Issue 2002 #3
THEME:
Telling Others
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Testimony of Mark Jenkins
by Barbara Jenkins (his mother)
Hi, my name is Barb Jenkins for you that don't know me. I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I am the mother of five sons. One of them has gone on to be
with the Lord and about that I would like to share with you.
On July 15, 2000 our whole life changed. At 2 a.m. we entered a parent's worst
nightmare. A policeman was at our door telling us that our youngest son, Mark
age 17, was in a very serious car accident and we needed to get to the
hospital right away. When we got there he was alive but not expected to live as
he had serious head injuries. He lived three hours.
I want to tell you of God's faithfulness through this dark pathway we have
had to walk. While Mark lay on that hospital bed, we prayed with him and for
him. We told him we loved him. I did a lot of talking to God. I knew He
could heal Mark, as this was nothing to Him. I knew I had the faith for it
if that was what He wanted to do. But I wasn't sure in my heart that this was
what was about to happen.
As time went on I asked Him, if He wasn't going to heal Mark, I needed to know
for sure that Mark would spend eternity with Him. I knew Mark was a typical
teenager and he wasn't living for God the way he could have been. I wanted so
much to beg God to heal Mark and let me keep him, but I didn't.
I then asked God, if He wasn't going to heal Him, that He would use Mark's
death even more than his life. I left the choice up to God. Very shortly after
this conversation with God, Mark died.
God has been very faithful. He has answered a mother's cry for her son.
God has indeed shown us that Mark is with Him and He has used Mark's
death in ways that have amazed us.
Our third son Jody, his wife, and her two sisters, were at the lake the night
of the accident and Jesus came to the water's edge as they were in the water.
They all saw Him. He appeared very tall and He shone from head to foot. Jody
our son, saw Jesus had a child on his shoulders. When he was told of his
brothers' death - he knew why they saw what they saw the night before.
God is so good. He had answered my prayer to know where Mark is.
We have also shared the gospel with 200 of Mark's school peers resulting in many
changed lives. At Mark's funeral close to 700 friends and family heard pastor
Marvin Wojda preach the salvation message and that we all will die some day
and we need to live our lives accordingly. We have heard of God touching
many lives through this message and Mark's death.
God gave me this Scripture: Psalms 126:6. If I would go out weeping, carrying
the seeds, I would come back rejoicing carrying the sheaves," and that is what
God is doing.
I still have many tears, as I miss Mark more then words can say, and I will
never get over his loss until I see him again when it's my turn to enter
heaven. But God is faithful even with the worst Satan can throw at us. If
we continue to trust God even when bad things happen to us, He will take
our worst tragedies and use them for good. One day I will see the lives that were
saved and changed because of this deep water we are walking through. Mark and
I will rejoice about how God has used his life and death in such an amazing way.
I want to close with two Scriptures; Isaiah 54:10 "Though the mountains be
shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be
shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion
on you.
And Isaiah 43:2-3, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When
you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set
you ablaze... For I am the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel, your Savior."
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