I Believe – My Values

Harvest

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The wonderful smells of pies out of the oven, the hustle and bustle of activity in the kitchen, all were indications of preparation being made for food for the harvest crew due to arrive that morning.

 

Neighbor men were called into action to help with harvest at our farm.  The equipment was all checked to be in working order and soon the wagons went into the field to gather the bundles of wheat and oats ready to be threshed.  The threshing machine was shared among the Spomer, Kleinsasser and Groves families, and it was our turn today.

 

For me it was an exciting time as the day began.  The coffee and cinnamon rolls were ready for the crew to sustain their bodies for the morning work.

 

The threshing machine and tractor were ready and soon bundles of grain were thrown on and harvest began.  All went well in the morning, and before we knew it the dinner bell rang and it was time to clean up for the noon meal.

 

On the bench in the yard were dishpans of soapy water and towels for washing up.

 

Then the men gathered around our generous table, all talking and laughing and discussing the morning work.

 

Out of the kitchen came platters of fried chicken just butchered that morning, bowls of steaming mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans flavored with bacon and onion, plates of summer dill pickles, and baskets of fresh bread just made that morning.  All was quiet as the men all ate.  Then plates were removed and out came the pies for dessert.

 

After everyone had their fill and had a short rest, the harvest started up again.  By later that afternoon they were ready to shut down for the day and returned to the yard for coffee, sandwiches and chocolate cake.

 

Soon the neighbor men returned to their homes to do their chores and have a rest.  Tomorrow was another day and the work of another day of harvest.

 

Food

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There was always plenty of food to feed our large family.  We had two large gardens, one with potatoes, sweet corn, kohlrabi, turnips, and cucumbers.  The garden near the house had peas, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, and onions.  The small orchard contained cherries, plums, apples, and mulberries.  Throughout the year we were kept busy picking, cleaning, and preparing fruit for canning, all for winter use.

 

There was always the supply of eggs, fresh chickens, ducks, and geese.  In addition, in the winter months we butchered a couple of pigs and a steer for our meat supply.  These butchering days were always busy.  From the gunshots killing the animals to the last packages of meat being wrapped and jars ready to can, we worked from early morning to night.

 

After the pigs were cut in half, the intestines were removed and the halves were hung, skinned, and ready to lay on the table for cutting.  The excess fat was removed, cut in small pieces and put in the rendering kettle to cook down into lard.  Roasts and chops were cut up, the upper parts of legs were ready to be cured for hams, and bacon was sliced.  Any scraps were ground, seasoned and stuffed into casings for sausage.  Lard was drained off, and cracklings were pressed, all ready for winter.  For supper that night my mother always fried pork loin.

 

The beef was skinned, hung, and cut up for roasts and steaks; the scraps were ground up for hamburger.  The heart, liver and tongue were portioned out and with the rest of the meat readied for the locker to quick freeze the meat in town where the meat was frozen for winter..

 

Throughout the year we butchered chickens as we needed them.  My father chopped off the heads; we removed the feathers after scalding (dipping in boiling water).  The birds’ intestines were removed and then the meat was cut up for baking or frying.

 

Our grocery lists were rather small because of all the vegetables, fruit, and meat.  We bought flour, yeast, sugar, and salt regularly.

 

Baking bread was an every-other-day activity.  My mother was an expert in doing this along with cakes and cookies.

Cooking

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Cooking

 

Creating food in the kitchen became some of the greatest accomplishments of my life.  Spending time with my mother in her kitchens brought great enjoyment for me.

Thinking of what I cooked throughout the calendar year brings many memories.

In January, I think of nee-yosh-roka (New Year’s cookies).  A recipe for these deep fried fritters follows.

 

New Year’s Cookies

1 pkg. yeast, dissolved in ¼ c. warm water

½ c. cream, heat to lukewarm

¼ c. butter, melted

1/3 c. sugar

2 eggs, room temperature, beaten

½ t. Vanilla

2 t. Salt

dash nutmeg

1 c. raisins tossed with flour

4½ c. flour

Mix dough in order given to a batter.  Let rise in warm place.

Heat oil in electric skillet to 400°.

