FROM DESPAIR TO DESTINY

Testimony by Tony Brain

It was in the early hours of the morning.  The phone ringing penetrated my deep sleep.  As I made my way to the phone I thought who could be ringing at this unearthly hour.  I picked up the phone.  It was my daughter Sharon, speaking in great anguish of spirit, she sobbed “Dad.  Amanda and Michael are dead.  They have both been stabbed to death, there is blood all over the house.”   Amanda was my granddaughter and Michael my great grandson, both so beautiful and very precious to me.

This tragedy was a climax to a succession of events that had taken place subsequent to travelling around Australia, as an evangelist for 2 years with a tent ministry known as The Mobile Church.  The first situation was after speaking at a Church in Broken Hill, a country-mining town in New South Wales.  I returned to our place of residence and found my wife was suffering with acute pain in her right leg.  After praying for her the pain seemed to get worse and appeared to be moving up her leg.  I raced my wife, Lorraine, to the local hospital where I was advised that she needed urgent attention as it was suspected that a clot condition in the blood was moving up towards her heart.  I got her back to Adelaide by the Flying Doctor Service and immediate surgery saved the amputation of her leg.

On the way home from the hospital a vehicle burst through a red traffic light and struck my vehicle and rolled it over twice.  I managed to get out of the vehicle unhurt but was taken by ambulance to the hospital where, after examination and x-rays, I was allowed to leave.  Two days later I was advised by my own doctor that the x-rays taken after the accident showed that my body was full of arthritis.  Even though I was 62 years of age at the time I maintained a high fitness level with exercise and walking.  I told the doctor I would not receive that diagnosis and that I had not experienced any evidence of pain or physical restriction.  To this day, 8 years later, I have not been troubled by arthritis.

About 9 months later, while I was listening to a worship tape with my wife in my arms, I noticed her eyes glaze and saliva began running out of her mouth.  I rang the ambulance and they had to pry her out of my arms as she clung to me with all her strength.  She had suffered a major haemorrhage in the brain and within 3 months died in a very deteriorated condition.  Being a lay minister who had seen God heal many people, I was very hurt and disappointed that my prayers had not reversed the circumstances of my wife’s condition, and life had little meaning to me.

It was not long after my wife’s death that I received the tragic phone call from my daughter, Sharon.  The funeral of my granddaughter and great-grandson was very painful as the grief and anger at this precious waste of life was making all the family feel guilty.  The situation was compounded by the death by suicide of the young man who murdered Amanda and Michael in a jealous fit of rage.

When someone asked me how the tragedies I have been through affected my faith, I felt the Holy Spirit well up inside me as I said with deep conviction “I have never been more conscious of God’s love and strength at any period in my life and my faith in Jesus Christ has enabled me to steady and comfort my family in their grief and suffering.

After the death of my wife I had attended a FGBMFI Chapter meeting at the town of Gawler, South Australia, and was greatly impressed by the freedom of the Holy Spirit to move in the meeting.  That day I joined the movement and over a two year period was involved in 8 air lifts to various Australian cities where with other members I spoke at conferences, outreach meetings and teaching seminars.  I also took part in a major evangelical crusade in Papua New Guinea where many thousands of people were saved with spectacular signs and wonders.

Through the love of Christ in the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship I was able to recover from the grief and pain of the decease of my loved ones and reactivated the sense of destiny that I had prior to the tragedies.

 God was gracious to me and; two years after my wife’s death I met and subsequently married a lovely Christian widow who was very active in church leadership.  Our marriage has been very successful and wonderfully blessed.  I am now 71 years of age and God has granted me an abundance of His life and Spirit.

Tony is the immediate past President of Adelaide North chapter FGBMFI and is available for speaking and teaching. (contact this site) 

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