Far Reaching Love, Terri Lamb

The Lord's rich mercy and compassions brought me back to Himself after an 18-year hiatus. During that period of time, I went to school to obtain my education in psychology and interior design, got happily married and had a child. Life was good--I was very happy and fulfilled.

I received the Lord when I was 13, but drifted away at age 18. During the next 18 years, I thought about the Lord every so often. When my son was born, I felt to consecrate him to the Lord, though I wasn't sure that the Lord heard me. After all, it had been a while since I had spoken to Him. When my son learned to enjoy books, I watched him read his father's old Bible storybook from cover to cover, many times over and wondered what he found so fascinating about this book. As more years went by, the Lord would come to mind again and again, but I quickly dismissed each thought. It was not until one Easter vacation that the Lord did call once again, much louder this time, yet ever so gently with His love. My son was watching a movie about Jesus in another room. I walked in the room just at the point when Jesus was being crucified. My son was sitting on the sofa crying, trying to hold back the tears that were streaming down his face. My heart opened and His love flooded me--God was truly real and His love reached me after so long a time through my son. I wanted my son to really know this God.

By the Lord's sovereign arrangement, I was brought to the church in Irvine. My son began to go to the children's meeting and eventually received the Lord and was baptized when he was in 6th grade. As I began to meet with these believers, I found my God-given spirit within me awakened--I was spiritually starving! But here in the local church I discovered I was in a rich, green pasture--the Good Land! These believers read the Word and prayed the Word! They sang and shared their experiences of the Lord and really ENJOYED God! I wanted this too! I wanted to know God in this way. As I began to meet and pray-read with them, my spirit was revived and I was thoroughly fed with the riches of God's Word. The Bible was no longer dead letters but became spirit and life to me. The Lord's light shined within my being and God was no longer the objective God up in the heavens. I began to experience the Lord in a very real, subjective, sweet and enjoyable way every day. What was even more precious was that I was not alone in this, but was with many others who enjoyed the Lord and experienced the Lord in such a real way. Those believers encouraged me, as well as one another, to love the Lord and His Word and to pursue Him daily.

As my hunger and love for the Lord was enlivened, I wanted to read everything I could find about the Lord. The church had a bookstore with many books written by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, and I began to read these books. What I found was that the ministry of these dear brothers was full of the Lord's light and grounded solidly in His Word. They have opened up God's Word in such a living and comprehensive way to me, that I can't help but be brought into God's presence and be nourished and encouraged. Once an avid reader of fiction and science fiction, I no longer have a desire to read those books. I am, instead, inspired to read the Life Studies of the Bible and all the other books written by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, even if it takes my whole lifetime. Their writings have truly enriched my life and experience of the Lord in more ways than these words could ever adequately express. Their own lives, given in absoluteness to the Lord to meet His need and desire for the building up of His Body, are a real pattern to me today. I am so thankful to the Lord for His far-reaching mercy and love to have brought me to the local church and the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.