Spoon off batter into oil browning one side turning over to brown other side.  Drain on paper towels.

Can be frosted with granulated sugar, or dipped in a thin glaze.  Serve fresh.

 

Clara Bauer cake was made and served throughout the year.  No one knows the origin of the title, but it was a well-loved cake by all who had a piece with a cup of coffee.

 

Clara Bauer Cake

Cream together:  2 c. sugar

    ½ c. shortening

Add and stir in:  2 eggs, beaten

  1 t. vanilla

  ½ c. milk

Add and stir:  2 c. flour

          5 T. cocoa

          1½ t. Baking powder

          1 t. Soda

          1 t. Salt

Add to batter:  1 c. boiling water

 

Pour into greased 9×13 pan and bake in preheated 350° oven for 30-35 minutes.  Can be eaten plain or frosted with butter frosting.

 

A favorite in the winter was applesauce or baked apples.

 

Quick Baked Apples

 

Core and cut into quarters unpeeled apples.  Place in baking dish, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  Bake for 2 or 3 minutes in microwave.  Serve warm.

 

Applesauce

 

Core an assortment of unpeeled apples.  Cook until tender, and when cool, blend and sugar to taste.  Can be cooked in small amount of apple or orange juice.  You’ll never notice the blended peelings.

 

A good chicken casserole always tasted good in the winter.

 

Scalloped Chicken

 

1 stewing chicken, cooked, deboned and cut up

3-4 c. broth

1½ c. diced celery

½ c. chopped onion

2-3 T. butter

1 can mushroom soup

3 c. crushed Ritz crackers

4 eggs, beaten

1 t. salt

Mix in order given.  Pour in 9×13 pan.  Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

 

And of course homemade bread is a must eaten with a casserole.

 

Oatmeal Bread

 

Stir together:  1 pkg. yeast

1/4 c. warm water

1 t. sugar

¼ c. melted butter

1 t. salt

Mix together:  1 c. oatmeal

1 c. boiling water

Add 1 c. cold water to oatmeal mixture.  Cool to lukewarm.

Add yeast and 3 c. flour and mix well.  Gradually add rest of flour.  Knead well.  Put in greased bowl.  Let rise until double.  Punch down and let rise again.  Form into two greased loaf pans.  Let rise again.  Bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes.  Can be formed into buns and baked 15-20 minutes.

 

Zwieback

Mix together:  2 T. yeast

½ c. warm water

Mix together:  ¾ c. butter, melted

2 c. warm milk

2 T. sugar

2 t. Salt

6½-7 c. flour

Mix in order given.  Add 6 cups flour gradually.  Knead on counter using extra ½ c. flour as needed.

Let rise and pinch off to form zwieback.  Let rise and bake at 400° for 15 minutes. 

Fresh rolls were often eaten with cups of hot cocoa on Saturday night.

 

We did need some greens to round our our meals.

 

Mandarin Salad

 

½ head lettuce, torn into small pieces

1 c. chopped celery

2 green onions

1 can mandarin oranges

Cook to coat almonds:  ¼ c. sliced almonds

  1 T. sugar

Make dressing:  ½ t. salt

  2 T. sugar

  ¼ c. salad oil

  ⅛ t. pepper or tabasco

Shake all ingredients in jar, and refrigerate until ready to use.

 

This is just a sampling of some of the cooking I’ve done over the years.  I have enough recipes to fill up the book.

Butchering

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The sounds of gunfire indicated that the steer and hogs were being shot and it was butchering day.  The animals were hung to bleed out and soon the tables were set up and ready to accept the halves of meat to be cut up.

 

Removing the innards and separating the heart, liver, and tongues began the process.  These parts were put in pans of cool water.  Expert hands begin cutting away roasts, steaks and soup bones.  These were all separated into packages and ready to be frozen.  Scraps of meat were ground into hamburger and sausage.  The fat from the pigs was cut into cubes to render down for lard and cracklings.

 

We did not have a freezer so packages of meat were taken to town and placed in lockers for freezing and storage.  Some of the meat made into sausage was stuffed and, with hams and bacon, hung in the smoke house which was ready.

