Heritage of Faith

By Sandra Jenkins Cook

Then He said, "Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord." And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. (1 Kings 19:11""12) In a mighty wind, an earthquake, and in the fire are the conditions in our lives where we expect to hear the mighty voice of the Lord. However, God speaks to us usually at times we least expect it. His voice is steady and sure, and He speaks plainly and simply. Elijah was a powerful Old Testament prophet. A prophet is someone who must be able to hear clearly from God so important messages from God can be delivered accurately, usually to mighty leaders, nations, specific groups of people, or other individuals. This is a book about personally hearing from God, knowing His voice, and following His leading.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098017002

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Heritage of Faith

Dr. Sandra Jenkins Cook

Copyright © 2019 by Dr. Sandra Jenkins Cook

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Who Am I

The Desire of My Heart

Childlike Faith

Oh, God, Help Me?

Behind the Scenes Prayer

Manipulation

Miracles as a Mom

She Takes Care of Children

Have You Done Everything?

Do You See What I See?

With Us on Vacation

Are You in a Rock Video?

What Will Others Think?

Be Careful What You Pray!

Journey to Bethlehem

But What Do I Say?

The Outrageous Calling

Faith for the Call

What Are the Chances?

Pregnant with a Vision

Given the Keys

Faithful with One

If He Speaks It, He Will Do It!

Dedication

Tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done (Psalm 78:4).

I dedicate this book to my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I have shared many events in my journey with the Lord. I pray that this book inspires each of you to seek this same God with all your heart, so you can enjoy His magnificent presence in your life and experience the wonderful works that He will do. I pray that you will inherit the faith that will enable you to accomplish what God has planned for your life.

Introduction

Then He said, Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. (1 Kings 19:11)

In a mighty wind, an earthquake, and in the fire are the conditions in our lives where we expect to hear the mighty voice of the Lord. However, God speaks to us usually at times we least expect it. His voice is steady and sure, and He speaks plainly and simply.

Elijah was a powerful Old Testament prophet. A prophet is someone who must be able to hear clearly from God so important messages from God can be delivered accurately, usually to mighty leaders, nations, specific groups of people, or other individuals.

This is a book about personally hearing from God, knowing His voice, and following His leading.

1

Who Am I

One of the stories about St. Francis of Assisi relates how a brother watched the saint in prayer, and heard him pray the words, Who are you, Lord, my God, and who am I? Moses asked, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? (Exodus 3:11). Casting Crowns expresses this in the lyrics of their song: Who am I…that the Lord of all the Earth would care to know my name, would care to feel my hurt, and culminates in, And you’ve told me who I am… I am Yours.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

Before you were born I sanctified you;

I ordained you a prophet to the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet. (Psalm 8:4–6)

Dear Lord, I pray that You will reveal personally to each of us who You are and who we are in You. Give us the faith to believe and trust in You to fulfill Your plan for our life.

Just a toddler sitting on the concrete steps that led from the front door of our house, down along the side of the one-car garage to the driveway, I would ask myself, trying desperately to come up with an answer, Who Am I? Not being able to arrive at an answer, I would go on to explain to myself, I know this is me thinking this, but who am I that is thinking this? I would almost turn myself spiritually inside out trying to arrive at an answer, but my question just seemed to journey on into eternity, never ending in a conclusion as to who I was that was thinking about who I was. But I always did spiral out of that confusing thought with this final proclamation and ultimate questions: I know there is a God up there—who are You, and who am I?

Just the fact that I could be searching at such a young age for God was amazing—but even more incredible was that I did not have a family that discussed God or knew God. My family did not go to church. The only time I heard God’s name in my home was normally when one of my parents or my older brother used it to cuss. However, even without any Christian family mentor to lead or teach me, I had something within me—something seeking and searching. The Holy Spirit was already speaking to me and drawing me as a child.

