Greta Tindall

“I grew up on a cattle ranch in Idaho. When I was sixteen years old, I found myself at the Gem State Academy. I had no desire to be there, nor had I ever heard of Seventh-day Adventists before. Religion was not my cup of tea. Bible class was a real drag. The food was even worse. Since they were vegetarian, they served imitation meat, which I called ‘imitation rubber.’

I was assigned a roommate who did a very strange thing every night. Just before she crawled into bed, she knelt and said a silent prayer. Sometimes it seemed like an eternity before she’d get up. I really felt out of place. So, I knelt by my bed and pretended to pray.

Day after day, I had to learn memory verses in Bible class. Night after night, my roommate prayed while I pretended to. Every Saturday there was church, every Wednesday there was prayer meeting and every Friday night there was vespers. Never in my whole life had I had so much religious data fed into my brain.

Then one day I found myself listening in class to a text with a promise. Eventually, I wasn’t pretending to pray anymore. Even though I felt awkward introducing myself to this total stranger I wanted to see if He existed and would respond to that promise.  

While preparing to be baptized, the pastor pointed out that if anyone had lied or stolen anything, they must go to those people and make things right. I didn't like the sound of this. Over the past few years, I had taken pride in my petty theft skills. I had stolen many items from many stores. There was no way I could begin to remember everything I had stolen.

So, I prayed, ‘God, if You really want me to pay back all those stores, You’ll have to help me remember.’ As soon as I finished praying, God worked a miracle. I remembered item after item, including what store it came from and how much it cost. I wrote it all down, and by the time I was done I had listed about eighty things totaling around a hundred dollars of 1950’s economy.

My relationship with Jesus snowballed into the best and closest friendship I’d ever had with anybody. I knew I could rely on Him. I knew I could pray, and I'd be okay.”

-   Greta Tindall, from the Jamestown Church, Kentucky.