Latest / Join With Me Podcast / Episode 3 - Part Two: The Journey of Rayburn & Donna Hare
Transcript
- speaker-0: We are honored that you have chosen to listen to this podcast. Join with me, where the information will be biblical, filled with joy, and very helpful. Stay tuned to the end where you will learn how to communicate with Rayburn and Donna about today's episode. And I'm Donna. speaker-1: I'm Ray Bernheel and this is Join With Me Podcast. ⁓ you probably the last episode you heard a little bit about me. ⁓ now you get to hear the special side of me and you get to really hear from my wife. speaker-0: Well, I I know Rayburn just briefly mentioned ⁓ his salvation and the Rayburn actually when Rayburn was born his mom and dad were already believers. ⁓ he was born into a a sweet, godly family with ⁓ two sisters and but that was just the opposite for me. I By the time I was eight years old, I had only been to church once, and that was on an Easter because mom wanted to get us all dressed up. But that changed. In September of nineteen sixty four, we had two gentlemen to come to our home and invited our family to a revival service. And the next night We were in church and Rayburn God had an appointment with my mom and my dad that evening because that evening my mom and my dad accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior. And within just three months, our lives had done a 360-degree change. We were in church. three times a week. ⁓ there was just so much fun and testimonies and just an incredible ⁓ time that I knew that the center of everything was Jesus. And in December of nineteen sixty four, I we were getting ready for a Wednesday night service and my mom was getting ready and I went to my mother and I said, Mom, I want Jesus in my heart. Mom, I mom, I want to be saved just like you and Dad. And my mom, she didn't know what to do with this little girl that was begging to know Jesus. And she said, Donna, she said, when we get to church, I'll ask Pastor Chitwood if he'll speak with you. Well, on Wednesday evenings we had a children's ministry, so we all went ⁓ the children went to a little building behind the church and afterwards we always played because our parents were always talking. ⁓ but that evening after that little service, I ⁓ I immediately got up, ran out, ran up the front steps of the church, went inside, went and found my mom And I said, Mom, is Pastor Chitwood going to show me how I can ask Jesus to be my savior? And she she nodded and he looked at me and he took me to the side and showed me exactly what I needed to do. But I've shared with Rayburn many times. I truly believe my moment of salvation was when I went to my mother. And I said, I want to be saved. I want Jesus in my heart. And when I was 12 years of age, I was at camp, and I knew that Jesus was my savior. But I wanted him to be Lord of my life. So one evening at camp, nobody prayed with me, but I went forward and got on my knees. And there is a 12 year old little girl. I just said, Father, I know you're my savior, but I want more. I want more of you, Jesus. And I want you to be Lord of my life. And anyway, I remember coming home telling my mom and my dad the decision that I had made when I was 12. I had an incredible opportunity to be in an amazing youth group. ⁓ I've told Rayburn many times about my ⁓ my youth pastor. He was a layman. pat ⁓ Mr. Foster. He he loved us teenagers. We met every Saturday evening and he challenged us. He challenged us to to know God's word. He challenged us to to choose our friends wisely. He challenged us to honor our moms and our dads. And ⁓ he would he would ask us often, ⁓ who's on your heart for Jesus? As a 13-year-old, I we were going to visit my grandma and I I told my mom, I knew my grandma was not a believer. This was my mother's mom. And I just said, Mom, I want to I want to sleep with grandma tonight and so that evening, Grandma, after everybody had gone to bed, I just ⁓ pleaded and told my grandma about Jesus. Everything that I knew about Jesus and and she just said, No, Donna, that's not for me and we left the next day and I put my arms around my grandma and I said, Grandma, I love you and I whispered in her ear and I said, I want you in heaven with me, Grandma. speaker-1: Join with Me Podcast is thrilled to have our first sponsor. Hydro Pool and Spa, located in Blue Springs, Missouri. They're on seven highway ⁓ located about on the I-70 eastbound exit ramp. But my friends at Hydro Pool and Spa have an amazing October special. For the month of October, if you'll call them, they have a pool closing special that's amazing. Now for 11 years I clope opened and closed a pool, so I know a little bit about that. I never did it myself. Why? Because I didn't want to risk freezing and having pipes to freeze and all that additional cost and one thing or another. But so I always contracted with someone to close and open my pool. So here's what they're willing to do. For the month of October, if you'll call Hydro Pool and Spa Blue Springs. They will come and close your pool. Make sure it's done right. Remove your ladder, put your cover on, put all the chemicals, antifreeze, all that good stuff. Make sure it's protected and done right for $455, which is in line with what everybody else charges because I've checked on it. But