Testimonies from Victory Temple

The Secret

On October 21, 1985, my mother died of cancer. We had prayed for her healing, but, the Lord God who is sovereign over all and does not make mistakes, took her home to live with Him. She would have been 63 years old on October 24.

She was the mother of seven children and she had lived a faithful and godly life. Her example as one who truly knew and loved the Lord Jesus Christ, made everyone know that this Christian choice for one's life was a sure foundation. I Peter 2:6 says it best:

"Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded" (meaning "confused or bewildered, ashamed or embarrassed").

Her husband had died unexpectedly in 1973, leaving her, then 51½ years of age, with a 16-year-old son and a small business to care for. Having been widowed at such a young age, she entered into a covenant with the Lord.

The covenant she made was that the Lord would lead and guide her every move, and that the Lord would direct her in every way.

In the covenant, she asked, "Lord, if I am ever to remarry, you have the man bring a bouquet of violets and I will know that this is God's will for me."

After thinking about the request, knowing how hard flowers are to come by in the southern Texas town where she lived, she decided to just ask for purple flowers to be involved in each step that she was to take, and she would know that God was leading her.

No man ever came into her life.

She had a small business of a small hotel and some apartments. Because of the strain of trying to keep up the work load, she thought maybe she should sell the property. She prayed and asked the Lord to show her what to do. Should she stay or should she sell?

A wild vine of morning glories began to grow up the post on the front porch of her home office. This is very uncommon in the southern Texas town where she lived because it is so dry there. There is very little grass, much less flowers.

The morning glories bloomed and bloomed, so she felt the Lord was having her wait. She said, "Thank you, Lord."

One of her sons, thinking she just couldn't make up her mind, bought a For Sale sign and put it out in front of the property. She went out and took it down. She felt she should stay put as long as the purple flowers were present.

It never gets very cold this far down in South Texas and a frost is something they do not see very often. But, a frost came and the vine of morning glories went away.

She put the For Sale sign out again because the Lord had spoken to her while in prayer that the sale would be fast, so get everything ready. It sold fast-she had two weeks to get out!

One of her daughters lived nearer to her than any of the other children and she invited her mother to come and live at her house until she could know what the Lord's will was for her. She prayed and asked the Lord to help her make the right move. When she walked up the sidewalk to her daughter's home, the flower bed all along the walk was covered with tiny purple flowers. They had not planted them. They assumed they were wild ground cover. As mother walked into the house, she whispered, "Thank you Lord."

She was new in the area and needed a friend because her daughter, who was a school teacher, was away all day. There was a park a couple of blocks from her daughter's house and she began to walk every day in the neighborhood and around the park.

She asked the Lord to allow her to get acquainted with some of the ladies in the neighborhood, and to be able to get into some of the homes to pray and have Bible study with them. She asked the Lord to lead her to the right home.

One day while walking in the park she met a lady, Ann, who was walking her dog. She was new in the city also. Her husband was a professor at the university there. Ann invited mother home with her for coffee. When she opened the door, there on the dining room table was a huge bouquet of purple flowers! Mother whispered, "Thank you, Lord."

Mother invited Ann to go to church with her. Ann went to church and was so moved by the Word of God and the Spirit of the Lord that she knelt at the altar and gave her life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Later, she became the Women's Missionary Council leader in that Assemblies of God church.

Mother was invited to visit around with her other children.

1. She went to her youngest son's home and her little granddaughter came in to greet her with a big handful of wild flowers she had picked for her — they were purple.

2. Her next visit was to a daughter's home in South Texas. The city had put in a new water line and had dug up part of her backyard. When they left, they left a strip of loose dirt. Thinking it would be a good place to plant some flowers, she planted a package of seed she had. They all came up and were purple.

The same daughter also lived in Scotland where her husband worked with an oil company in the North Sea. She invited her mother to come over there and visit. Mother really didn't want to go because of the distance, but the Lord spoke to her and said, "The door that I open, I want you to walk through." She flew over to visit, and when she landed, the hills were covered with purple heather. It was 1978. Five years had passed and God was still faithfully leading.

There was a lady there from Louisiana whose husband was working in the North Sea. She was having many problems and wanted to go back home to the United States. She and mother returned to the United States on the same plane. She shared her many problems and mother began to talk to her about her soul and her need to find Jesus as her Lord. They prayed together and the lady wonderfully gave her life to Christ. After they were back in the United States, the lady wrote regularly and mother was able to disciple her and lead her into spiritual growth. This dear lady loved my mother and later, when mother became sick, she traveled a long distance in a bad storm, to be with her one more time before her death.

3. Next, she came to my house. I have never in my life owned an African violet, but two days before she arrived, a neighbor called and asked me if I would keep her violets while they were away on a two-week vacation. Her little boy pulled them up the hill to my house in his wagon and she showed me how to take care of them. When mother arrived, in the breakfast room window was a huge African violet in full bloom! She whispered, "Thank you Lord." The Lord can even cause your neighbors to go on vacation at just the right time!

4. When she visited her son's home, his wife also had an African violet in her kitchen window.

Shortly afterwards, she became terminally ill with cancer and I invited her to come to live at my house. A morning glory vine had grown up outside our dining room window. It got so large that it began to cover the entire window screen. It was getting so large that it was pulling the screen out. I had my son go out and pull it up because it was ruining the screen. It grew right back and covered the screen-again, in full bloom. It was so beautiful that I did not remove it.

Later, she told me she would look at the morning glory every day and give thanks to God. She had not said a word when I had our son pull it down. It was after this that she told me about the covenant.

The Secret

She told me she had a secret she wanted to share with me before she died. She said she had not intended to tell anyone about the covenant, but because the Lord had been so faithful to her, she felt she must leave such a testimony with her children and grandchildren.

First, she said that I must promise to keep it a secret until after her death because she did not want anyone or anything to get in the way of the covenant. I could not imagine what she was about to tell me.

Two weeks before she died, my sisters and brothers all went to the funeral home to pre-arrange her funeral. We were choosing the casket and looking at the burying gown. There was one gown hanging separate — completely across the room — all by itself. It looked like her size, so I walked over to look at it. It was her exact size! It had tiny purple flowers all the way down the front and around each sleeve cuff.

I asked the funeral director who had put this gown aside and for whom. He said he did not know how or why it was hanging separately because it was not sold. I could not say anything to my sisters — I had to keep the secret — so I moved away from the gown. They were looking through the other gowns when my sister, Doris, looked over and saw the gown. She said, "This one looks just right for her," We all agreed on the gown! In my heart I knew that God had placed it separately.

After the funeral, that night in my living room, I shared the secret with my brothers and sisters. We all sat there in total silence!

You may think that it was all over and the Lord had forgotten all about that covenant, but, one year later, on the exact day of her death, I received a card in the mail from Hospice. The front of the card was purple and had beautiful purple violets on it! I am sure Hospice sends cards out to each family who has lost a loved one, but they knew nothing about the covenant.

It took my breath away. I could hardly walk up the sidewalk from the mailbox. I was so in awe of the faithfulness of God. I felt God had prepared this just for me. She had died in my home. I had taken care of her for eleven months and I felt God was just reminding me that His will had been done and that everything was alright.

The song that we sang at mother's funeral was the testimony of her life:

Heir of salvation, purchased of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.

Her name was Ruby.

His name is Jesus.

(Used by permission December 12, 2005)