Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
Rosalyn White grew up hearing about God’s faithfulness and the miracle that brought her family to faith in Jesus. When she was a baby, her father, who went by the name Jackie, was diagnosed with typhoid. At the time, for a family living in Guyana, South America, such a diagnosis was considered a death sentence. There was no medicine available, so her father resigned himself to dying, leaving his wife and seven children behind. He was in the process of setting his affairs in order and saying his goodbyes when a family friend, Harry, gave him a book—the Bible—a book he had never heard of before.
He read about the amazing story of Jesus, God’s son, who came to earth as a man, healed the sick, and taught about God’s love. And he read how Jesus was put to death to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose again after three days, so we could go to heaven.
It all sounded too good to be true, but, for the first time in his life, Jackie prayed to the God he read about. “If everything in this book is true, please reveal yourself to me,” he said. God revealed himself in a big way—Jackie was healed.
God not only healed him but also transformed his life. Rosalyn knew only the transformed version of her father, though she heard stories about how he had been an alcoholic and a womanizer before his healing. His life was now dedicated to the God who had healed him. His wife soon became a believer, and they raised their family of twelve children in the Christian faith. Guyana was a poor country, but Jackie owned a piece of land, so he worked it to provide for his large family and ensure that all his children received a good education.
Years later, Rosalyn was living in Ilion, New York. Her only son was grown and settled in a different state. She and her husband, George, who was semi-retired, lived in a nice house on five acres. She loved living in the country, serving in her local church, and taking care of her husband and her home.
Then George received a devastating diagnosis—stage 4 liver cancer. Rosalyn prayed. God had healed her father, so wouldn’t he also heal her husband? The treatments were grueling. For the first time, Rosalyn had to get a job. She would work at a local drug store, go to the hospital where her husband was receiving chemotherapy, and back home, only to repeat the cycle the next day.
Chemotherapy made her husband sick, and the tests revealed the treatments were not working, so they sent him home. Now Rosalyn had had enough. While her husband was sleeping, she walked to the end of her driveway and cried out to God, “Why? What have I ever done? I was raised as a child of God. She turned around and headed back toward the house. As clear as day, the Spirit of God said, “I will take care of you.” And then he repeated, “I will take care of you.”
This was not the answer she wanted to hear. She broke down and sobbed. She couldn’t see any hope at that moment, but she clung to God’s promise that he would take care of her.
A week shy of six months from his initial diagnosis, George succumbed to his illness and went to be with the Lord. Rosalyn was left with $340,000 worth of medical bills she was responsible for, a big house with large mortgage payments, and a car she couldn’t drive.
“And this is when I really learned how faithful God is to keep his promises,” Rosalyn said.
The first thing Rosalyn did was contact every doctor and hospital and explain her situation. Every single one forgave her charges. This was a huge relief to her, but she was still left with monthly expenses she couldn’t afford on her part-time, six-dollar-per-hour job.
During the two years it took her to fix up her house to sell, God provided in unexpected ways. Rosalyn was mistakenly sent a check from Remington Arms, her husband’s former employer. She contacted them, explained the mistake, and asked for an address to send it back. She didn’t receive a response and received several more checks. Finally, when she reached a person who could help her, she was told to keep the money. George’s co-workers added to that amount by taking up a generous collection for her.
Rosalyn came home from work one day to discover that someone had hit her garage, causing extensive damage. A few days later, her front porch fell off. “What am I going to do?” she complained to her friend.
“Don’t you have homeowner’s insurance?” she asked. Rosalyn didn’t know since George had taken care of all the finances. Her friend helped her research, and she discovered that her house was covered, and the insurance paid her more than the cost of the repairs.
Also during this time, Rosalyn’s friend taught her to drive, and she got her license. She found a job at a car dealership as a career development trainee, which paid much better than the drug store.
While Rosalyn threw herself into fixing up her house to sell, her sister bought a duplex in the Village of Ilion as an investment. Two years after her husband died, Rosalyn finally put the house on the market. She could not afford a realtor and was praying to find the right buyer. She went to church the very day she listed her house and found a family whose contract to buy a house had just fallen through. They looked at the house that day and bought it. Rosalyn moved into one side of her sister’s duplex, and her sister rented out the other side.
Shortly after she was settled into her new home, her friend stopped by and told her she was taking her to enroll in a nursing program that started the next morning. Rosalyn agreed, but she had no idea what blessings God had in store for her. Nursing was a good fit for Rosalyn and a profession that provided her with a steady income.
Five years after she moved into the duplex, Rosalyn had saved up enough money to buy the house from her sister, and she still lives there today.
Rosalyn is now retired and, when she is not traveling, she teaches a weekly Bible study for the women at her church. “I want to teach them about God’s faithfulness,” she said. “God kept his promise of taking care of me in ways I could never have imagined. He is so faithful!”
*Background photo by Orlone from Pixabay