I am very pleased this week to share the testimony of Rachel Slate with  Hartselle Enquirer readers. Her testimony is entitled “How God Has Blessed Through the Years.”

It reads as follows: My mother was delivered from death’s door when giving birth to me at home. She was in very hard labor for many hours, but God spared both of us.

God’s angels protected m mother and me from a direct bolt of lighting, which struck the ground only a few feet behind us, as we ran across the cotton field where we had been chopping cotton. We were trying to get to the barn before the storm hit. The next day we saw the spot where the lighting bolt struck. All vegetation was killed in a spot about the size of a large room.

When I was attending high school, my last class for the day was on the 2nd floor. There was a balcony with stairs from the 2nd floor to the ground. There had been freezing rain causing the balcony and stairs to be glazed with thick ice. I didn’t realize that was the condition, so I rushed out to go to my bus. I fell on the balcony and slid to the edge. A few more inches and I would have plunged to the ground. God sent His angels, because He knew I was going to get saved in a few years and serve Him.

When I was a young child, my parents and I were crossing a flooded creek in a wagon pulled by a pair of mules. This was in the early 1930’s. The bridge was either washed out or not safe, but Daddy found a spot where he believed  we could make it across. In mid-stream the wagon bed became attached from the running gear and wheels. The bed floated to safety being pulled by the swimming mules. I say that was another miracle, praise the Lord!

God gave me parents, who taught me obedience and also a grandpa, whose influence led me to believe there is only one true church, the church of God, and every true christian is a member of that church, whether they are aware of it or not, even if they have joined a denomination.

I had an issue of blood every day for over a year and became very weak and pale. I sent a prayer request to Brother Raib Arch and Sister Wilma Moffitt, in Grand Cayman. The day they received my letter, I was healed. In a few days, I was back to normal.

I had a fistula in the late 1970’s, which caused me greater suffering than anything I have ever had before or after, including childbirth. I trusted God. I knew He would see me through if I wouldn’t give up. However, there were times the pain was so great, I had to endure one minute at a time. I would have mother to call the saints in Hagerstown sometimes, in the middle of the night. The details are so personal; I will not write them. God honored my desire to trust and obey Him. Healing came very gradually, but was complete as He saw fit.

In the early 1980’s, I had a spell with my heart beating so fast and hard that we couldn’t count the pulse and the blood pressure was so low the machine wouldn’t register it. I have two members of my family who are experienced in checking blood pressure levels. That spell lasted all night. Suddenly, at 7 a.m. my heartbeat returned to normal. However, it left me weak for weeks. Then about two years later, my heart went to skipping beats. Finally, it was so bad it would beat one and skip one. Sometimes it would beat once and then skipped two. I called Brother Junior Trisler in Louisiana and he prayed for me over the phone. He said he had the witness that I was healed. I felt no different, but claimed the witness and the promise. Healing was gradual, but in due time my heartbeat returned to normal. A nurse friend of my mother checked on me every day. She was experienced in working closely with a cardiologist. She said that I was in severe heart failure and could have died  any minute. That happened in the month of March and I was still so weak by camp meeting time in July that I was unable to sit up for very long at a time. I made my reservations to fly to Washington D.C. to attend the camp meeting in Hagerstown. Thank God, He gave me the strength to go.

The greatest miracle of all was when the Lord saved me in September 1949. I had not been brought up in the church and knew very little about the Bible, but God was patient and merciful to teach me, because my desire was to obey, to learn and to stay true.

On Saturday night, March 30, the McKen-dree United Methodist Church Youth acted as Easter bunnies and delivered flower pots with goodies to the community’s elderly. Youth group members wrote Easter greetings and their names on the pots.

The McKendree United Methodist Church choir, directed by Eric Summerford, presented ar cantata at Danville United Methodist Church, at 9:30 a.m. on Easter Sunday. The Youth drama group presented “The Passion Play” also at Danville and McKendree.McKendree Church’s youth leader is Kevin Crawley.

The Falkville Public Library Board hosted an open house on Tues., April 2, from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Many patrons, town council members, office staff, Mayor Bob Ramey, town merchants, teachers and other business people from the area attended. The board’s next meeting will be on May 7 at 9 a.m. at the library.

Fay White of Danville and Jean Miller of Salem attended a post-Easter family lunch and adult egg hunt at the home of Eric and Christi Reid Hunter in Priceville on Sat., April 6. The egg hunt winners received candy and other items as well as prize ribbons.

Sandra Hardwick deGraffenried, formerly of Danville, attended a dedication service, along with Ryan deGraffenried III, on Wednesday, at 11 a.m. at the Alabama Capital in Montgomery. The Judiciary Committee meeting room in the Senate was named for the late Senator Ryan deGraffenried Jr. and Senator Figures. Both had served as President Pro-Tem of the Senate. Sandra deGraffenried is currently helping the Hartselle School Board with their superintendent search and is a graduate of Morgan County High School, Class of 1962.