Testimony of Linde Feakes

I was raised in a religious home where we went to church regularly. I got to the point where I didn’t want to sit in and listen to the preaching nor Sunday School anymore, so when my sister would bring her small children to church, I would much rather sit in the nursery and look after them! I continued that way until I left home at 18 years old. A few months later, I met my now husband, John, and started dating him. On one of our very first dates, we had long conversations about the Lord and where we would go after we died. Since John was already a believer and saved,  I didn’t want to be in a different line-up than him in the end, so I went home that night and asked the Lord Jesus to forgive what I knew to be a rebellion to Him.

Well, time went on, and John and I got more and more serious about each other, but not so much about our Savior! We got married in 1994, four months after our fist son, Ashton was born.  John started really reading his Bible at the time Ashton was in the hospital after his open heart surgery. You see, Ashton was born with Down Syndrome and was diagnosed with a heart defect a couple of days after birth. We knew surgery would be imminent, but fully enjoyed our time with him, as long as we had. When Ashton died ten days after surgery, my world was drastically changed. I was lost, without a job, since Ashton had been my full time job since his birth. I was a few months pregnant with our next child at the time of his death, and that turned out to be such a blessing (Alicia). Although, facing the fact that Ashton was gone for the rest of my earthly life, I still held fast to the fact that I would be with him in heaven one day. As John got more and more serious about studying God’s word, I didn’t share his zeal, even though I never stopped believing it. Then, something changed around the time I was pregnant with our third child  (Samuel). I realized I was not living a life that was pleasing to God and decided I wanted to change that! John and I both took baptism classes at an MB church here in Winnipeg, and were baptized on March 28th, 1997. After that turning point, my life has been steadily on the upward slope towards where my Lord wants me to be! I’ll reach that point in Glory! I think I finally understood who the Lord Jesus was, and I wanted to serve Him and be one of His! I got actively involved in teaching Sunday school in 1999, and in 2000, we left traditional church, having just had our fourth child (Maddison). We went through a few years of doing church at home, since we couldn’t find a church where the whole council of God was being taught. In the beginning of 2006 (while expecting my fifth child, Marcus), we started attending Oxford Bible Church, and have been active in ministry there since then. My husband and I, along with the Bergerons, run the Dinosaur Discovery Zone Kids club there, as well as the Creation Museum.

I wish I had the testimony where I could say, “this is the day I prayed to God to be my Saviour and everything changed.” But, for me, it seemed to be a process of renewing and regeneration to get me to the point where I can say, “I know Jesus is my redeemer, and I know my Redeemer lives.”  I fully understand the loss of a child, and to know that Jesus willingly came to pay the price of our rebellion,  is sometimes too much for me to take. Oh the love that He has for us; the price He paid. I could never walk away from Him!

I serve as the treasurer and spearhead the outreach to the poor downtown for CARE Ministries partly because I’m John’s wife, and it is an honor to be a help meet for him, but mostly because, as a house wife and stay at home mom, there is very little I feel I can actively do for the Lord. These are two things that I can see have eternal value—along with the endless hours I’ve spent co-raising our four living children in the fear and admonition of our Lord Jesus. Our children have been home-schooled for their entire lives, and we plan to continue through high school (which starts in the fall for the oldest, Alicia!). Our family operates very much like a unit, we go to all of John’s lectures together, we work at the ministry display table together, and we plan to continue that as long as the Lord allows. As for our house, we will follow the Lord!