How A Good Girl Came to Know the Lord…

By Missionary wife to Africa, Stephanie Norberg

I was a good girl. I didn't "smoke, drink, or chew, or run with the girls that do"--as Pastor Silcox used to say. I worked hard at school, and I worked hard at home. I was taught, and believed, that my good works would outweigh my bad works some day and that I would go to Heaven. Though I believed it, there was no assurance--only a fearful hope.

Grandpa and Grandma Emslie were discouraged with the church they had attended for years and had been looking for a church where the Word of God was faithfully preached. They had visited Bible Baptist Church in E. Grand Forks, MN, but it was a 40 mile drive each way. Then Grandpa died in Feb. of 1969.

During the summer of 1970, when I was 14, my 4 siblings and I were sent to stay with our Grandma Emslie and Uncle Johnny on the farm. We were a handful! I'm sure Grandma got many more gray hairs that summer. Grandma regularly tuned in to a local radio station where she heard a message that Pastor Silcox preached, and it was there that she heard about their upcoming youth camp, just 5 miles from the farm where they lived. She got the necessary information and all five of us were enrolled at camp!

We had morning and evening preaching services at the camp. It was unlike any preaching I had ever heard. It wasn't long before the Word of God convicted me of my sin, and I began to feel miserable. For years I had thought I was a "good girl," but I was quickly learning otherwise. After each service there was an invitation, and it was after the 4th one that I was feeling broken in spirit. For the first time in my life I understood that "a wretch like me" was truly the condition of my heart and life. I stood there sobbing, and a friend offered to go forward with me to talk to someone, which I did. I repented of my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour. That was the most important event of my life, and in awe I continue to thank God for forgiving me and receiving me as His child.

Every summer when I came to visit Grandma, we spent a week at camp and the canoe trip that followed became the highlight of my year. I gained strength from the teaching, preaching and fellowship with other believers. I felt like I had been starving all year and couldn't get enough "food" in fast enough. Salvation changed my life and filled a hunger in my soul that no one else could fill.

After I graduated from high school, I was invited to live with Grandma Emslie, and it was a time of refreshing for which I will always be thankful. I had intended to work and save enough money to attend nursing school, but the Lord had other plans for me...And that's another story for another time!