My family frequently joked regarding the lack of religion in our family. I often heard the story repeated of how my grandmother cursed at my grandfather when the preacher came to visit. The story was told that Grandma used to cuss Pappy pretty good. Grandma ran a country store; Pappy owned and operated a country auction house located a short distance from the store. The store was located in the front part of their house. The back of the house and the upstairs were the living areas of their home. Often, Grandma would be back in the kitchen cooking and baking, and Pappy would be sitting out in the storeroom in his favorite old rocking chair, chewing tobacco and spitting juice. Something Pappy had or had not done would set Grandma off, and she would begin yelling obscenities at Pappy from back in the kitchen.

Whenever she would do this, Pappy would always say, Mammy, better be careful. The preacher is out here in the store, and he can hear you.

She would then quietly tiptoe out through the hallway and look out through the opening to the store behind the cashier counter to check if the area preacher had stopped in. Normally, she would discover that Pappy was lying to get her quiet, except for the day that the preacher was out in the store. Instead of cautiously sneaking down the hallway first, Grandma decided to call Pappy’s bluff by yelling back at him from the kitchen, You can tell that preacher he ain’t no better than me, and you and the preacher can both… and she completed her rant with some spiced-up cussing explaining what they could both do as far as she was concerned.

I vividly recall the time that my family went on vacation to a Jersey seashore, and I was walking with my mother along the water by some wooden piers. I was very young. Two nuns walking toward us stopped, and I remember they were doing the Oh, what a cute little girl routine. One of them asked me, What do you want to be when you grow up? Without hesitating—and I really do not know how I even knew to answer this way—I responded that I wanted to be a missionary! This triggered joy and praise from the nuns, and their response was extremely encouraging. I could tell that they were very impressed with my answer. However, when they said good-bye and continued on their way and were a decent distance from us, I discovered my mother was not impressed with my answer.

I remember, painfully, my mother smacking me upside my head and, disgustedly with a voice of unbelief, gasping at me, Why would you say something so stupid? Where did you ever hear about being a missionary?

All I could remember answering was, I’m sorry, I don’t know!

I was so shocked by my mother’s embarrassed and outrageous response. I had no idea why my answer that caused so much enthusiasm from the nuns caused such a hostile reaction from my mother. I felt like I had greatly disappointed her but could not figure out why. This scene has remained with me all my life, often playing back in my mind. Initially, I always focused on my mother’s frustrated reaction. However, now, I look back at that scene in a different light. Instead of seeing the disappointment of my mother, I see the approval of God. I see His hand upon my life way back then as He was letting me know that He already had a plan and a future prepared for me.

As I entered into my grade-school years, more and more questions arose within my heart. At school, we had Bible reading and recited the Lord’s Prayer every morning. There were so many things that I wanted to understand about God, but I did not have anyone to give me the answers and explanations.

What is the difference between God and Jesus? I asked my mother one time near Christmas. In a frustrated, disturbed, and impatient manner, she first stuttered, and then, just trying to give an answer to get rid of me, said, They’re the same—it’s just two different names. Realizing that she really did not know the answer, this did not satisfy my question or the many others I would continue to ask. I remember a lady named Mary visiting our house. She talked about being at church—a Catholic church. I sat with her and tried to find out as much information as I could. I thought she was so wonderful because she would talk to me about God and tell me beautiful things. I longed to go to a church to find out more about God.

As I got older and was permitted, I began to walk to a little church about a mile from our house. I would attend Sunday school and church. One of the Sunday-school teachers was the mother of one of my parents’ friends, a neighbor who, with his wife and children, would often come to visit and stay late on weekends. I believe that because his mother was one of the Sunday-school teachers, I was allowed to continue to attend that church. I can remember all the cutouts of Bible characters and dipping popsicle sticks into the paste (I can still smell that homemade white paste).

One Sunday, there was an evangelist at the church service, and that Sunday, I went forward to the front of the church to accept the Lord as my Savior. The song Just As I Am was being played and sung by the congregation as I went up to the altar area and knelt down and prayed the salvation prayer with the evangelist. I was eleven years old.

When I got home that afternoon, I excitedly told my family about what had happened. I expected to encounter joy and excitement from them. Instead, however, I received criticism for thinking that I had become good enough to be a Christian. I was mocked and ridiculed for believing that the result of going forward in a church service would really change me and work in my life.

