I WANTED TO LIVE (continued)
by Bert Genaille
 |
|
Liz &
Bert Genaille |
... I was going with Liz at that time.
After the fire, I said, "Liz, we're getting married
soon." Our wedding was a month later, on August 18. But after
eight years of drinking and fighting, we were at the end of our
ropes. That is when Liz found help, and our lives began to turn
around.
Unknown to us, Liz's brother had told
some NCEM missionaries in the area that the Lord was beginning to
work in Liz's heart. When they came, they shared the
Gospel with her and she accepted the Lord. Liz never let me catch
her at it, but after that she started reading her Bible and having
weekly Bible studies in the afternoon when I wasn't home.
Let Me Live
It was in May when Liz accepted the
Lord. After that there was such a change in her life I couldn't
believe she was the same woman. I loved what I saw, and I tested it,
too. I did everything I could to get her to come back to parties and
stuff like that, even though deep down in my heart I wanted her to
be true to what she had. A couple of times, she came with me, but
she would leave after a while.
On my birthday in 1975, I went for
one last big drunk. The next morning, I was really sick. I got out
of bed, and it felt like my heart was going to stop. I hit myself in
the chest, and then went walking outside. I felt terribly sick and
felt like dying. I remember walking around a sawdust pile next to an
old sawmill. As I
walked around, I knew my wife had something different.
I began to talk to
God. I said, "Lord, let me live. Let me be just like my wife,
whatever she has." At that moment, something happened. Somehow
I knew I was going to live. From that time on, I never touched a
drink again. And about two weeks later, I quit smoking, too. All
this was happening in my life, but still I had not told anyone about
it, not even my wife.
A little while later we were
traveling to a funeral in Cross Lake. I had a shell on the back of
my truck, and there was a couch inside. On the way home, my cousin
was driving. Liz and I and the kids were all in the back. The kids
were singing songs about Jesus, the kind you learn in Sunday school.
I was sitting beside my wife. At that moment, the Lord seemed to
say, "Now is the time. You have to say something about your
faith."
I wrestled with that for a while. It
was the hardest thing for me to do in my life, but finally I turned
to my wife and said, "Liz, I want to follow the Lord."
When I said that, man, the burden was lifted off me and I felt
peace. All I needed to do was say with my mouth what I already
believed in my heart.
Starving for Fellowship
After that truck ride, things really
changed. I stopped buying booze and cigarettes for my friends, and I
stopped going to parties. Of course, when I did that, all my friends
dropped me. Nobody came around any more. It was lonely for awhile,
but we would not let the devil discourage us.
Since there were no other believers
living in Cormorant at the time, we were starving for fellowship. We
used to get into my truck and go to The Pas. But every time we were
getting ready to go, it seemed somebody would come by to try to get
us to do something else.
Once a week after that, one of the
missionaries would come for a visit and a Bible study. Not long
after that, Liz started to have a Sunday school in our home. What we
knew is what we taught. She did it on her own for almost a year. I
just helped her along a little. The Bible studies and Sunday school
in our home never did stop until we got a building for a church.
Today, I have more friends than ever,
not only here in northern Manitoba, but around the world. And the
Lord has cleared up our marriage problems. Through the years, we had
to work things out that happened in the past. For a while they kept
coming up during arguments. But as we brought them out and talked
them over, they were put away forever. Now, I don't even think
about them anymore. I can honestly tell people that while our
marriage is not perfect, it is good, and getting better all the
time.
Bert & Liz Genaille have been regular guests on Tribal
Trails since our broadcast began. They now serve full-time with
Continental Mission and Canadian Revival Fellowship. "I Wanted to Live" was
adapted and reprinted with permission from Indian Life (Intertribal
Christian Communications, Winnipeg, MB).
To meet more Native North Americans whose lives have
been changed by Jesus Christ -- be sure to tune in to Tribal Trails each week.
Or click Tribal Trails Guests.
|
