Seventh Year Harvest

by Dennis Patterson

Dennis Patterson is Pastor of Ingleside Baptist Church in Sydney's Northern Beaches (Australia). He is happily married to Joy with whom he now has five children.

I clearly remember the turning point in my life. I was reminiscing, sitting in a coffee bar inside the club where I was employed as a musician. To the observer my life may have appeared to be exciting. I had fulfilled a boyhood dream to be a professional musician and was now working with the country's leading pop and rock stars. Every night was soaked with fast music, bright lights, large crowds, and generous sums of money. I may have been the envy of many young people, but despite my seemingly exciting life style, inside I was slowly sinking. I was struggling with loneliness and emptiness that life in the fast lane could not satisfy.

As I sipped coffee, I must have appeared a lonely figure in the dim light. Two years had passed since my marriage had hopelessly broken down. My thoughts turned to the Sunday night I returned home from the band to find a heart-breaking note from my wife that spoke of her despair and inability to carry on as a wife and mother. My two little girls had been left sleeping in their room, unaware of the pain and hardship that would lay ahead for us all. Joy had called a close friend to watch the children until I had returned from work. My thoughts drifted to the nights of dragging myself up the stairs in the wee hours of the morning, carrying my young daughters from the baby sitters. I knew that this life style was not in their best interest. I loved them deeply. They were all I had.

I thought of the lonely months after our marriage had ended and how I had searched for companionship in other relationships. I was beginning to realize that all this was contributing to my guilt and confusion. As I sat in the coffee bar that night, I tried to prepare myself for another night of performing, yet I was deeply troubled by thoughts of how things used to be. I drifted to the days of my youth when I attended a church youth group program on Friday nights... and to how, at 12, I went forward one night at a youth rally in Sydney's Town Hall. England's best batsman, Rev. David Shepherd spoke about knowing Jesus Christ as a friend and savior. I thought of the fun, joy and innocence of those days. As I reflected on all this, a dull ache came into my heart to return to that boyhood relationship that I had had with Jesus.

As I looked up and around there was a sea of faces, the noise of poker machines, and that ever present smell of smoke and spilt alcohol. The turmoil inside of me was more than I could bear. I finally stood up, walked to the foyer and telephoned an old Christian friend.

"Could you come to church with me tonight? I really want to go to church . . . can you meet me?" As I drove away from the club, I remember feeling a strong beckoning in my heart. Nothing could have stopped me or convinced me to turn back. I was going to church and I felt as if God was drawing me.

As I walked down the aisle, people were singing loud praises to God. The preacher beamed a smile at me. There was warmth all around and my spirit was immediately lifted. It felt like a joyous home coming. I was ready to give everything over to God. I knelt down and prayed, "Dear Lord Jesus, forgive me for running my own life. I just want to return to the relationship I had with you. I don't care what it takes, but I am now willing to do things your way, if you would only put my life back together." The prodigal had come home.

From that night things changed. I tendered my resignation from the band the next day. Within a week I had agreed for a pastor and his wife to begin a Bible study in my house. I invited a group of young teens from a rock group I had been managing to come. The next week we all went to hear Billy Graham speak and the entire band accepted Christ as their Savior. I began to attend church and to read the Bible again on a regular basis and as the months passed, I became stronger in my spirit. There were days where I fell back, but it seemed for every step backward, God would take me two steps forward.

Around this time I was in a relationship with another Christian girl and friends were encouraging me to consider remarrying. But I felt God was speaking to me to restore my relationship with my wife, Joy. So I broke off the relationship and decided to remain unattached. God was giving me a vision to pray for healing and restoration for the wife of my youth.

Once I left professional playing, I diverted my energies to my two daughters and a music teaching position I had taken up at a local high school. Through the school Christian fellowship I began to share my love and enthusiasm for Jesus and several of my students found their own personal relationship with Christ.

God was also blessing my work at the school. A musical I had written and produced was gaining national media attention and many prominent musicians and educators came to visit my school music programs.

However, there were still many lonely days when I would watch the sun go down, feeling a chill in my soul. My daughters and I kept praying for Joy and we regularly wrote to her. I was now missing her terribly. On several occasions I felt an overwhelming need to find her. And so I would set out to drive interstate, not knowing exactly where to locate her. Miraculously God would bring her across my path. Once we stopped opposite one another at the same traffic lights on a busy highway in Queensland. When this was repeated six months later at the same traffic lights, I knew God was dramatically answering our prayers.

One Christmas eve I drove with a friend to Queensland in search of Joy. I was hardly prepared for the amazing encounter that was about to unfold. On the first night, as we arrived at the main gates of a Gold Coast camping ground, I became very restless, jumped from the car and set off to find a telephone. Perhaps I was thinking that my children, now in the care of my mother, may be in special need. Several people were waiting to use the phone. I was about to turn back when someone came out of the phone booth and looked at me strangely - as if he recognized me. Instinctively, I followed him. But after turning down two streets I lost him in the dark. In the fading light I could see a motor vehicle parked in the driveway near to where I was standing. A tree had partially blocked it's view. My heart was pounding as I read the number plate and realized that this was my wife's car.

Many other equally miraculous encounters followed over the years. It seemed like every six months God would unsettle me and challenge me to find Joy. The circumstances were way beyond coincidence. To this day Joy and I marvel at how God did it.

In 1983 I was awarded an overseas scholarship to study music at an American university. Nearly seven years had now passed since my wife and I had separated. I managed to find her again in Queensland to gain clearance so my daughters could travel with me to the US. In August of 1983 we boarded a jet and left Australia.

Life in the USA was wonderful. I managed to enroll at a Christian university in Cedarville, Ohio, and we made many new friends. My daughters attended a nearby school and God provided a house for us to live in. Though many years had now passed, my daughters and I regularly prayed together for their mother. In late October of 1983, the entire university came together for a half day of prayer. Many people prayed for Joy and my family on that day. I didn't know at that very moment God was bringing Joy to a point of conversion.

Two weeks later we made our way down to Virginia for our first southern style Thanksgiving meal. We attended a little country church for a special Thanksgiving service where Jim, the friend we were traveling with, shared his concern for my estranged wife. He broke down and wept as he asked the church to pray for my family. I was somewhat surprised by his compassion which resulted in the entire church earnestly praying for Joy. The next day was Thanksgiving - a time when Americans traditionally celebrate God's goodness in giving them a harvest. As we prepared for the meal a telephone call came for me from Australia. When I picked up the telephone, I heard Joy's voice, "Dennis," she said, "I have found the Lord!" I had never heard her sound so joyously happy. The tremendous significance of this moment overwhelmed me. We both wept in joy as she related all that had happened. After seven years of rebellion, God had lovingly, gently turned Joy around, just as He had done to me. Joy was now ready to come home.

During those lonely years my daughters and I often comforted one another with our favorite family verse - Psalm 126 - which says, "Those who sow tears shall reap joy. Yes they that go out weeping, carrying seed for sowing will return singing carrying their harvest with them." The Thanksgiving meal that followed took on new meaning to us. That afternoon my daughters and I walked among the harvest leaves of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, shouting praises to God.

Four weeks later, on the eve of Christmas, during a heavy snow storm, I met Joy at the Kansas City Airport with a warm coat and a dozen roses. We were both ready in God's strength to rebuild our lives together.

Joy's testimony will be posted next month.

Prodigals will return to the Son in 2001!