The Life Story of Lester Sumrall by Lester Sumrall

Author:Lester Sumrall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Relgious, RELIGON / Christianity / Pentecostal & Charismatic
ISBN: 978-1-61458-119-2
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group, Inc.
Published: 2011-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

13

Going in Different Directions

After only a few weeks in America, I became restless to return to the mission field. I was delighted when Brother Carter suggested we visit missionaries in South America.

First, we traveled across Brazil, where we had another brush with death. On a three-day journey on a heavily laden freighter carrying logs to the timber mill, Brother Carter and I were sailing up the coast of Brazil from Joinville to Santos. The first night out, fierce winds whipped the South Atlantic into watery mountains and canyons. Our 100-foot ship bobbed like a peanut in the monster waves.

Billows began to break over our ship, and seawater poured through every crack of the decrepit vessel. Our cabin filled with 12 inches of water. As we bobbed and tossed about, I watched my hat and Bible floating back and forth across the room, but it was all I could do just to hold onto my bunk. Everything that wasn’t secured was hurled from side to side.

Suddenly the captain burst into our room. "You! You’re the preachers! We’re sinking! Pray!" he ordered.

We did pray and, after six more harrowing hours, the storm slowly subsided. As day dawned, we were still afloat, but barely underway. We limped into port for repairs.

That night, my mother had seen a vision of us at sea. She went to her church and began to intercede urgently. A Baptist preacher saw the light on and came to the door. Stepping inside, he saw Jesus standing beside her. He fell to his knees in amazement and prayed with her, fervently pleading for our safety.

Then he went to his own church and prayed all night in the grove behind it. Finally at dawn, the Lord gave him assurance that we had been spared. He returned to my mother’s church, found her still travailing before the Lord and told her, "Your son is all right. God has spoken to my heart. Go home now."

We had been delivered again.

Brother Carter and I ministered throughout Brazil, then from Bolivia to the ocean. We then headed back across the Atlantic to France, Spain, Portugal, England, back and forth across Europe, holding crusades wherever we went.

It was 1939, and Europe was gearing up for World War II. As Hitler’s tanks invaded Poland, Europe became an increasingly dangerous place for those who lived there — and fields ripe unto harvest for the gospel. People were scared. They looked to God as never before.

In England, I was privileged to make friends with that legendary giant of faith, Smith Wigglesworth, the renowned author whose writings are used as college texts today. He had a miracle-studded ministry and the faith of Elijah. I met him when he was in his eighties.

He told me much about his life and ministry and the secrets of his great faith. He spent much time reading the Word of God, once issuing a challenge to anyone who could catch him without a copy of the Bible on him.

At one point I asked him why I never saw him down or depressed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.