 

This was a long day of intense labor and when finished there was also the cleanup of tables and equipment used.

 

The highlight of the day was having fresh pork side meat for supper.

Moving to the Farm

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It was spring of 1942 and a moving day for the Groves family.  My father’s eyesight was failing and it was necessary to change from night watchman in the city to a new place of employment.  My uncle Jake offered his farm at the north edge of the city to be our new home.

 

This was a small farm of 80 acres tillable ground, an alfalfa field and a barn, a hog building, a small chicken house, three brooder houses and a long six-room building for laying hens.  The farm basically was for producing eggs for my uncle’s hatchery in town.

 

The barn contained room for six cows to stand ready to be milked.  The pig barn contained a half dozen sows and, at times of the year, many little pigs.

 

The small chicken house was for about 250 chickens for eggs for the family and butchering as needed.  The brooder houses were for the early spring baby chicks.  The large chicken house contained about 1,000 laying hens.

 

At times of the year the tillable ground was planted with wheat and oats, and occasionally corn.  But the main work was with the animals and the chickens.

 

Back to town and the move.  The wagon pulled up to the house and the loading began.  First the beds then the rest of the furniture, the kitchen stove, the heating stove, the contents of the kitchen.

 

The house on the farm contained a large kitchen, dining room, parlor, bedroom, a washroom where the milk was separated, all on the main floor, and upstairs a large bedroom and a smaller one, and a storage room.

 

After many trips with the contents of our house in town, the farm house soon filled up with all that was moved.  The three double beds were taken up to the large bedroom upstairs and one bed in the smaller room.

 

The downstairs bedroom contained a double bed and a single bed.  The rest of the furniture was put in the other rooms.  There was a small washroom at the main entrance to the house off the long, outside porch.

 

My main memory of the farm was exploring the many areas of the yard.  It was quite the adventure taking it all in.

 

I can’t forget our black german shepherd dog.  Of course, he was moved too, and put in a room in one of the outbuildings until he got used to being in a new place.

 

When the move was done and we were getting settled in our new home, my mother was in the kitchen fixing a meal for the family.

 

After a much needed dinner and doing some of the chores, my brother Lowell and I set out to gather eggs.  Since there were so many chickens the eggs needed to be gathered twice a day. After getting them all picked up, we packed them in the large egg cartons in the middle room of the building.  This was quite a process but we soon caught on and got the job done.  Any eggs that were cracked were put aside and taken to the house for immediate use.

 

Back in the house, the beds were all put together, and looked very inviting to all our tired bodies after a long day’s work.  It didn’t take long for us to get cleaned up and ready for a night’s rest. The next morning we woke to the sound of chickens cackling and knew the day of work was upon us and “life on the farm” had begun.

 

  

 

My Parents

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My father was William Paul Adelbert Groves.  He was born in Olney, Illinois.  His siblings were Claude, Russell, Grace, and Lulu.  His father worked on the railroad as did my father and his brothers.  Their railroad work brought them to Freeman, South Dakota and that’s where they settled.

Their home was just a few blocks from where I grew up.  My grandparents died before I was born so I never knew them.

My father met my mother at a young  people’s gathering and that’s how they got together.

Early in the years of World War I my father was drafted and spent his army years in France.  He was wounded by shrapnel in one leg, and spent some time in a hospital before he was honorably discharged.  Soon after that time, he and my mother were married in 1918.

They moved a chicken house into town, remodeled it and made their home there.  

My father was employed by the city of Freeman as a night watchman on the police force.  He held that job until 1942 when his eyesight was failing due to cataracts.  At that time our family moved to my uncle’s poultry farm.

He had taken some classes on animal husbandry at a local college, so was prepared for taking care of animals.

By that time we were a family of eight children so there were plenty of hands to do the farm work.

My father was, for the most part, a gentle family man.  He loved to gather the family in the parlor for a time of singing accompanied by my sister at the piano and him on the violin.  Those were special times for me.

He had surgery to remove his clouded lenses in his eyes.  At that time that’s all they did and after healing he wore glasses with heavy lenses to allow him to see.  He often misjudged doorways and bumped his head due to poor eyesight.  I spent a lot of time following him around trying to warn him about doorways and places where he would bump his head.

