Part two of Elder Cleveland’s inspiring personal testimony

Hartland Spring Convocation 2017

<p>Part two of Elder Cleveland’s inspiring personal testimony</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Charles Cleveland

God’s in the Marriage Business

Our Father, as we bow before you again this morning in worship, we ask that you would come close to each of us, young and old, visitor, staff, student.

We pray that your Holy Spirit will guide us this hour with the privilege of sharing a personal testimony to honor you and encourage our people.

But before we do that, we want to lift up Dr.

Colin Standish and his family, as he has some health issues that are very threatening.

As he's in the hospital, as he's trying to get some care, and the family's weighing the best options, what is the best way to help him?

And he's being upheld here on campus and around the world in prayer.

This man has dedicated his life to true education and mentored many.

We just pray that you would remember him.

We just hold it to you, Lord, and say, please, your will be done.

Comfort and strengthen as far as possible and restore as appropriate.

And blessing each 1 of us now in this hour, for we thank you in Jesus' name.

I've written my message this morning in 2 ways.

I want to share my message that God is in the marriage business for those who are married and remember the vows you took on that wedding day to keep and serve each other for better or for worse, and to death do you part.

And I want part of this message to appeal to those that aren't married, to learn some lessons that I learned that will help you to get the kind of wife I got.

Because heaven is either hell, and marriage is either hell or heaven.

That's why so many have divorced or are miserable.

God is in the marriage business if you let him lead.

It was the wrong time of the school year for a new student to come.

Paradise Valley School of Nursing in San Diego, California, had already begun their school year.

Who is this girl that's arriving 4 or 5 months late?

When She arrived in San Diego by Greyhound bus from Washington State.

That was in the old days, you know, you just kind of had to make it on your own.

Somehow she finds a city bus in San Diego that would take her the last 10 miles to National City, as close as she could get to Paradise Valley Hospital.

As she lugs her 1 big suitcase onto the bus, the bus driver quips to her, say young lady are you running away from home or something?

She wasn't coming late by accident, but back in Washington, shortly after being accepted into the fall class of nursing in 1963, Her father was diagnosed with cancer and he was not expected to live very long.

She determined to stay and help her parents.

She sent word to the School of Nursing that she'd be delayed in coming.

In fact, she temporarily enrolled in a local community nurse's training program, hoping she could at least take similar classes and go back to Paradise Valley and catch up later.

By God's grace, he had given his life to the Lord 7 years earlier, and he now could really rest in peace.

But 2 weeks after this happened, news came from California, Central California, that her brother just died suddenly, unexpectedly.

He got up 1 morning, he wasn't feeling well, He went for a favorite chair to sit down for a few minutes before going to work, and he never woke up.

They thought maybe interstitial pneumonia, but they weren't sure.

There was no more daddy in the home, and there were 3 young children.

There was a quick trip planned from Washington State to Central California.

Mother and daughter would attend the funeral and try to comfort her daughter and sister-in-law and 3 little girls.

After the funeral, there were relatives from San Diego that said to the prospective nursing students, you ought to come down to PV and make sure that what you're taking up there in Washington State is really going to dovetail, because now this young lady wanted to go home and comfort her mother for a while before coming to Paradise Valley.

So she took the offer to take a day or 2 to come down to Paradise Valley, It was just a few hundred miles.

And she met with the director of nurses, Maxine Blum, and they went over the curriculum and was told, you know, you're not getting hydrotherapy, we're teaching that this semester, you're not getting nutrition, and if you don't come right away, you're probably going to lose the whole year." She got back on the bus, went back to where her mother was in Central California, they discussed it, they prayed about it, and Mother said, I'm going to be all right.

She got back on a bus and went back and started at Paradise Valley.

By the time she got there, the nursing class had finished their first semester and were into the second semester for a few weeks.

And this semester was going to include some social activities.

You know, this is 1 of our schools and we do those things.

Each year the school planned an annual nurses banquet.

Of course there were lots of girls in the nursing class, and there weren't many of us guys.

Some unknown student nurse invited me to go with her to the student nurses' banquet.

Now like most guys, I didn't really respect girls that chase guys, but then, well, this is a nursing school, I mean, maybe this is different, maybe I shouldn't judge right away, but right now I had a bigger problem.

I didn't recognize the girl's name that was calling me, and I was embarrassed to keep asking her, because I'd never heard the name Phoebe before, and I'm not the best at names at the beginning.

Before I can tell you how it turned out, I need to back up just a little bit, 4 years, to give you a little bit more background.

Last night I told you about my Navy experience, and when I returned from the Pacific cruise, there were several things going on in my life.

Praise God, I was reading the Bible regularly, and it was impacting my life.

It was changing my heart, but I was still in that early stage of process.

I didn't have a mentor, I didn't have someone giving me Bible studies, and Satan was there working too.

The year before I went overseas on the USS Frontier, just before that time we were given a leave so we could go and have vacation before we sailed.

So I went up to see my mother and stepfather and my little sister in Oregon.

And that week that I was there, I discovered the next door neighbor was Mary Lou.

She was sweet 16 and I was fully 17 and in the United States Navy.

When you're away from home and you're in a different country, sailing the ocean blue, meeting different people, the different cultures, you miss the familiar things and we all look forward to mail call.

Mary Lou always had a letter there waiting for me, and yes, I wrote too.

I remember writing for 3 or 4 months, and when I arrived to Hong Kong, I wanted to do something special for her.

And tatering was great in Hong Kong, still is actually.

And I had a beautiful coat made for her, and I had her name put right inside of it, embroidered Mary Lou, and I mailed it to her.

Our letters progressed, some of you may know what that means, From chit-chat to dreaming about the future to no real substance.

God’s in the Marriage Business

Transcript

Description

Parent Conference

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