At the dinner table that afternoon, my older brother, who sat across from me, launched a spoonful of food at me that just missed my head and hit the wall behind me. Of course, I retaliated by launching a spoonful back at him. Immediately, my mother, who sat beside me, slapped me and said, Is that the way a Christian is supposed to act? Is that what you learned at that church today? The table broke out with everyone making similar comments indicating that I was just the same and nothing had really happened that morning to change me. I was temporarily confused and almost destroyed. But God was with me and kept His desire in my heart.

The evangelist pastor that led me to salvation had obtained my name and telephone number from my information at the church. He began to call my house and talk to me, ministering to me the Word of God over the telephone. He would call about once a week. After several weeks of calling, one evening, my mother took the telephone from me while I was talking to him. She began swearing at him and calling him names I did not even understand. She threatened him that she would turn him into the police if he ever called the house again for her daughter. She hung up the telephone and informed me that she believed that the pastor was a bad man who was trying to harm young girls. She told me that I was not permitted to ever talk to him on the telephone again. I was devastated and embarrassed for the pastor who I felt in my heart was a good man who was taking time to teach me about God.

Later, when I grew up, was married, and was in service for the Lord, I found a small Bible that I had received the morning that I was saved. The evangelist pastor’s name was in that Bible. I looked up his name in the telephone directory and called him. I shared with him who I was, how I was saved under his ministry at that church and apologized for what my mother had said to him. Amazingly, he remembered me! The pastor invited my husband and I to his church which we attended the following week. I was blessed to confirm that he was a wonderful elderly man who was still fervently serving God. He was not a man who wanted to harm young girls. He was a Christian man who was burdened for those who needed Christ. He was a man who was willing to disciple those who wanted to serve Christ.

I need to return back to the days of my childhood when I was trying to attend Church. In bad weather and during the winter, I was not permitted to walk to the little church that was about a mile away. So I tried to find people who drove to attend church who would take me with them to church. I was willing to go along to any church that I could—scary isn’t it? Without God’s hand and direction on my life, I could have been scooped up by the enemy into a false doctrine somewhere! However, I was able to attend a Church of God, a Catholic church, a Lutheran church, and the Congregational Evangelical Church. When I grew up and was married and returned to Fishing Creek Valley to live, I found out how many other good Bible-believing churches were close in that area. I wondered why, as a child, I never was approached to attend one of them. How many children do we overlook in our own neighborhoods who are seeking God in their hearts and only need to be asked and encouraged?

Through an experience that I encountered as an emerging teenager being transported by an elderly couple to a church, I learned a great lesson that became instrumental later on in my ministry to teens. This particular experience remains always in my heart. The elderly couple had no children of their own. They lived about three miles from my home. They had two very large, long-haired, drooling dogs that they took with them everywhere in their station wagon vehicle. They would even take these dogs along to church.

One of my neighborhood friends, who was about two years older than I was, told me that this couple was picking her up on Sunday mornings to take her to a Lutheran church in the small town, just up the river a short trip from Fishing Creek. I immediately asked if she would find out if they would also take me. They said they would, and after the lengthy convincing of my mother to get permission, I was allowed to attend with them. Every week, I would ride in the back seat with the two panting dogs behind me. I went through the entire Lutheran confirmation study and participated in the ceremony.

I attended this church for quite a while and soon was old enough to attend the youth group meetings that a couple from the church led. I was so excited when they invited me to become part of the youth group. However, during this time, I picked up on the negative feelings of the elderly couple that was transporting me to the church. I overheard their conversations in the car several Sunday mornings regarding the fact that they could not go out to eat following the church service because they had my friend and I to take home. I began to notice the strain in their voices and the difference in their once very friendly and excited attitude of taking us to church. I concluded that I had become a burden to them instead of a blessing. I remember how I decided to make up an excuse to not attend church the next week and continued to make up excuses for the next couple of weeks until they did not call me anymore—ever again. It only took a few weeks, and they were gone. I felt I had freed them from the burden of