girl, my mom had taken me to Sunday school, and no doubt hearing about the Lord at such an early age was what gave me a tender heart toward Him. Later on, my mom had stopped going to church, and then my parents divorced. Some years had gone by, and then my grandmother called the Apostolic Faith Church and made arrangements for my sisters and me to go to Sunday school on the Sunday school buses.

A Sunday morning routine

Dad didn't mind that we went, but he wanted to sleep in on Sunday mornings, and often he would not wake us up. Many times the honk from the Sunday school bus was our wake-up call. After awhile, the drivers got to know our situation. They would honk and then go to pick up other children, and come back for us later. Sometimes it would take us a half an hour after that first honk before we made it out the door, but each time our bus driver would greet us with a warm smile and tell us how pretty we looked. The truth was, we probably didn't look the best because we were getting ourselves ready, but that made us feel good and I loved going to Sunday school.

When my dad remarried, there was talk about whether my sisters and I should continue going to the Apostolic Faith Church, attend another church, or just not go at all. I wanted to stay where I was, and finally he agreed. After a time, though, my older sister decided she didn't want to attend anymore and I was left attending Sunday school on my own.

A heavy feeling inside

The year I was in the eighth grade, the Lord began showing me things in my life that were not good. I thought I was a Christian because I went to Sunday school, not understanding that going to church didn't make a person a Christian. I remember the Lord saying to me, “How can you be a Christian and do what you are doing?” I didn't know that the heavy feeling in my heart was God's conviction for sin—I just knew I was miserable. I tried to get rid of the feeling by confessing to my dad some things I had done. I hoped I would receive a punishment and that would make me feel better, but my dad just said, “That's okay. I'm just glad you told me.” That didn't get rid of the feeling.

One night, my thoughts turned to Donna, who was my Sunday school teacher that year. She had given all of us in the class her phone number, telling us to contact her if we ever wanted to come to church. That night, the Lord put it in my mind to call Donna and see if I could go with her. How thankful I am that I made that phone call! Donna was happy to come and get me, and I went to church, not knowing that God had the events of that evening all planned.

Forgiveness!

I don't remember what the service was about that Friday evening, but when it was over, I went forward to the altar of prayer and poured out my whole heart before the Lord. One by one, the Lord brought wrong things I had done to my mind, and as He did, I told Him how sorry I was. The Lord heard my prayer. As I prayed, His love and forgiveness flooded into my heart, and in a second my whole life was changed. He took away that feeling of misery and put a real peace inside. I felt so good! I went home and told my whole family that God had saved me.

The difference in me was obvious. Right away, I found myself hungry for whatever the Lord had for me. That first night, I took my Bible and read and read it. I wanted to know everything there was to know about God and how He wanted me to live.

When I got back to church, I went to the literature rack and collected one of every tract there. At home, I started reading them. How I cherished those tracts! I found out about sanctification, and I studied up on it by reading the sanctification tract and then looking up the Scriptures it mentioned. There was no argument about what I read. Instantly my heart said, “That's what is there and that's what I want to receive.” The next time I was able to be at church, I went down to the altar and prayed and asked the Lord to sanctify me. And He did! How clean and pure I felt inside.

Church was where I received my spiritual food. There were services on Tuesday and Friday nights so I asked my dad if I could go. He said he didn't mind as long as the church family could give me rides. He really didn't think they would do so very often, but they took me under their wings and gave me rides to church whenever I called.

A new way of life

For several months, this went on. My dad could see that I was completely changed from how I had been before I was saved. Before, I used to do what was popular with the kids at school. After God saved me, I had no desire to do things that were questionable anymore. Even at home I separated myself from certain programs on television. I wasn't trying to make a point, but God just put it in my heart to stay away from anything that might displease Him. The bad language was gone—not through my own efforts, but because God just took it out of my heart. There was even a change in the way I looked. There was peace on the inside and as a result I didn't look so wild on the outside.

