God said "Pray"

by Lily Long

My name is Lily Long, and I grew up way out in the desert country of Western Australia.

When I was a small girl, missionaries from the Apostolic Church in Jigalong taught me about Jesus. When I became a bit older, I remember travelling with Pastor Stevens on his evangelistic trips around the surrounding towns. I have good memories of the missionaries - they were very kind to us.

When I was old enough I was given to my promised husband. He was much older than I was and we had four children together - three girls and one boy. Sadly one of my girls is finished - she passed away.

During the late 60s and early 70s, many of the cattle stations could no longer afford to employ Indigenous stockmen and many of our people became unemployed because their skills were of no use in the towns.

Around this time drinking rights had come in as well and many of our mob who had nothing else to do turned to the wama (alcohol). I chose not to. I had a strong faith in Jesus and no-one could persuade me to drink something that would damage the body Mama (God) had given me.

Sadly, my husband became a heavy drinker and this made our life very difficult at times. Occasionally, he attended church but he never gave himself to Jesus. Eventually, he became very ill because of his drinking, and we had to put him into hospital. Each day I visited him in hospital and would tell him that Mama was watching over him.

One night I felt Mama telling me that I should go to the hospital and pray for my husband. I went to his bedside and as I sat by him I felt impressed to speak very directly with him. I said, "Old man, you follow Mama! You are a very sick man now; you must come to Mama now! You have run away too long. It is time to go back to him."

My old man listened and said "Yes! I will go back to Mama. Would you pray for me, my wife?"

I prayed a simple prayer asking Mama to forgive him. It was difficult to sit by and watch him suffer, so I handed him over to the Lord and put his life in God's care. My old husband found peace after my prayer and he passed away in the Lord.

It is never too late to accept Jesus. But if you wait until you are on your deathbed, you will miss out on all the blessings that Mama wants to give you right now.

I know I will see my man when Jesus comes, and I am thankful that Mama asked me to pray for him.

Lily Long writes from Newman, Western Australia

This article first appeared in Goodnews (Winter 2009), the official newsletter of the Adventist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ministries.

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