A Brief Testimony

A Picture of Our Little Family of Yesterday Starting Over
In front: Me and my sweet baby sister, Sheila
In back: My older brothers, Rex and Rocky, standing beside our dear, loving, steadfast mom, Dorothy Rowzee

Frequently I'm asked, “Rita, what makes you so happy? What keeps you laughing and singing?” It's a fair question, especially after 9/11. There's tragedy everywhere. We read the newspaper gore, hear the dismal court rulings, and witness cultural demise all around us. So why laugh? Why sing?

Jesus warned, “In the world you shall have tribulation…” But he was quick to add, “But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” If we know Jesus, we know The Overcomer of this world, and he gives us the ability to walk as Overcomers in it. It is His precious Spirit that gives us life and laughter and song. His Spirit, His Life — springing up like a fountain on the inside — that sustains us through each hardship and trial.

Everyone, no matter who we are or where we're from, has known some degree of adversity. I encountered my first dose as a small child in Mississippi. I was only six years old when my father walked into our kitchen, his bags packed, and announced to my mother, my three siblings and me that he was leaving. In an instant, my whole world changed. Within hours I found myself in the backseat of our old Ford Fairlane with my brothers and sister, headed toward “the country” to be close to my mother's family, and to start life over. We took nothing with us except each other and the clothes on our backs.

I am thankful every day that my mother cried out to the Lord in her time of need. She ran to Him rather than away from him, and the God of all creation heard and became a husband to my mom, and a father to her children. Eventually, we settled into our new home, and every time the nearby country church opened it's doors we went to hear God's Word and sing of His faithfulness. I can still hear the old piano pounding out a hymn as the fans turned 'round and 'round above our heads. As the congregation stood to sing, I stood too, on the hard, dark pew and sang along with them as loudly as I could. Oh, How I Love Jesus! Love Lifted Me. What A Friend We Have In Jesus. The words rose and fell within me. He was alive and I knew him!

In time I experienced first hand all the benefits that go along with serving a risen Savior. Independent of circumstances, I found He remained closer than a brother. He was my true Father. He never left or forsook my family or me. He was our rock. As a child, He put a song in my heart, and the song has remained. Now that I'm married, raising children of my own and facing different tribulations, I often hear the hymns from the country church of my childhood. They comfort and encourage me. Today more than ever before, those wise words reverberate deep in my soul, reminding me of who I am and of who He is in me. And I join with St. Paul in praise and adoration, declaring, “Thanks be unto God which always causes us to triumph in Christ.”

Why do I laugh and sing? Because of who He is.

 

“A Ministry of Refreshing for the Body of Christ.”