Pastor Christine Peebles - I Overcame by the Blood of the Lamb

Chapter 1

Having the Gifts and Callings of God in My Life without Repentance

G od has a purpose in life for us all. It is up to us to seek the Lord to find out what that purpose is. Sometimes we might not understand when we are put in places and in peoples lives or when people are put in our lives that this is Gods divine will or plan for our life.

I was raised in the house of my grandparents, Rev. Allen James and Rossie James. My grandfatherPa, as I called himwas a Baptist preacher. As you read through this book, youll see that God has given me an exceptional memory. I can remember and tell things that happened when I was five years old, which was almost sixty years ago. My father (deceased) and mother are Horace and Inez Poole. We lived in Midville, Georgia, when I was five years old. One day, my grandparents came to visit us. I asked my mother if I could go home with Pa and Ma, and she told me no. I begged and cried, but she still said no. When Pa drove off, I was crying and running behind the car. He turned around and came back to the house.

He said, Inez, please let that child go and spend a few nights with us.

Ive always called my mother Inell, never Mother or Ma, and I remember that day as if it were yesterday.

Inell told me, Get your clothes, go with them, and dont ever come back.

Well, that didnt hurt my feelings because I knew that Pa and Ma really loved me. They lived in Swainsboro, Georgia, where I yet live. I stayed around my grandpa a lot. He would sit in a chair by the window, and I would sit on the floor beside him. There were certain songs he would sing like, Children, you better get oil in your vessels and your lamp trimming, burning to be ready when the bridegroom comes.

At the time, I did not know that, according to the Bible, Jesus is the bridegroom, and the oil in my vessel is my soul being filled with the Holy Ghost. Another song I loved to hear him sing was, Wont it be grand? Wont it be grand? Im going home to live with Jesus. Wont it be grand when I get through toiling down here, out in the sunshine, out in the rain? Im going home to live with Jesus.

My grandparents raised other grandchildren, but Pa would always tell Ma, When Im gone, make sure you take good care of Christine because she is the one that is going to stick with you and take care of you.

On March 12, 1966, I came home from school, and Ma told me, Your granddaddy is in the hospital. He told me to tell you to bring these clothes to him.

I walked to the hospital and went into his room. He was talking and saying things that I did not understand. I heard him say, Im going to cross the river. Im going to the other side. He began to speak a language I did not understand, and I got scared. There was a man working at the hospital whose name was Mr. Hubert Tillman. Pa was his patient.

He said, You are afraid of your granddaddy, arent you?

He told me, Go on over there to his bed. Dont be afraid. Your granddaddy is in the hands of God.

That night, at about eleven, someone called from the hospital and said the police were coming to get my grandmother to take her to the hospital. They didnt tell her why. I got on the phone and began to call my uncles, aunts, and other relatives to tell them that Pa was dead.

Ma came back home, and she said, Christine, Allen is dead.

I said, I know. Ive already made calls to the family and told them that Pa was dead.

That was the gift without repentance being manifested through me. I thank God for putting me in Pas home and him in my life. I did not know that one day, I would be preaching the gospel as he did.

On March 10, 1973, I got married to Melvin Peebles, my high school sweetheart. Melvin was in the army. I remembered what Pa had said. I was the one to take care of Ma. I chose not to live with my husband in the military because I believed I was supposed to take care of Ma. Melvin was a lover of women, so it was to his advantage for me to not be with him. Im part of the reason our marriage didnt last. Talking about the gifts and calling of God without repentance: in my teenage years, I had a way of knowing and seeing things that were happening or before they happened. It was hard for people to lie to me because I could see right through them. So I thought, Maybe when I graduate, I need to go to law school .

Later on in life, I learned that this was the gift of God without repentance. This was when I was twenty-three years old, and my life was being turned upside down, inside out, and was just spinning out of control. My husband reenlisted in the army. In December of 1974, he came home on leave. He gave me $800 to hold for him. I guess I was kind of like Leah in the Bible. All she wanted was for her husband, Jacob, to love her. And Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction: now therefore my husband will love me, (Genesis 29:32).

Thats what I wanted from my husband, so I wouldnt give him his money back. But to my surprise, he had written me a letter and told me I could have the $800, he didnt want me anymore, and the next time I saw him, he would have a real woman. I loved that man so much, and I felt as if I was going to lose my mind. In February 1975, he was deployed to Germany. I didnt know he was gone until he had been deployed about three months. At the time, we had one child, Kelvin. I was receiving an allotment check of $145 a month for Kelvin. My husbands anger toward me made him have the military stop sending me the check. I was now at my breaking point. I felt that I was going to lose my mind. To me, life was not worth living without him in it. But today, my discovery has been that life is not worth living without Jesus in it.

In July 1975, I began to go into the bathroom and get down on my knees in front of the commode. I cried, I prayed, I cried, and I prayed, Lord, please dont let me lose my mind. During my prayers, I would look back over my life as far as my childhood days, confess my sins unto the Lord, and ask for his forgiveness. I started to pray, Lord, fill me with the Holy Ghost.

In August 1975, I heard the Lord say, Go back to that little white wooden country church, Oak Grove Baptist, that you joined and got baptized in when you were nine years old.

The church was in revival. I went, and there was a preacher there from Savannah, Georgia, Reverend Fields.

When he opened the doors of the church, I told them, I joined this church when I was nine years old. Ive been out of fellowship and want to reunite with the church.

The next month, on September 2426, we had a church anniversary revival. There was a preacher preaching by the name of Elder Johnny Ray Jones. On Thursday night, which was the twenty-fifth, he was preaching about letting your light shine. Everything around me began to light up, and it was not the lights that hung from the ceiling but the light Isaiah talked about in Isaiah 60:1, ARISE, shine, for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

That night, I was baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. Jesuss quickening spirit came in me. I couldnt be still or hold my peace. My yoke was made easy; my burdens were light.

Another one of Isaiahs prophecies were being fulfilled. To appoint to them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified (Isaiah 61:3).

I was working at a shirt factory, and I had an hour-long lunch break. The following week after getting saved, I started a noonday prayer. Instead of eating lunch, I came home and prayed. Immediately, God began to talk to me. The first thing I heard the Lord say was, Im giving unto you the gift of prophecy. Within three weeks, God began to prophesy through me and give me open visions and dreams. Things began to happen or come to pass that God had showed me or spoken unto me. I guess I was like Samuel. I didnt know the voice of the Lord, and therefore, I wouldnt say anything. When things would happen or come to pass that he had shown me, I told people that God had spoken or showed me that.