In October of 1950, while he was shelling corn with one of my brothers, he suffered a heart attack and after a short time died.  I was 13 at the time and what a sad time that was for me.

My mother was Mary Stucky.  She grew up in rural Marion, South Dakota on a farm.  Her father had been married before and his new wife was my mother’s mother.  She had two half-sisters from the first marriage and was the oldest of six siblings.  Her father died when my Mom was 13 and she was left to help take care of the children.  She had to quit school and go to work for various families in order to make a little money to support the remaining family.  Her siblings were Henry, Joe, Pete, Emma, and Frances.

My mother was always a very hard worker.  After her teen years of taking care of her siblings she was well prepared for taking care of her children from her marriage.

She was a gentle and loving mother and a role model for me.  Sewing, gardening, cleaning, and cooking were tasks she carried out without complaint and did so well.

After her children were all gone from home she chose to move to Kansas and be close to some family who had settled there.  So she sold what she didn’t move and settled in a duplex of one of my brothers’ homes.  I had moved to Kansas in 1957 when she was already here.  My oldest three children loved having her near and she died when my fourth child was a little over a year old.

My Spouse

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    I met Ronald at his aunt Willo’s beauty shop, she had done my hair for 25 years and it was her retirement day, I went after work to get my hair cut for the last time and to say goodbye as she was moving back to her hometown of Buffalo, MO. She had just cut my hair and was getting ready to leave when Ron came down, he was taking her to dinner for she Raytown, she introduced my to him,  he had a beard which I hated so I pay any attention to him, shook his hand and it was nice to meet him and went on my way. About a month later I get. call from Willo wanting to know if it was alright to give Ron my number he would to go out with me and I well, I would do as a favor to Willo since was always so good to great-grandma and grandma.

Tony Guhr, son of Otto and Jeanette Guhr

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Out of Religion and Into an Interactive Two-Way Relationship with God

Growing up as a child in a religious community with parents that participated in church life, I initially presumed I was a nice boy and that was surely sufficient for life. Becoming a believer in Christ by the age of 8 shortened the opportunity to become enslaved by the enticements of the world before my experience of salvation and being made a child of God. My practice of sin and learning of its sinfulness came after I became a believer in Christ!

At the age of 4, I began a monthly visit to the County Jail. My Dad was part of a church quartet that went to the Butler County Jail each month to sing gospel songs to the prisoners and share their own stories of knowing Jesus Christ and explaining the gospel to them. I was permitted to play with the men through the bars with my toy tractor and wagon I always brought along. I likely caused them to think of their own children from whom they were separated. Upon completion of good behavior for the evening, the Jailer would invite me to select my choice of candy bars from the lower drawer of his desk. I loved going to Jail. I continued my interest in prisons visiting regularly the prison in Hutchinson, Kansas throughout my high school years. After college, I continued special work with chaplains and inmates in over 50 State and Federal prisons. Befriending prisoners and hearing the details of their lives and crimes, had a large impact on my own life, greatly reducing my temptation to participate with any schemes to extort, steal and bring damage to others.

By third grade I had my mouth washed out with a soap bar by my mother and the cause of that was never repeated in my life again. Even so, I claim childhood innocence for most infractions of law and order, though with some exceptions. We attended the recently started Newton Bible Church in their first basement-only meeting place. On a Sunday night, in a classroom for kids off the main room where the preacher was teaching the adults, I found a hairpin that seemed to me to fit perfectly into a wall outlet in the room. The preacher, gauging his teaching and preaching by the wall clock at my end of the building, went well over the allotted time. The fuse for that clock had shorted out with barely a spark at the outlet I was working at. The pastor would sometimes thank me for giving him a bit more time to finish his sermon.