here's the difference. Here's what they're willing to do. They will then come back next spring and open your pool for free. That's right, for free. So you have to call in October and let them close it for four hundred fifty five dollars and then next spring you're already covered. They'll come back and c and open it for free. Now that is a deal, especially to have it done right. So please call my friends at Hydro Poolin' Spa at 816-875-7171. Get it scheduled. Get in on this deal. It's only for October. October 1st through October 31st. So please call them. Thank you. And tell them that you heard about it on the Join With Me podcast. And that will be an amazing opportunity for you. Once again, thank you. speaker-0: Four weeks later my grandma had a massive heart attack and passed away. ⁓ they said that she was dead before she hit the floor. And I have to believe I know God knew the date of her death. Raven, I I have to believe that God impressed upon the heart of a thirteen year old ⁓ to talk to her grandma because he knew. Four weeks later she was going to meet him face to face and So I had my youth pastor, I had my pastor's wife, ⁓ she would call me up and she'd say, Donna, who do we want to go tell about Jesus this evening? And she'd come and pick me up and we would just go share Jesus and win souls, and it was just such an amazing time for her to pour her heart and soul in into me. And then I had my mom and my dad. ⁓ I had the opportunity for several years ⁓ to grow up in a very godly home. When I was a senior, I kinda got off track just a little bit, ⁓ for about three months. And my mom and my dad knew not only that, but I knew too. we had had a ⁓ missions conference and one night after missions conference I walked through the house and my mom and my dad they said, Donna, we need to have a talk with you and I said, Well, I don't feel like talking right now. Well my father said, Well, you don't have a choice. Sit down in that chair and I did. And so they just poured their heart and soul out ⁓ to me because what I was I was getting ready to graduate from high school and what I had planned to do in September they knew was not God's will for my life. And so after they talked a couple of hours, my mom got up and I remember she came over and she kissed me on the forehead and and she said, Donna, she says we have said everything that we can say to you. Now we're gonna leave you alone with the Lord. So I looked them and I said, don't do that. But they did. And about three hours later, I got on my knees again. And I just said, Father, I'm so sorry that I've gotten off track. I'm so sorry that I allowed ⁓ a young man to take my focus off of you. And I just said, Father, I'm I'm back where I'm supposed to be. And I gave it all to the Lord and graduated from high school and in September I went to college. I went to Piedmont Bible College. ⁓ incredible, incredible four years there. And I had always loved to sing ever since I was a little girl. And my mom she encouraged me to ⁓ join out join the ⁓ try to to get onto the the chorale that ⁓ sang and and I just said mom I said I'm I I'm just not that good of a singer and but she encouraged me and I I went and tried out and I'll never forget Mr. Smith. He ⁓ after I tried out he said Donna he said there's there's several that have tried out that have had professional training. And I looked at him and I said, Well, I never have. I just sang in choir and sang duets and in a little trio, solos. I said, But I do love to minister with s with singing. I so two days later I looked at the sheet that he posted and my name was on that sheet. And I just said, Thank you, Father. But ⁓ another thing that that God had for me in in our practicing I was joined, ⁓ a young lady came up and sat down, and when we would sing, I would think, ⁓ my lord, she has the most beautiful voice. She actually became my dearest college friend, Janet. And she taught me much about singing. And then the summer of our senior year, I ⁓ Mr. Smith came to me again and he said, Donna, he said, would you consider singing in a quartet ⁓ and represent our college? And I just thought, wow, what an opportunity. ⁓ so I got to sing with my dearest college friend Janet and then ⁓ Jeff Collins and John Holmes and ⁓ Kathy was our pianist and then the Watkins were our sponsors and it was just an amazing, amazing time. And I'm just thankful, so thankful. ⁓ not not a perfect teenage life, not a perfect four years of college. ⁓ but I I knew that God was sovereign in my life and I was just excited about what God had planned for me. after college I had planned to go on and and get my masters in education. ⁓ but God had a different plan. And you will have to stay tuned to the next episode. to find out just what God was doing. speaker-1: Okay, you're learning about each of us and kinda a little bit about our history and these are very nutshell type presentations but you get a sense of who we are and what we're doing. So I'm Ray Burr and this is Join With Me Podcast. speaker-0: Hare and I'm Donna. We trust you enjoyed today's sharing from the heart. If you want to learn more, please feel free to contact us at Rayburnhair at gmail.com. Or you can go to our website, joinwithme.life. Thank you for listening. Be sure to share with a friend and have a blessed day on purpose.