After getting married in 1971, we pretty much did
not go to church. Our kids went to
church with my parents most Sundays, and we are so thankful for that. I always knew The Lord and knew we needed to
be in church, but Sunday mornings were so wonderful and relaxing! In early 1992, my daughter, Sara, started to
go to church with a friend, and suddenly I realized that I wanted to choose
where she went to church! We had been
watching TBN for a long time and learning a lot about the Holy Spirit. One night Pastors Randy and Renee' Clark were
guests on Praise The Lord to promote
the upcoming Easter production. I jumped
up and said to my family, "that's the pastors of that church I told you
about!"
That was in April. Each week we would have an excuse to stay
home, but on Mother’s Day I woke everyone up and said for my gift I wanted us
all to go to church. We walked in and
had no idea how blessed our lives were about to become! Howard Clark greeted us in the foyer, Pastor
Renee' ministered that morning in a gorgeous pink suit, and everyone was so
nice to us. That evening my family wanted to know if we were going to the night
service. I was shocked because I thought
we would visit a few other churches before going back. We did go that night and
literally did not miss a service for about 5 years!
In these last 21 plus years, God has blessed us
in so many ways. Keith went from being a carpenter/contractor to having his own
financial planning business. Our son, Scot,
joined Triumph’s Master's Commission and served as a missionary in Russia for
several years. Sara got involved with
youth and choir and became a worship leader and then later a pastor.
As for me, the thing I'm most happy about is I
was taught how to seek The Lord in prayer and worship and found out how close
He wanted to be in my life. Once, when
we were in a financial tight spot, we went to Howard Clark for prayer. I was wanting a "thus sayeth The Lord
money is coming" kind of word. Instead
he said, "seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be
added to you.” I literally began to seek
The Lord, and He really did add all these things to me!
We are so thankful for the obedience of Pastors
Randy and Renee' and for all who sacrificed and worked so hard to bring Triumph
to life so that our family could find just what we needed. There is a quote in
the book "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" that says, "Rarely are
members of a family born under the same roof.”
That's how we feel about our Triumph family. We all came from different
places, but we are truly family, and we love our family! Actually we did become family by marriage when
Sara married Neal who is Pastor Renee's cousin, so that made it really
official!
There are so many memories, and I wish I could
just keep writing them. I am overwhelmed
as I recall how much has taken place since we came to Triumph. It's been 21 years, it but seems like only
yesterday we walked in for the first time. Happy 30th Anniversary Triumph!
Mary & Keith Sexton
Nederland Campus
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