My mother proved her love for us kids in so many ways. Growing up in the Mennonite religion, she learned the great stories of the Bible in their detail. With terrific story telling skills, she helped me and the children she taught in a summertime backyard Good News club to imagine being inside of the story. She easily communicated to us what was the great contest between little David, a shepherd boy, and the giant Goliath. She could mimic the sounds of the stream that separated this young boy and the battle hardened giant of a man. It was clear to us the specific dimensions of the stones that David selected from the stream to fit his slingshot. We came to understand his courage, from his experience with God’s help to fight a bear and to kill a lion to protect his sheep herd. When she explained the sacrifice God made for us, by sending Jesus Christ to earth and then to the cross, as payment for my sins, it was clear to me from the Scriptures being read. I believed it and accepted God’s gift for myself.

40 years later, my mother came to realize she knew the stories of the Bible, she knew about the life of Jesus and His death on the cross, and she had adapted as best she could to the norms and requirements of her religious community, but she had never for herself, accepted God’s payment for all of her sins. By the graciousness of God and specific provisions of God, while she was living in California, she came to understand the truth of the good news of the Gospel and embraced it for herself. Her life was transformed in every way possible. She had moved from a life in a religious society and church to a personal relationship with the only true and living God.

My grandmother and grandfather, the Ben Wiebe’s offered me $5.00 (a great sum in the 1950s) if I would read through the entire Bible and report to them when I had completed it. I did read the entire Bible that next year and in addition to $5, I began to see the great wealth of God’s riches He was offering to His children. By reading through the Bible that first time, I realized there was very much I did not know. I also appreciated there were 100s of the most amazing stories of people and nations that would require many more readings to understand all of what was happening in this history of the world.

My first two years of school, I was the smartest (and dumbest) kid in my class because I was the only kid in my first grade and second grade class in the one room Kellas Grade School (near Newton, KS). Third grade was at Peabody, KS where we rode the bus into town from the one room school house my dad had converted into a home. By third grade I was hearing the stories of the Bible at church and from my mom’s teaching at the summer Good News Club she taught in the backyard of someone’s home in Peabody.

For me it was fairly simple and straightforward. I understood I was a sinner. No large crimes but operating based on my natural inclinations. I was glad to learn of a Savior who paid for all of my sins and offered me life and everlasting life in place of my earned death penalty.

He (God) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.                 2 Corinthians 5:21.

The Bible verses we heard and learned were clear about my condition and God’s love and gift.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23.

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9.

Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5:24

Believing that offer and that promise from God was for me personally, and receiving it, thanking God for it with a simple prayer resulted in peace with God.

 

 

Marilyn Guhr Loof, daughter of Arnold and Malinda Guhr

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When I was a small girl, my home had many Christian influences.  The biggest influence was Christian music.  Though I know my parents did not have much, they did buy records, both long-play for adults and small records for children.  Hearing about Jesus through the records greatly influenced my belief in Him.  My dad also read to us from the Bible and led in prayer.  I’d written the date 1959 in the front of my Bible as to when I became saved, but I think it was earlier than that.  It was not at home, but through a conversation with a Sunday School teacher, that I took the step to ask Jesus Christ into my life.

Our family was faithful in attending church where my sisters and I sang in the Children’s Choir and attended Sunday School.  We also attended a “church school” in our neighborhood.  Arnold Epp was the pastor in my growing-up years.  His teaching added to my understanding of the Bible and of the gospel.  In preparation for baptism, Rev. Epp chose this verse for me to ponder:

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees…. Colossians 2:20.

I believe Rev. Epp was warning me not to be caught up in legalism, that is, in rules like, don’t go to movies, pool halls, or dances.  That was certainly how many in those days thought we should act.  So, instead of following “religion” or relying on good works to be saved, Rev. Epp was pointing to Scripture which instructs me to focus on Jesus and live out the truths of the Bible.  It reminds me how, a few years later, as a college dorm assistant, I was asked to measure the length of girls’ skirts and to give infraction slips to those wearing skirts that were too short!  Thankfully, further study of the Bible and knowing God more would lead me away from rule-following to learning what it means to be a true Christ-follower. 

My parents found a way to send my sisters and me to a Bible college, at least for one semester.  While working part-time, I was privileged to hear the Word taught there for four full years.  Right out of college, I became a part of a young adult Bible study and had roommates in this study.  Some of us sang together in church.  A few years later, I met my husband at the place where we both worked…Back to the Bible Broadcast in Lincoln, Nebraska. 

