Ron Hutchcraft Ministries

A Visit From a Neighbor

A neighbor rescued me about 43 years ago when I was about 22 years old. I had only been married for 2 years and was working on my master's degree. I was always busy studying. My neighbor had a habit of coming over to my mobile home to chat. This one particular day she came over with her cup of coffee and her two little girls. I was irritated, since I was trying to study for an exam and was in no mood to visit.

I do not remember what we were talking about, but for some reason she asked me the question, "Are you saved?" This question really annoyed me and I wanted nothing to do with the word "saved." I was raised in a denomination where that word was never used. I had been led to believe that if I was pretty good and didn't do anything really bad, then I would probably end up in heaven.

In response to her question, "Are you saved?", I replied, "I guess so." She then asked, "If you were to die today, would you go to heaven?" This time I was really offended that she would think that I was not going to heaven. I answered, "I hope so." Then she stated, "If you don't know that you are going to heaven, then you aren't "saved." Now I was really mad, but didn't let on to her. She took her kids and went home and was I relieved!

To Know For Sure

After she left, I began to be haunted by her words. "Could it be possible that one could know for sure that he/she were going to heaven?" I kept thinking about this for some time. I continued to attend churches with my husband, but refused to join any of these churches since I did not want to be baptized. I had been sprinkled as an infant and that was good enough for me. One year later we moved to a small town in Missouri where my husband got a job teaching in a Christian college. I finally decided to join a church because I thought it would "look good" with my husband's job.

As I was being baptized, I gritted my teeth as I was lowered into the baptistery. Of course everyone thought I was a Christian, but actually I still had no clue what the word meant. We became active in this little church, attending every time the doors were open. All this time, my neighbor's remarks still bounced around in my head.

The Courage

Finally about three years after her visit in my living room, we were attending a week long revival at our church. Each night I felt a strong pull to go forward, but each night I resisted that pull. Finally, on the last night of the revival and two weeks before the birth of our first child, I gave in to the call of Jesus. I went forward to repent and asked Him to come into my life. This was done quietly in my own heart. When the church secretary asked, "Are you rededicating your life?", I just let her assume that. After all, as far as she knew I was already a Christian.

A year later we moved back to Texas and two years after that we moved back to my hometown. We joined a church and I finally confessed to our pastor that my first baptism had been under false pretenses and I would like to make public my conversion and be re-baptised with the proper frame of mind. I later wrote to the neighbor who impacted my life and thanked her for having the courage that day to say what she said. If she had not had the courage to offend me, I might never have found Jesus and consequently our four children might not have found Him either. I praise God that now the oldest of our ten grandchildren has now accepted Jesus and I look forward to seeing the rest of them do likewise. Thank God for my rescuer!

D.B., Texas