Our house in Pittsburgh sold in one day on the market, and we packed up and left. We took it all as a sign that we were on the right road. In August of 1976, we headed to Tulsa and drove straight to the house we had purchased on our visit to Tulsa in July. On the drive we sang Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma” and we also sang…
Abraham, Abraham, listen to Me.
Oh, leave your land and leave your country.
Put your hand in my hand
Come and follow me.
When we arrived in Tulsa, the family loved our new house, and even though our furniture did not arrive for many weeks, we settled in. We enrolled the three younger kids in a nearby grade school. Our oldest, Melissa, found a Christian school across town. She enjoyed it and made lifelong friends. We liked Tulsa; it was small, clean, and in the middle of the Bible Belt. The grocery stores played Christian music and the new Woodland Hills Mall had just opened. We found a nice church to attend, Grace Fellowship. Bob Yandian was our Sunday School teacher; he would also be one of our instructors at Rhema.
We started our classes at Bible school and met Brother Hagin. On our first day of school, Bob Yandian stood to Read Psalm 24:
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors:
And the King of glory will come in.
Who is the King of glory?
Jehovah strong and mighty,
Jehovah mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
Yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors:
And the King of glory will come in.
Who is this King of glory? Jehovah of hosts,
He is the King of glory.”
The whole class stood to their feet and cheered. We had made it to this land. Our lives were about to change. We would learn the power of faith and the word of God. People came from all over the world to study. We laughed and cried and talked about all we were learning. We had left our homes and family, but it would all be worth it; we loved our new home in Tulsa. Our classes were so informative, and our religious souls were filled with the knowledge of God’s love. Many tears were shed as we heard about healing and prosperity and power. Day after day we talked about all we were learning about this Bible that we had never opened.
Following God may require more than you thought, but it is worth it.
…”there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.” Mark 10:29-30