Testimonies

Testimony of Roy Van Denburgh

I was blessed in that my parents were Christians and we always were in church regularly.  My mother and dad were both active in the Methodist church that we attended in Johnstown, NY.  Dad’s occupation was a glove cutter in a factory.  Mom was a teacher in a one room school house and was my teacher from grade 1-6.  Both were determined that we kids were to know the Lord and to learn academics.  We were also expected to go to college.

I came to know the Lord as a result of Dr. Paton, who was our pastor.  He met regularly with our young people and explored our knowledge of the Lord.  It was when I was ten years old that I took Jesus as my Savior.  I was in seventh grade at the time.  Pastor told me to give the direction of my life over to the Lord and not to let my own concerns for the future dictate what I did.

From that time forward I knew that God was in charge.  I also had a good Sunday school teacher, Miss Annie Graham.  She had eight of us boys in high school and she had a saying that is every bit as good today as it was then.  It was, “Never be doing anything, saying anything, thinking anything, or being in a place that you would not want to be when the Lord returns.”  (Proverbs 27:1, Matthew 25:13)  This saying and two others that I was taught by my folks have always stayed with me.  My folks said, “If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well, and that applies to your education as well.”  (Colossians 3:13)  The second is, “If you make an appointment to be somewhere at a certain time, then you always be there ahead of time, and, if you are going to be delayed, always let the person expecting you know.”  I learned these lessons from a very strict parental background and still try to live by them today.

For over 67 years, since I gave my life to the Lord’s direction, I have seen Him do things that at the time I did not realize were His direction.  For example, my folks moved at the end of my junior year in high school and we moved to a different town for my senior year.  Since I had played sports that was not an easy time.  After high school I studied at VMI, Union College and finished at Cortland State Teachers College.  My first job after graduation was at a Children’s Home in Binghamton, NY.  Not necessarily what I had in mind, but was one of the best moves in my life, for there I met a young lady who became my wife 56 years ago.  She has endured many moves between Pennsylvania and New York.

I worked for IBM 44 years.  It was an occupation that kept me traveling.  My wife took care of all our home needs and our three boys while I was on the road weekly from coast to coast and internationally.

The Lord did not always make the way smooth, but He always provided.  We always have been active in the churches we joined even though my travel impacted my ability to serve many times as I would have liked.

The older I get the more I realize that Our Lord has led me day by day even when the way seemed rough and I could not understand why certain things happened.

This I do know, it has been worth it all to live for Jesus.