One of the most
significant women in my history is a woman whose name I did not know for over forty
years. She was speaking at an Assemblies
of God kids camp when I was ten years old.
“Sister Wise” placed a
24x36 flannel board on an easel behind six hay bales. She used flannel pictures
to depict a straight and narrow road leading to a place of light in a beautiful
blue sky. Another picture showed a
winding, rocky path leading to a circle of flames. They both originated
from a church positioned at the bottom of the board. I had no problem choosing the straight and
narrow. At a hay bale altar with women I
thought were “old” (probably late
thirties), I trusted in Jesus as my Savior.
Years
later in a book called Like A Prairie Fire by Bob Burke (https://www.amazon.com/Like-Prairie-Fire-Assemblies-Oklahoma/dp/0964132508) I
learned that a woman named Katie Wise had been a missionary in China in 1936. During WWII, she was interned in a Japanese
prison camp in the Philippines for three years.
She came back to the states and ministered in churches and camps. In 1962, she spoke at an Oklahoma youth camp.
I had always known the woman with the flannel board was named “Sister
Wise”.
It would be surprising if any of my readers had ever heard of Katie Wise. I never
saw her again. She never knew me. She didn’t know who or what I became. The
number of souls saved through her ministry probably number in the hundreds. She doesn’t remember me, but I remember
her. She holds a place of honor in my history.
Was a woman
instrumental in your salvation? Comment
about her on this post.
