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My Story (Bible Study Series)

by Pr Douglas Jenkins

by Pr Douglas Jenkins

Title            What is the Bible?
Theme        My Story

(This is part 7 in the Bible Study series.  Part 1 is found in edition 4, Part 2 in edition 5, Part 3 in edition 6, Part 4 in edition 7, Part 5 in edition 8 and Part 6 in edition 9 of the online magazine.)

 
There is a purpose in telling you MY STORY. That is for you to  realise how God will guide in your life, if you are willing. God has a plan for each person, but it depends on the individual as to whether that plan is fulfilled.

For you to benefit from this story, it is essential that you focus your attention on what God did. The events in my life are not resultant from my own actions. See it as what God will do, even for you.

My parents set the pattern for my life. Father was an efficient, successful civil engineer. He became Chief Civil Engineer for the British government, in Malaya. He was a firmly established  atheist -- cynical nature, totally self-sufficient. Mother was a kindly, yet firm mother. She achieved her aim of becoming a pharmacist. However she was a dis-illusioned Protestant believer. She enjoyed outdoor games - tennis and swimming. Mother was an efficient household manager, and astute with money.  She trained me with high

ideals, and the will to work.

With all of that background, I had no religious inclinations. My mind-set was largely from my maternal heredity. My early years I  lived as most people do, with no special concern for my destiny.

I was born on the island of Penang, Malaya..Our home was on the mainland at Kulim.

A couple of months after birth I was less weight than when born. I had tropical Dysentery; and I could not digest  nor assimilate food. There was only one European doctor; and he told mother not to worry about me, "just let him die, there is no hope".

Mother was not willing to let me die. She was given a Truby King book on rearing infants, with simple treatments for babyhood sickness. Mother found  treatment for my condition. She boiled barley and strained the water.  Then she added a small teaspoonful of cream. She fed this to me every hour, with one teaspoonful per time. I survived and improved.

Consider this -- I had a terminal sickness. No treatment known then. I was doomed to die. However, God intervened and enabled Mother to successfully treat me, with God's help. Evidently God had a definite future-plan for me . I realise this was a miracle, and God was merciful. I discovered His plan for me years later. See what God did!

I also owe a lot to my loving Mother.  She carried me on a pillow, cradled me on her lap, all day and night;  if she put me down on any hard surface my bones would bruise my skin, and I would be in pain.

But that was not all.  When I was about six years old I was diagnosed as having  Tubercular glands. Mother was told that I only had life-expectation to about nineteen years of age.

At this time Mother became separated from my Father.  She decided to return home to England, but the doctor advised her to go to New Zealand instead. A better climate for me. When I was seven years old Mother migrated to New Zealand on board the Marella.

The ship called at Sydney, Australia.  There was a coal-workers strike, so the ship could not be refueled.  Sailing was postponed until coal was available. So Mother went ashore to find a family she had reference to, should she need help. They kindly introduced Mother to a Specialist-Doctor concerning my ill health. He persuaded Mother to stay in Australia -- a better climate for my condition. We disembarked from the Marella, and lived at Leura, in the Blue Mountains.

With good care, proper diet, sufficient outdoor activity -- cycling, horseriding, walking to school, I actually improved in health.   Gradually I became more robust.  Then when I was about twelve years old, the Specialist pronounced me cured of the disease. Again, I am sure The Lord restored me to health, as then , there was no expectation for cure. Another miracle. Why ? Surely the Lord had some reason to do so. Again, see what God did!

Note: The treatments used in each case were not specific cures. They were only treatments to help me survive. Undoubtedly the Lord intervened by His power to preserve my life for some future purpose, should I  be willing.  

I feel constrained to testify that :" I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Psalms 34: 1. I am convinced God had a special reason for preserving my life twice.

Later you will read about God's plan for my life, but in the next issue we will talk about what Worship is.     

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