Marjorie Johnson
Salvation Experience
Until the age of 8 years old I lived on a peach ranch with my parents, as the oldest of 3 girls, I was very happy and secure in my role at home and at school, liked and accepted by all of my classmates. Then suddenly we were forced to move to Modesto from the ranch because of a dispute between my Father and his Dad, who owned the ranch. The bottom fell out of my world. I changed from being self- confident to very shy and insecure, not knowing my new classmates and not feeling accepted by them. As I look back on that time now, I can see the Lord’s hand in this. Being in town now, my sisters and I were able to freely attend church, not dependent on being driven into town. We would walk, roller skate, or ride our bikes on Sunday mornings, while our mom stayed home on her only day off to do the laundry and the inevitable ironing. I have such treasured memories of accepting Christ at the age of eleven at an altar call. My younger sister Sharon and I went forward, faced the congregation, and repeated the words after the pastor, accepting Jesus as my personal Savior.
My salvation experience was glorious and I wanted to sing praises and write poetry expressing my love for Jesus. But due to tension in the family with my Dad’s alcoholism, my insecurities never diminished.
At the age of 15, I became involved in a relationship with my future husband Harold. “Hal was very controlling, which contributed to our marriage when I was 16, between my Jr. and Sr. year of High School. I did graduate from high school in 1955, while my husband was sent to Japan with the Marine Corp. After graduation, I joined Hal at his various assignments as a military wife. I was able to join him when he was shipped off to Italy for 3 years. The experience of living abroad added an extra dimension to our lives. In 1963, we returned Stateside with a 4-month-old baby, Eric, and a 1959 Maserati 3500 GT Coup. The Maserati had significance due -to -the- fact that it opened the door to what would become the primary source of income and focus for our growing family. In 1965 our daughter Liz was born in Modesto. Then in 1968 Hal and I established our foreign car repair business in San Leandro (which still exists to this day now owned and operated by Eric). In 1969, our son Christopher (CJ) was born in Hayward. One of our family’s greatest difficulties stemmed from Hal’s excessive drinking. He was also fiercely jealous of anything or anyone who would possibly take my time and attention away from him. He especially had a great hostility toward my relationship to the Lord, and wouldn’t allow the Bible to be visible or even to be read in his presence. I took our children to church over his objections and attended Bible Study Fellowship for a number of years until I started working full time at the family business. During this time my relationship with Christ, my church attendance, and my long-distance calls to my mother strengthened me.
My life’s verse is Romans 8:28 which says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” This verse was such a comfort and held me together through some very rough times.
Over time, Hal softened somewhat in his objections to my faith. In 1979, Hal was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol with an added charge of assault with a deadly weapon. That night, after bailing him out of jail, I was able to persuade him to read a booklet called “The 4 Spiritual Laws”. I pray that he truly meant the words that he repeated. His life didn’t ever reflect a great change, although he did attend Challenger’s Sunday school with Glenn Schaeffer for quite a few years. In 2005 he chose to be baptized and was baptized by our son CJ, who was a pastor.
Hal passed away 5 years ago (2015) with dementia, leaving behind 3 children, 15 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren. I am so richly blessed by my family.
At the age of 82, looking back on my long life I have such a strong feeling of gratitude to my Savior for all of my blessings. Watching my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren grow and learn from their trials, mistakes, and successes shows just how important it is to make wise choices.
Walking with Jesus has been the source of my strength. My prayer for my beloved family is that each one will reach out to Him through prayer and studying His precious word.
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