July 12, 1966, was the 50th wedding anniversary of Oma’s parents, Jacob J. and Agatha Toews. A celebration in their honor was held to mark the occasion, which they viewed as an opportunity to express their praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.
Thankfully, they wrote out their testimonies ahead of time, and we are blessed to have a copy of the written text. Actually, only Grandpa Toews did the writing, since Grandma was unable to do so because of physical infirmities. But she could dictate! So we have both of their written testimonies in Grandpa’s handwriting. I will share Grandpa’s account here and provide Grandma’s in the next edition.
The testimonies speak for themselves, leading us to be extremely grateful for the grace of God and the heritage He has given us. I only have two comments in introducing Grandpa’s, the first being to point out that the poem at the end of his testimony portrays the changes he made to it in order to speak for both himself and his wife. After all, it was their wedding anniversary!
Secondly, the house address Grandpa gives was in Mountain Lake, Minnesota. Here is a recent picture of it.
Grandpa Toews’ Testimony
Psalm 145:6-7 – And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.
It is because of the great goodness of the Lord to us that you have been invited to praise the Lord with us.
Fifty years is a long time, and yet as we look back we can scarcely believe it is that long already. The night before our wedding it was raining most of the time and just kept on until about 10:30 in the morning. Then the sun began shining through and the wedding was to be on the lawn under some big shade trees.
The service started a little late because of the weather, and afterwards my uncle N. F. Toews who married us told us that he had cut the sermon short because he had seen the rainclouds coming again, and so everyone headed for shelter right after the service.
Rev. Toews’ message was taken from John 2, where Jesus and his disciples were at the wedding in Cana.
We lived at my folks until the spring of 1917, when we moved to a homestead about 50 miles north of Wolf Point, Montana. Our homestead was about 15 miles north of where most of the people from here settled.
We were there four summers and three winters, coming back to Minnesota in the fall of 1920.
These were years of many new experiences, which I am sure have been very profitable in later years; but would take too much time to go into detail now.
Coming back to Minnesota we bought eighty acres of land and proceeded to build on it. First a barn. We divided it and fixed a part of it for our own living quarters until a few years later we bought an old school house, moving it onto the place and rebuilding it for a dwelling, and some years later as our family grew we enlarged it to suit our needs.
In the fall of 1953, we acquired the house we now call our home at 506 9th Street.
Through all these days and years the good Lord has graciously provided our every need: not always all our wants, but as in Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” So we thank him for these material blessings.
But we value far more the lives the Lord has entrusted us with. Six children, three boys and three girls, each have been a great blessing to our home, and it greatly rejoices our hearts that all have received the Lord Jesus as their Saviour. All are with us here this evening, except Jake who with his family have answered the call of God as missionaries to the Philippine Islands.
Each of the children have chosen a life companion of like faith. We are also blessed with 22 grandchildren (who have often cheered our hearts), most of which have received the Lord Jesus by faith, and we pray that not one shall be missing “when the roll is called up yonder.”
One of these, Joy Lynn Taves, passed on to be with the Lord at the age of 21 months.
In spite of the many blessings, I was aware of a void in my life and much uncertainty as to life hereafter, but in the year of 1931 the Lord so led that our neighbor came into our yard with an evangelist from the Alliance Tabernacle. After talking to me for a while they invited us to come to the special meetings that were going on. I had not given it much thought, but when Mrs. Toews asked me what they had wanted, she suggested that we go there sometime, which we did a few days later.
These messages seemed God-sent for our hearts, so we invited the evangelist to come to our home, which he did, and after talking to him I was convicted of my need of a personal saviour and upon praying the penitent prayer the burden of my heart was lifted and I received assurance of sins forgiven by faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Psalm 50:15 – Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.
A number of times the Lord permitted us to get to the end of our wits, but as we came to him in humble prayer he was always there.
I remember one year the crops were very meager. The oats and barley were very light because of heat. Then the hail took all of the corn and flax, but the Lord had other means to supply the financial need, so we were able to meet our bills.
A number of times in severe sickness he delivered; sometimes instantly and sometimes not so suddenly, and sometimes he has answered with 2 Cor. 12:9, where it says, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
So past experiences will help us to trust ourselves into his loving care for the future, and the following poem expresses that far better than I could find words to do so.
He does not lead me us year by year
Nor even day by day.
But step by step my our path unfolds:
My Our Lord directs my our way.
Tomorrow’s plans I we do not know,
I We only know this minute;
But He will say, “This is the way,
By faith now walk ye in it.”
And I am we are glad that it is so,
Today’s enough to bear:
And when tomorrow comes, His grace
Shall far exceed its care.
What need to worry then, or fret?
The God who gave His Son
Holds all my our moments in His hand
And gives them, one by one.
Thank you, Uncle Jim!! That’s a treasure to have!!
God has blessed us with a rich spiritual and physical heritage. Often I think of how Grandpa Toews cared for Grandma those many years — lovingly, patiently, and continually. I don’t think we can fully imagine or appreciate the sacrifices he made, a potent illustration of Christ’s love for His church and His instruction to a husband.