My husband (Tom Loof) and I are so grateful that, through the years, God led us to churches where the Bible has been taught clearly, even verse by verse.  And each of our daughters professed to come to Christ from the hearing of the Word.

One of my high school Sunday School teachers had a phrase he’d repeat that stuck in my mind.  He said, “Life is real, life is earnest.”  Besides being about taking life seriously, those words had another meaning for me.  You see, I knew, growing up, that my dad was a Christian.  He led by example with a godly life, he taught children in a Sunday School class, and he sang for many years with his brothers in a gospel quartet.  But it seemed to me, that he could not talk to me about spiritual things, or about other important topics.  It’s what Uncle Otto said in his testimony…being a Christian in their family back then was more of a private matter.  Because of the hunger to talk to my dad about things that mattered, I resolved to be even more open in future conversations with my own family.  I continue to ask God for the courage to share the Gospel with them and to pass on my faith to the next generations. 

We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD, about his power and his mighty wonders. Psalm 78:4

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4

God has been and is faithful; His faithfulness is a continuous thread throughout my life.  Physical ailments started when I was a junior in high school; a hemorrhage kept me home for a couple of months.  Before our oldest daughter was born, the headaches and feeling “off-balanced” started.  This continued for several years until an MRI revealed a tumor on my pituitary gland.  God watched over us and enabled me to take care of what was then all three of our daughters.  After a move to Arizona and seeing new doctors, the headaches lessened.  I taught school for over 18 years.  During the last few years of teaching, the headaches and feeling “off-balanced” began again.  Vertigo occurred after plane trips.  Again, God was faithful.  I knew it was God’s will for me to be alive when I woke each new morning, so I told Him that I would live with the amount of strength that He would give for that day. 

And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10. 

Though I nor the doctors knew what was going on in my body, God knew:

For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. Psalm 103:14

(This verse may also be about our weakness as sinful people.)

I love the story about God giving timely strength that Corrie Ten Boom tells in her book, The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom:

“Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed.  ‘Corrie,’ he began gently, ‘when you and I go to Amsterdam—when do I give you your ticket?’    I sniffed a few times, considering this.  ‘Why, just before we get on the train.’ ‘Exactly.  And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too.  Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie.  When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need—just in time.’”

After my retirement, a few things became clearer.  I had developed TMJ (jaw and facial pain) because of clenching my teeth while driving and at night.  Some hormonal issues needed to be resolved.  And Mayo doctors gave me Botox injections and an antidepressant.  For a season, the headaches faded some.  Today, my husband does the driving, and a neurologist is searching for the right combination of medications for my head pain.  I am confident that my struggles have a purpose, one of which is being able to encourage others in pain. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.  The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21, 22.

I am so glad Jesus is the real deal!  I knew at a young age that I was sinful and fell short in so many ways.  Though I lived in a “Christian” family, I had to believe in Christ for myself.  It’s overwhelming for me to know how much He loved me, suffered a terrible death on the cross, and rose again to pay for and secure my salvation. 

Who, although He (Jesus Christ) existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2: 6-8. 

For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:6, 8.

As a follower of Christ, I desire to know Him more and to live so that I am pleasing to Him. 

I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ my Lord…and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.  Philippians 3:8, 9

I am assured that He will continue to work in me, in all kinds of circumstances. 

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6.

Remember, how God used music to draw me to Him?  I still love hearing and singing music about Him!  My daughters will attest that I constantly sang to them in the car.  Through the years I so enjoyed singing in different choirs.  God sometimes awakens me in the morning with a song!

Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise Thee, so I will bless Thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Thy name. Psalm 63:3, 4. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marilyn Schmidt Flaming, wife of Mel Flaming

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Marilyn Schmidt Flaming is the wife of Mel Flaming, who is the son of Solomon “Dick” and Rose Guhr Flaming.

Faith Life Story and Journey by Marilyn Flaming

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD, “Like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”  Jeremiah 18:6

♬♪♪♪ Have Thine own way, Lord, Have Thine own way,

Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.  

