I was blessed that God showed me at an early age that His is real and alive.

At the age of six, my life was in danger although I didn’t know I didn’t know it. A voice told me what was wrong and told me what to do and I would be ok. I did what He told me to do and I was ok. I will never forget that voice. I have heard it many times since.

I wanted to be baptized on my eighth birthday. I didn’t say anything to my parents but told my pastor. Of course he had to talk to my parents and I was baptized a week after my birthday. The reason I wanted to be baptized was that I wanted to please God. I felt Him so close that day and I cried because I knew He was pleased. My mom said, “Don’t be afraid” and I wasn’t.

The following spring I was to be in the Maypole dance at school. The last week in April I got rheumatism in my ankle and couldn’t walk. I asked the doctor if I could be in the Maypole dance at school. He said, “If you are in that Maypole dance you will be a cripple for life.” The missionary happened to be in St Mary’s at that time and staying one half block from us. As soon as the doctor left, I told mom to go get the missionary to administer to me because I was going to be in that Maypole dance and I wasn’t going to be a cripple for life. He administered to me and I was healed immediately and I was in that Maypole dance.

In 1947 when my last child was born, the doctor told me that when I had all the children I wanted he would operate on me and do the repair work I needed. He told me that if I got pregnant after the operation I would undo everything he could do for me. The following summer God told me that if I didn’t have that operation soon, I would die. I had the operation and when the doctor opened me up my appendix was at the bursting point and the doctor took them out. When the doctor told me I knew then why I would have died.

When I was in my thirties, we had district conference in our branch. It was in early morning prayer service that the oddest thing that ever happened to me happened. I was never one to get up in a crowd. But this morning someone or something picked me up and stood me on my feet. We have the picture of Christ at hearts door on the front of the church. . I remembered saying that it was my favorite picture. I like to think that it is my house and I am hurrying to the door to let Him in. I kept on talking but I couldn’t hear what I was saying. When I got finished the same person or thing sat me back down on my seat. On the way out of church, Nora Hardin said, “Bernadine, I was so proud of your testimony. “ I went a little farther and my Aunt Alma said, “I was so surprised at your testimony. I thought you were grounded in the church than that.” I had two different ideas concerning my testimony and I had no idea what I had said. The only thing I have been able to come up with is that someone in that prayer meeting needed to hear what I said and God knew I didn’t need to hear it. I have often wondered what I said but I never asked.

In 1960, my gums got so sore I couldn’t eat. I was in town one day and stopped by the dentist’s office. He told me I had so much infection that it had affected all of my vital organs except my heart. Time would tell if the heart had also been affected. He said I would have to go to the hospital and have my teeth cut out. But first I would have to take some penicillin because I would die if they operated right away because of the infection. I went to the hospital and had the operation and the doctor old my husband that he had never seen so much infection in his life. God was with me.

In 1961, I had a stroke and God was with me again.

In 1981, I had a high blood pressure attack. It happened on a Wednesday night. The next morning I couldn’t remember what happened the day before and it was frightening. I didn’t go to the doctor until Saturday morning. The nurse tried to take my blood pressure twice, then the doctor tried twice and it was so high they couldn’t take it. The doctor told me he wanted me in the hospital that afternoon. I told him I couldn’t go to the hospital that afternoon because I was taking care of my mom and they didn’t take people into the nursing home on weekends. He said I should go to the hospital the first thing Monday morning. I went home and called the nursing home and explained things to her. She told me to let her make a call and she would call me back. She called back and said I could bring mom in Sunday afternoon. I went to church Sunday morning, went home, fixed dinner, and did dishes. Then we took mom to the nursing home and then went across the street and I entered the hospital. I was there three days. I was given no medicine and they only took tests. My blood pressure returned to normal and they could not find any thing wrong with me. I think that God gave me this experience because it wasn’t long until my husband got Alzheimer’s disease and I could understand a little bit of what he was going through every day.

I would also like to tell you about the time the church asked for a volunteer to help cook at the Senior High youth camp. God told me to volunteer. He said there was no reason why I couldn’t. He said that I was not to be afraid. He would take care of me. I had arthritis so bad and I also had to get up in the night. I volunteered and God kept him promise. I volunteered. God kept his promise. I never had a pain or had to get up in the night all that week. God never lies. He always keeps his promises.