Dad's Spiritual Birthday

Today is Dad's spiritual birthday. Forty-five years ago today Dad gave his heart to the Lord and was born again, and I always share his testimony on this date. Today is a little different for us than in other years. We are so grateful and happy for this day, but at the same time we are a little sad…this is the first spiritual birthday without Mom by Dad’s side. We miss her terribly and know how much this day meant to her. She gave her heart to the Lord the very next day (March 19th, 1981), and stood by Dad’s side every step of the way in their journey with the Lord together. Mom would want me to share Dad’s testimony again. I am so thankful that the Lord reached down into the Young family and changed our lives all those years ago!

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Today is a very significant day for our family. Just over 45 years ago, on Sunday, March 15, 1981, my father was diagnosed with a terminal aggressive bone cancer. He was 33 at the time, happily married, with 3 small children (the pictures here were taken shortly after his diagnosis). That day started him on a journey that changed his life (and our family’s) forever. He did not know the Lord when he received that diagnosis, although he had been under intense conviction for quite some time. Everything in his life seemed to have turned upside down on that fateful Sunday. Nothing that earlier seemed to matter, mattered anymore. Only clinging to every minute of life meant something.

Shortly after his diagnosis, something took place that touches me deeply. Men from the Windsor Pentecostal Church sprang into action. They began paying Dad visits. They had special times together to pray and seek God on his behalf. They were Jesus' hands and feet to my Dad. On Wednesday of that same week, March 18, 1981 (45 years ago today), Dad was at home while Mom was out trying to get some comfort from her friends. Myself, Jamie and Justin were in bed, so while Dad was alone and feeling the despair, he turned on the TV. There on TV was Billy Graham preaching at a crusade. Dad was amazed at how Billy Graham seemed to be speaking right to him! Dad knew that he was in need of a Saviour. That night, on the couch in the living room at 139 Goodyear Avenue in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, Dad gave his heart and soul over to Jesus Christ. Jesus became Lord of His life that day! Little did he know that his good friend, Bob King, who attended Windsor Pentecostal Church, was at a men's fellowship meeting that same night. At the exact same time that Dad committed his life to the Lord (at 8:50 pm), Bob was in the parking lot of the church with some men and felt that they should go back in the church to pray for Dad's salvation and healing. The Lord heard their prayer! The very next day, Mom gave her heart to the Lord while watching 100 Huntley Street.

It was not long after that night of Dad's salvation that Dad had to come into St. John's for more tests; all of them showing that he had a malignant bone disease. A Pentecostal preacher by the name of Graham Noble laid hands on him to pray for healing. At that moment, Dad felt heat through his leg. He had never experienced anything like it. He knew that the Lord had healed him! After more tests were performed, the doctors couldn't explain what was happening. No infection, no disease, was all they could say. After two years of still feeling the pain, but walking in faith that he was healed, he did not receive any more calls from his doctor and experienced no more pain from that point on! He has been walking cancer-free for the past 45 years! Praise the Lord!

I am truly thankful for the people that influenced Dad and Mom in their journey: Dad's family and Mom's family (who were witnessing to my parents and praying for them), the men (and women) at Windsor Pentecostal Church, Jimmy Swaggart (who greatly influenced Dad through his music while Dad was under conviction), Billy Graham, those working with 100 Huntley Street, the late Graham Noble, and many others. These were all people who were points of contact through which the Lord worked.

I am ultimately thankful to the Lord Jesus Christ who saved Dad, who healed Dad, who called him into the ministry. As a family, we could have gone down a very different path, but for the grace of God...my life will never be the same. I believe in miracles. Although we don't see them as frequently as we should, I believe, as the Word of God says, that signs, wonders and miracles will follow those who believe. Dad and Mom served the Lord in ministry since 1987 and have seen many people saved, delivered and healed.

In 1981 after Dad was healed of the cancer, the doctors did a biopsy and couldn't find what was previously there. They thought that they didn't go deep enough into the bone and decided to do another biopsy. Of course, the result was the same: they couldn't find the active, malignant bone disease. But, because of so much bone taken at the time, over the years Dad's leg (shin bones in particular), have bowed over time. In April 2023, his tibia and fibula bones both broke in two from the change in bone structure over time. While Dad was in the hospital that year waiting for trauma surgery, a doctor came into his room to tell him that there is no cancer in his bones (as they thought this could be a reason for the break). Two years after Dad's diagnosis in 1981, he never heard back from his cancer doctor, and was never told that he was cancer-free (although they did confirm that they couldn't find what was there). Although Dad knew, believed and proclaimed his healing all this time, it took 42 years for Dad to hear those words from a doctor! Praise God for the confirmation of healing after all those years!

Although we are walking a different path right now without Mom, we place our lives in the hands of the Lord and trust His leading. We still believe in miracles, and we still believe in healing. We may not be seeing what we long to see right now, but we continue to trust and wait on the Lord for His perfect timing. And we continue to wait for the next step of Dad’s healing...a straight leg and all the metal gone! We are believing and excited for what the Lord is about to do!