Elect Lady's Corner

Everybody has a story! And by having a story, I don’t mean “something you made up to make a bad situation look good.” But basically, it’s asking you to tell others about yourself by giving a brief history of your life. You can do this by sharing events in your life that brought you to where you are today. People may observe where you are whether good or bad but wonder; how did you get there! So, I’d like to ask: “How can your story impact the lives of others?” Remember, to keep it short but give a few details about your past, present, and future. 

A good example would be the story of Apostle Paul. Although Paul wrote 14 books in the New Testament. and the majority of the book of Acts concerns Paul, his story is summarized in Acts 9:1-22 (Read later) In Paul’s past, he was from a devout Jewish family, born a Roman citizen in Tarsus, who became a Pharisee well versed and loyal to the laws of Moses. 

He was extremely active in persecuting Christians because he believed their beliefs were contrary to Mosaic laws, so he requested letters of authorization by the High Priest to put all Christians male or female to death or in prison.  But as he traveled and came near the city of Damascus to annihilate the Christians, he was intercepted by the voice of Jesus who spoke to him from heaven and said: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” 

Saul (called Paul) fell to his knees and asked Jesus what did He desire of him to do? Jesus instructed him to go to Ananias, a disciple Of Christ, whom Jesus had spoken to in a dream, and he would give him instructions. Paul was then blind for 3 days and did not eat food or drink for 3 days. After Ananias laid hands on Paul, he received his sight, and his strength was restored. He then spent a few days with the disciples in Damascus and immediately began to preach the gospel that Jesus is the Son of God from that time forth. 

Although Paul endured great afflictions and persecutions for his stand for Christ, and although he loved his Jewish brothers greatly, his true calling was to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, and millions of souls were saved because of “his story.” Now, here’s a brief synopsis of “my story.” I was born the 3rd child of 8 children. My Mother was a Christian, but my father was a functioning alcoholic. 

I was raised predominantly around my Mother’s family. So, my Mother’s father, who we called Big daddy was my Pastor, Big mama the Pastor’s wife, one uncle the assistant Pastor, another uncle the head deacon, my aunts served as church mothers, missionaries, choir director and choir members, etc. It was all in the family basically. I went to church every Sunday with my family and whether you chose to be saved or not, you still had to go to church and live by certain Christian standards. 

But, even as a young child, I always had a love and fear of God as long as I can remember. Around the age of 8 or 9, I would come home from church and preach to the kids in the neighborhood on my porch, that if they didn’t get saved, they were going to a terrible place called hell. They would all start crying and saying I don’t want to go to hell! 

One time, my Mom walked out to the porch and asked me: “Pat, what’s going on out here?” I said: “I don’t know, they just all started crying!” I didn’t know if I would get in trouble for making them cry! But I always desired that I would have a Christian home with a loving Father going to church with us and being a true man of God. But, at the age of 10, my parents were divorced. We continued to attend church faithfully, and one summer at the age of 15, I decided to make Jesus my choice and wholeheartedly gave my life to Jesus. 

I have not been perfect, but I never turn my back on Jesus since that day. Later, while attending Purdue University, during my 2nd year, God called me into the ministry to preach. But, in respect of Big daddy, I told him I was called to teach, because he didn’t believe women should preach but teach. However, many times when I returned home from Purdue to visit, Big daddy would put me up to speak. One of Big daddy’s greatest virtues, he instilled in me was holiness and righteousness. 

He preached quite often from Hebrews 12:14: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord:” One of his favorite songs was: I know the Bible is right, somebody’s wrong! Later, I met my husband Prophet Owens at a conference called UNAC in Dallas, Texas. We have been married for over 46 years with 2 sons and 1 daughter. They are all ministers working in the ministry with us. 

We have not only served as Pastors at Immanuel’s Temple for over 36 years in Las Vegas and Lansing, Mi, but 11 ½ years in campus ministry at MSU, preached numerous revivals, been on radio, tv, the Word Network for 17 years, and Summit conferences for 17 years. By the grace of God, we have led many souls to Christ thru our ministry and social media platforms. So, now I ask you: “What’s your story?