When I was fifteen years old, Doy Smith took me to a revival at Westport
Baptist Church. Brother L. H. Brown was pastor and Brother Hodge was helping.
Mrs. Clarice Thomason, my school teacher, had written me several notes asking
if I was a Christian and said she was praying for me. She was at the revival
that night and the house was full. When Brother Hodge finished preaching,
Doy asked me if I wanted to go to the altar and I thought there was no way
I could get through the crowd. Mrs. Thomason made her way through and came
to me and just held out her hand. I suddenly felt so condemned and we made
our way to the altar. The altar was full and I sat on the very end. We had
been praying for some time and the pastor dismissed the church, but Mrs.
Thomason knelt beside me and began to pray. Listened for a moment, but there
is a space of time I cannot explain except that I remember feeling so at
peace. When I got home and told my mother and grandmother what had happened,
my grandmother shouted. I caught the bus for school the next day feeling
so good inside. I still have that good feeling today. I joined Concord Missionary
Baptist Church and was baptized by Brother L. H. Brown.
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened
, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that ita cannot hear"
[Isaiah 59:1]
Gilbertha is the widow of Doy Smith, a former Treasurer
of Huntingdon M. B. Church (formerly Independent). Gilbertha's health does not
allow her to attend church as she once did, but her heart and her prayers are
always with us. She now resides at Lakeside at McKenzie Retirement Home.
