{"id":5541,"date":"2025-11-03T03:06:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T03:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=5541"},"modified":"2025-11-03T03:06:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T03:06:29","slug":"vivian-e-gibbs-july-10-1932-sept-24-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=5541","title":{"rendered":"Vivian E. Gibbs July 10, 1932 – Sept. 24, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Vivian\u2019s Testimony<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is needful to go back a long time to my childhood to lead to my happiest day. I was born on a farm in Virginia in 1932. My family consisted of my father, my mother, a brother six years old, and a sister two years old. Five years later, my parents were blessed with another daughter. Our family was a happy one. There are sad memories, but mostly happy ones. We knew we were loved and had the important things that money can\u2019t buy. I suppose, like most children who have been the youngest for five years, I may have resented the attention my baby sister received. A five year old doesn\u2019t realize the attention is absolutely necessary. I also loved her dearly. It almost broke my heart one day when she fell off the sofa onto the floor when I was supposed to be carefully watching her. I\u2019m sure it hurt me more than her because my mother said she didn\u2019t get hurt. My mother was very understanding and did not get angry with me.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a shy child, so when I started to school, it seemed only natural to me to play with my older sister\u2019s class during recess. Her friends became my friends for at least three years. My memories of Sunday School and church go back before I ever started public school. I can visualize my Sunday School teacher now, telling us a Bible story. I loved the Bible cards we received with pictures and verses on them. Yes, I was especially fond of Sunday School and singing during the worship services. During a revival one night, my oldest sister and a friend of hers went forward to join the church. I went too. The pastor asked if we believed in God and in Jesus his Son. It seemed like I had always believed in God so naturally I said yes. I became a church member at the age of twelve. I attended churches of various denominations during the next few years: Southern Baptist – where my membership was – Church of Christ, Church of God, and Methodist.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After I graduated from high school, I met and later married a wonderful man. He chose the U.S. Air Force as a career. We were stationed in several different states, as well as three overseas assignments for him. We were living in Watertown, N.Y. in May 1959 when he received orders to go to a six-month school near Tacoma, Washington. One day during the summer of 1959, I thought about life and death, and realized that I didn\u2019t know where I\u2019d spend eternity – heaven or hell. I had the idea that Christians were supposed to be perfect, and that certainly left me out (then and, I imagined, forever) for I knew I\u2019d never be perfect. So I began a searching period of conviction. I listened to sermons on the radio and TV, read religious tracts given to me by a Christian neighbor, and even looked up the word \u201dChristian\u201d in Webster\u2019s Dictionary! Still, I didn\u2019t find an answer that satisfied me, and I was not at peace.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was attending a Southern Baptist church in Parkland, Washington. The pastor was Rev. Andrew Seago. He and a church member came to our house for visitation on October 1, 1959. He explained to me that Jesus was the only perfect man, and that he is now at the right hand of the throne of God to make intercession for Christians when they sin (I John 1:8-9, 2:1-2). He said that there is a difference between willfully living in sin day by day and simply committing a sin. God offers us forgiveness for our sins through Jesus\u2019 death; and through his resurrection, the promise of everlasting life. <\/strong><\/em>
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Later that night after the pastor had gone, I repented of all the wrong I had ever committed and asked God to let me know for sure what being a Christian meant. The next morning after breakfast our seven year old son asked, \u201dWhat is a Christian?\u201d I didn\u2019t know the answer then, but shortly afterward the Lord spoke to me. I was washing clothes, and what seemed to be like a voice from above said, \u201dYour sins are washed away. Jesus paid it all.\u201d What peace, joy, and happiness filled my soul! It was indescribable. <\/strong><\/em>
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All that I needed to know was that I was a sinner. \u201dFor all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,\u201d Romans 3:23. I had to admit it, ask forgiveness, have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive him as my own personal Saviour. \u201dBut as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them who believe on his name,\u201d John 1:12. I was born again (John 3:3), October 2, 1959! That was the happiest day of my life. I could really sing those hymns I loved so much with a new meaning, and that\u2019s just what I did. I\u2019m no singer, but I made a joyful noise. I followed my Lord in baptism (Matthew 3:13-17) – believer\u2019s baptism – being immersed under water, showing a picture of being dead to sin, buried, and raised to walk in newness of life (death, burial, and resurrection). I was baptized this time not only a church member but a Christian – what a difference! You see, there\u2019s so much difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. A person can know all there is to know about something, but if they don\u2019t believe it, accept it, and put their faith and trust in it, then it will not become something personal to them; so it is with becoming a Christian.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God doesn\u2019t force his love on us; we are free to choose. I\u2019m so thankful he let me live long enough to choose the heaven way!<\/strong><\/em> Now there is no doubt in my mind where I will spend eternity. I\u2019ve never regretted it. Even though I\u2019ve failed God many times, he has never failed me. He has been so good to me and showered me with many blessings here, as well as a home in heaven. I have a wonderful Christian husband and three wonderful sons who have accepted Jesus as their own Saviour too. It is amazing that God loved us so much that he sent his only Son to die for our sins. \u201dFor God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosover believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,\u201d John 3:16. It is a free gift – we can\u2019t work for it and church membership doesn\u2019t give it to us. \u201dFor the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,\u201d Romans 6:23. \u201dFor by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast,\u201d Ephesians 2:8&9. We\u2019re supposed to work for the Lord; that\u2019s why he left us here after we became Christians, but we can never work to receive salvation. Salvation only comes to us through God\u2019s way and that is his Son, Jesus. What God has done for me, he can also do for you. Don\u2019t wait until it\u2019s too late to choose your eternal home. We never really know what tomorrow holds or even the next hour. It\u2019s wonderful to know and have assurance that our life is in God\u2019s care.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vivian E. Gibbs July 10, 1932 – Sept. 24, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vivian\u2019s Testimony It is needful to go back a long time to my childhood to lead to my happiest day. I was born on a farm in Virginia in 1932. My family consisted of my father, my mother, a brother six years old, and a sister two years old. Five years later, my parents were … Continue reading Vivian E. Gibbs July 10, 1932 – Sept. 24, 2025<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5541"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5565,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5541\/revisions\/5565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}