Mold me and make me, After Thy will, 

While I am waiting, Yielded and still.

This is my FAITH JOURNEY with GOD’S Influences that shaped my Faith.  Those influences came through many different avenues.

When Mel and I started dating, I was in Bethel Deaconess Hospital, Newton School of Nursing and he was at Tabor.  We had a pre-arranged marriage (HA!). Our relationship started as a blind date in 1967, initiated by Rose and my mother’s sister, Aunt Linda Guhr. No longer blind, we opened our hearts to each other and I am so happy that he pursued me (from Hillsboro to Osawatomie and then Kansas City).

He, being a Conscientious Objector, and I discussed where we wanted to serve and therefore live for a couple of years. MB Missions and Services helped direct us to a Voluntary Service opportunity with John Kliewer in Nebraska. We would get jobs in our fields and our income would go to Missions/Services who would in turn find us housing and give us $80/ month for living expenses. We stayed with parents after the wedding in 1969 for about 4 weeks while waiting for housing in Lincoln, NE. That move had a huge impact on my Faith.

The MB church in Lincoln, Nebraska was a church plant by an Evangelist in 1959 and started as a Bible Study with 4 families. This is where we started attending in 1969, directed there by our VS organization saying we needed to be involved in an MB church. There were about 55 people attending. It was August 1969.

Pastor Gil Rugh, the new young pastor, came with a desire to lead the church through in-depth, systematic Bible teaching.  The congregation devoured the deep truths of the Word as well as the basics, and ministries were developed for all ages.  I would say for the next 6 ½ years, we had an education in the Scriptures, with exposition and systematic teaching, 45 minutes of teaching morning and evenings on Sundays (spent a year in some of the books, like John).

During our time there Mel was treasurer and on the building committee as we needed space to accommodate now hundreds of people. We had small group Bible Studies where I learned more about what a commitment to Jesus was. I heard people talking about a specific time in their lives when they trusted Christ, and I started doubting I had had a real spiritual birthday. I was lacking the assurance in my understanding of Salvation. Hebrews 7:24-25 says “But because Jesus lives forever, He is a permanent priest. Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.” (Completely, Always, Forever!) God said it, I believe it, That settles it! (That’s a song too.) Yes, I had been going to church, had a catechism class to learn about what it means to be a Christian, and I was baptized in 1963, but I don’t remember hearing these truths.

It was encouraged by my home church that at a certain age the youth should be baptized. I believed in the Salvation message and accepted it as mine but it seems that’s as far as it went.

In Lincoln, I was in the choir and taught in a children’s program on Wednesday nights. I was in a Praise band, the first time I had seen drums and guitars in church.

During these years God taught us systematic giving. We learned how to live on a budget, on the $80 a month we got from Missions/services.

 

FAST FORWARD

We finished our VS (Voluntary Service) and were thinking about starting a family and getting out of a basement apartment for two, not yet ready to leave Lincoln. We moved to a rental house, fixed it up, and then bought our own house in a couple of years.

Our children were born in Lincoln, in 1973 and 76. Mel was getting tired of the smoky environment of his office, I had quit my job (Orthopedic clinic) during my pregnancy with baby number 2 and we got a call from Mel’s father that there was a house on 160 acres for sale and Mel should look at it, move close to the home place and help farm and raise pigs.

I had my friends, my church, a recently purchased 3-bedroom home with a garden, walking distance to school, grocery store, and close to church. Move????? Really God? The call from Mel’s Dad came in Early Spring and on Easter Sunday 1976 a family came to look at our house and said yes (if we throw in the swing set). The day before we would give it to a realtor, it sold. We got our selling price and were scheduled to move out in 30-45 days.

I had come to Lincoln thinking I was working for the Lord, going to church and being involved. God showed me so much more. It was the teaching, the support and encouragement of many friends that gave a jump start to my maturity as a believer. This was my growth spurt.

We came back to Kansas May, 1976 with a 4 month old and 2 ½ year old to a 100 year old house with snakes and mice in it. We didn’t know what the next year held for us.