The changes in me started to cause tension between my dad and me, and that was really hard. My dad and I had been very close and I looked up to him like any fourteen-year-old would. I didn't want to damage the relationship between us, but I had to compare the values he was teaching me with what the Bible taught. God was faithful to me and showed me in my heart what was the truth. Even though I loved my dad and respected him, God had to come first.

Increasingly, my dad and stepmother were on my case. When I did something they did not like, I was told, “You are never going back to that church again.” I really had to pray and trust God to help me because church was everything to me. The time came when my dad said I could no longer go to church on Tuesday nights. Then they took me out of Sunday school, saying they wanted me to attend the church they were going to. If I did the slightest thing to displease my parents, I would be grounded from church entirely. At first it was just for a week but gradually the time was lengthened.

My own worship time

The Lord was faithful to me, though. The church services were recorded and tapes were available on a library basis. Each time I was taken away from church, I would have tapes to keep me going. One time I accidentally stepped on a vacuum cleaner, and I was instantly grounded for three months. But just the service before, I had gotten a whole bunch of Tuesday and Friday night tapes from our youth leader. When I went to my room to pray after being grounded, I remember thinking, At least I have those church tapes. So, every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday night at 7:30, when church started, I would go in my bedroom and listen to those church tapes. I would have my own church service, singing the songs and listening to the testimonies and sermons. Then I would have my own time of prayer, and the Lord would just be in that little bedroom holding me up. What precious times I had with the Lord!

When I was about fifteen, I heard about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I looked into it just as I had done when I heard about sanctification. I could see that it was in the Scriptures, and my heart began to hunger for it. I started searching my heart and really praying hard. For about three months, I sought the Lord for that experience. The Lord would show me things in my life that I needed to consecrate to Him and one by one, I would surrender them to Him—it was a real growing time with the Lord.

I had never seen anyone receive their baptism, though I had heard about it and knew that the witness was speaking in another language. One night after a youth service, the Lord answered my prayer. As I prayed that night, the Lord just gave me an extra bit of faith and I received my baptism. Oh, what an experience that was! The Lord filled me up and let me really feel His presence in such a wonderful way.

A point of crisis

Little did I know the trial that was ahead. A short time later, my dad told me, “Lisa, you are causing a division in the family and we think you need to go to counseling.” How that hurt my heart! He had arranged an appointment with a counselor at the church he was attending, and told me if this man thought I should continue attending the Apostolic Faith Church, I would be allowed to do so. On the other hand, if he felt it was disruptive for me to go, then I could never go back to the Apostolic Faith Church again.

I remember taking that whole situation before God and saying, “Help me!” It looked like the odds were against me because this counselor was a member of my dad's church. What could I say to him? It seemed like the Lord just spoke to my heart and said, “Tell him your testimony.” So I told the man in great detail what the Lord had done for me: how He had saved me, sanctified me, and had given me my baptism.

As grim as the situation seemed, God was in control. After the sessions were over, my dad came to me and said, “The counselor said that you should be allowed to go to the Apostolic Faith Church. He feels it would be very unhealthy for you to be taken away from that.” What a huge miracle! Once again, the Lord had showed Himself strong for me. Through this, He showed me that He would not allow me to go through anything I could not handle with His help.

Answered prayer

God continued to keep His hand over my life. Shortly after that, I met a wonderful young Christian man who later became my husband. God has blessed us with two children and what a privilege it is to raise them in a Christian home! The Lord gave me a huge burden for my family and I really started praying for them. Two of my sisters were saved, and then my mom gave her life to the Lord. I am thankful that the Lord really does answer prayers!

Today my life is proof that if you want to be saved and kept by God, He will save you and keep you. It doesn't matter what comes your way, He will take the heavy end of the load and carry you through it all. I can't give Him enough praise for what He has done for me.

 
Lisa Butler is a member of the Apostolic Faith Church in Woodlake, California, where her husband is the pastor.