Great Is His Faithfulness: True Stories to Build Your Faith

By Rebecca F. Rhea

Have you ever wished you had more faith? Are you in a situation that seems truly hopeless? Be encouraged as you read these real life stories of Gods faithfulness at work at a very difficult time in our families lives.

From author Rebecca Rheas testimony of being adopted and finding her birth parents to her husbands involvement in a debilitating car accident, these stories share the many miracles that God brought out of what could have been a hopeless situation.

God has proven Himself faithful over and over again, and He is no respecter of persons. What He has done for us, He can do for you!

Great Is His Faithfulness is not just a fascinating testimony of Gods miracle power; it is also a story that every person can identify with in many ways. Allow Rebecca Rhea to take you on a journey of youthful vision, death of vision, hope, despair, and a tenacious trust in the faithfulness of a God who is good.

Rebecca Rhea shares her powerful testimony with an honest and humble heart, giving God the glory for all the amazing miracles she and her family have experienced. This book will build your own faith and your confidence in a God whose faithfulness is great.
Ben R. Peters, BA, MDiv, author and international conference speaker

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 4, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449775858

Rebecca F. Rhea

After a car accident caused her husband to be disabled for over six years, Rebecca’s faith was put to the test. During this crucial time, she was able to see the hand of God at work in miraculous ways that showed not only His limitless love for His children, but also His unending faithfulness in every situation. Rebecca resides in Dixon, Illinois, with her husband of twenty-eight years and their five children. She has been a home-school mother for nineteen years and has two married children, one full-time college student, and two that she continues to teach at home.

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Copyright © 2012 Rebecca F. Rhea

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Cover photo by Emily Rhea.

All scripture taken from Amplified bible.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7585-8 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7586-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7587-2 (hc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012921404

WestBow Press rev. date:11/30/2012

CONTENTS

Preface

1. Father Of The Fatherless

2. True Love

3. The Unexpected

4. Blessing Amid The Turmoil

5. More Surgery

6. Uncertain Times

7. God’s Faithfulness

8. New Beginnings

9. Finding More

10. Enjoying The Blessings

11. Through The Fire

12. A Blast From The Past

13. The Time Is Right

14. Stepping Stones

15. The Church

16. His Everlasting Love

PREFACE

I will sing of the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness from generation to generation.Psalm 89:1

When the Lord told me that He wanted me to write a book, I was willing to obey but not quite sure how to go about it. As I started to write, He led me to share the stories of His faithfulness in my life throughout the years and also the lives of our family members. Jesus has done so very much in our lives that I’m thrilled to share these stories with you.

I hope and pray that through these pages to follow, you will find new hope for whatever your situation may be and the grace to trust in a loving heavenly Father who wants to bless His children with good things.

Being brought up in church all of my life, this hymn comes to mind whenever I think about God’s faithfulness. Let the words of this beautiful hymn speak to your heart as it did to my mother’s one day so many years ago. Upon hearing this hymn sung on WMBI radio (Moody Bible Institute,Chicago around 1946), my mother dropped to her knees and dedicated her life to Jesus for His use.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with Thee:

Thou changes not, Thy compassions, they fail not;

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,

Join with all nature in manifold witness,

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain:

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Words: Thomas O. Chisholm

copyright 1923. Ren. 1951 Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188 www.hopepublishing.com

All rights reserved. Used by permission.

CHAPTER ONE

Father of the Fatherless

This journey that we call life, can surely have its ups and downs. If I had known all the detours that life would bring my way, I may not have been able to bear it. Through our trials, it always amazes me how God demonstrates His love and power in such a mighty way to prove His faithfulness to us. It’s been an adventure so far and I would like to share it in whatever way I can.

The beginning of life for me was far from perfect. My mother realized before I was born that she would not be able to keep me, so she did what many people do and decided to put me up for adoption. This seemed to be the best solution at the time and would prove to be God’s plan for my life.

My parents decided to tell me the truth about my background all along, or as much as they knew. I was told from the beginning that I had been adopted. You are special because we didn’t just have you, we picked you out my mother would tell me. As far back as I can remember, my parents felt it best that I know the truth; after all, there was nothing to hide. Hiding the fact would only make me feel that there was something wrong with adoption.

My parents were married for several years and finally came to the conclusion that they weren’t going to have any children of their own, unless they were to adopt.

They first adopted my older brother who was from another family in the Chicago area. He was the youngest of five children, whose mother was unable to care for him and chose to give him up for adoption. My parents had found out about him through a local pastor, this was referred to as the grey market because the adoption was not arranged through an agency, but rather by word of mouth.