After only 5 months of farming, we found out the economy was not so good for pig and grain farmers. It wasn’t supporting 3 families (his brother too) and there was a new business opportunity Mel’s Dad found. We moved again. We sold 2 houses in one year. God was not done moving us.

In 1977 Mel, brother Del and Dad formed a limited family partnership in construction.

I love to tell that amazing series of events because it shows God’s orchestration taking us through ups and downs but with the encouragement of our families and friends, here we are. Thank you for your support.

Mel’s parents, especially Rose, his mother had scripture in her heart and on her lips. She always wanted to know how it was with people and the Lord. Often, she’d say “Do you know my Lord?” One of Rose’s favorites:

This is the testimony… He who has the Son of God has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may KNOW that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13

My influence in becoming a nurse: My ‘dream’ from 2nd grade on. I have memories of the hospital when my younger brother, Larry, who had polio at 15 months of age resulting in lower limb paralysis, had many hospitalizations. I was 3 then. We got to visit him through a window of the hospital. Later he had corrective surgeries and more therapy. He had to do some chores too. Dad made him a walker in his welding shop. Mom and Dad never ‘babied’ him though he needed help walking, going to the bathroom, etc. I got to give some of his care early on.

♪♪ “A CHARGE TO KEEP I HAVE, A GOD TO GLORIFY’ To serve the present age, My calling to fulfill; Oh, may it all my powers engage to do my Master’s will.

It was another God ordained influence in 1978 when Phoebe Jost, the director of nursing at Salem Home, who was attending Parkview MB Church, asked me to come ‘special’ for a person on the ventilator (that means one on one person to patient). Mel and I had been talking about the need for a second income to help pay the groceries! Now I was back to work, evening shift. I have to give a lot of credit to my sis-in-law who watched Ryan and Annette until Mel got off work. God used this time to grow me as a nurse. This was my first experience in a hospital setting as a registered nurse.

While there I got a call from a physician in Newton who was starting an outpatient surgery center. In 1989 that was a very new concept. In a few years Newton Medical Center bought out the surgery center and then I was employed by them and moved to the current location. So my last 20 years of nursing I was able to do patient care, have weekends off and work with people who loved Jesus. We’d talk about Him at work. I asked people if I could pray with them and only one time in 20 years did someone say “No, I’m fine”. I have friendships to this day that started with a prayer before their surgery.

Memorizing Scripture encouraged me.

Psalm 100 “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord” was memorized in 8th grade. At Parkview we had small group Bible studies where we memorized scripture. We recited them and held each other accountable. I had 20 minutes in the car going to work at Salem Hospital when I could say 72 verses.

Encouragement has influenced and shaped me.

    • Parents
    • Family (Del and Margaret and 1 year old let us stay with them for 1 week as we waited for our house in the country.)
    • Music
    • Teachers (SS, Grade School, Nursing classes, Pastors)
    • Church leaders

        More encouragement came from:

      • Friends
      • Dick and Rose Flaming
      • Scripture
      • The children that I see on Wednesday night that give me hugs around my legs

Hebrews 5-6 talks about drifting, being dull, sluggish. There were those times too. But for the Grace of God. . ..

♬♪♪♪Heaven only knows how I’ve been blessed 

With the gift of your love 

And I look around and all I see 

Is your happiness embracing me 

Oh Lord I’d be lost……  But for the grace of God 

 

 

 

 

I believe in the Finished Work of Christ. He is “My Enough.” When God looks at me, He sees Jesus who is in me. My sins, past, present, and future are on His credit card that is pre-paid!

♬♪♪♪He’s still working on Me, to make me what I ought to be.

It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, Sun and Earth, and Jupiter and Mars. (It takes a lifetime for us.)

How loving and patient He must be.

He’s still working on me.

As of today, September 1, 2023, I can say I am still growing in my faith. We still attend and serve at Parkview MB Church, Hillsboro. I facilitate a ladies weekly Bible study, and serve on the ‘Social Committee’ with Mel to plan funeral meals, potlucks, etc. A joy for me is singing for 30 years. I have led the children’s groups of Awana and Team Kid in music on Wednesday evenings (ages 3- 5th grade).

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