My mother received the call one day that if they wanted a baby, they had better get over to the hospital and pick him up. His mother couldn’t take him home and the nurses told my parents that due to his small size (a little over 4 pounds) they could take better care of him at home than what he was getting at the under-staffed hospital. They had none of the things necessary to care for an infant, except the most important of all, love. They made a quick trip to the store for diapers, pins, t-shirts, bottles, and also were blessed by some friends with additional baby items.

After my parents gained custody of my brother, they were told that at any moment they could get a knock on their door and a member of my brother’s biological family could take him back. This could go on for a year from the day they brought him home. His birthmother would not show up in court to sign any of the papers giving them legal custody in writing. She stated, you have my baby, what more do you want? This left my parents an emotional mess whenever they had visitors ringing their doorbell. Needless to say, nobody from his biological family came for him and my parents were able to live in peace. They named him David Jonathan after the Biblical characters.

A BABY SISTER: 1964

When David was about 4-and-one-half years old, my parents decided that they would like to adopt another baby but this time, they went through an adoption agency out of Chicago. I was later told that my brother picked me out which he would remind me of whenever we got into an argument! My parents had repeated to me through the years what information the adoption agency told them, which wasn’t much. They said that I was a little Polish, both my parents were in medical school at the time of my conception and they weren’t ready for a child yet. My parents adopted me from a Foundling Home in Chicago on Polk Street.

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BECKY & DAVID

My mom always told me that I was a very happy baby and I smiled all the time. I was three months old when I was adopted and my parents named me Rebecca Faith because they said that they had faith that the Lord would give them another baby. The Lord reminded me one day, not too long ago, that Moses was also adopted at the age of three months. God had His hand upon my life and had a plan for me. Psalm 139:13-17 sums it up for me:

For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret and intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery]. Your eyes saw my unformed substance and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

MY PARENTS

My dad was a wonderful example of our heavenly Father’s love. He was patient and kind and didn’t raise his voice. He worked hard as a truck driver in Chicago and his nickname was good news because he told people about the Lord and they all knew that he was a Christian. When my dad would come in the back door of our home after a long day at work, I would run up to him, wrap my arms around his legs and stand on his shoes while he walked around the kitchen.

I always thought of my dad as a peace maker. He would take time to sit and talk to us kids without prior judgement. He reminds me of Andy on the Andy Griffith Show. Many mornings I would come running down the stairs from my room to find my dad at the kitchen table reading his Bible and praying.

My mother played the piano with her own beautiful style. She played in children’s church for over twenty years and occasionally played for church services and children’s cantatas. We lived in a little brick bungalow in Cicero, Illinois and it was a nice neighborhood when I was growing up. The unique thing about where we lived was that my mother was raised in that very house when she was little. My grandparents bought it shortly after it was built and raised my mom and her older brother there until my mom and dad were married and moved out into an apartment. When my grandparents decided to move to LaGrange Park, Illinois, they let my mom and dad move into the house in Cicero. My mom’s uncle, Uncle Doc also lived in the same home but in the basement apartment.

Across the street from our house was a very large grade school that stretched the whole city block and was three stories tall. Burnham School was the same grade-school that my mother and her brother attended when they were younger and now my brother and I had the privelage of going there too. Many mornings I would race across the street at the sound of the bell ringing and jump into the line to enter the school. It was so convenient to have the school so close. Next to the school was a small but sufficient candy store. My brother and I ran across the street to buy candy whenever we had extra money in our pockets. Sometimes we would ask the older ladies in the neighborhood if they needed a newspaper or anything from the store and they would give us a quarter to deliver these things to their door.

My mom had many cute stories to tell about her childhood which included the candy store across the street. Once, her and her brother were each given money to buy a bag of candy and when they returned home with it, her brother suggested they play zoo. When they first started, he was pretending to be the animal and she was the zoo keeper who was suppose to give him candy in return for tricks. She fed him all of her candy until it was gone, and his belly was full, then he said the game was over.

My family lived in that house until I was ten and in the fourth grade and my brother David was in the eighth grade. We have many beautiful memories of that home and the joy that filled it. I had mixed emotions about moving to a new neighborhood and leaving the only home I knew, but my Uncle Doc still lived in the old house and we were able to go back and visit whenever we wanted.

My parents always dreamed of having their own home and having it built the way they wanted. Our church was in Broadview, IL and they owned some property in Addison that they planned on eventually moving the church to. There were two extra lots adjacent to the church property that were for sale and we were able to purchase one of them and build our home there. My parents had so much fun building the house and finishing much of the work themselves. We moved in before we even