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Maria |
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 "She's the one that got me started, she's the one that got me rolling, I wouldn't even be here today if it wasn't for her!" |
It was at this time that David met the woman
who was to become his second wife, Maria, an active Christian in Tucson, Arizona. In
January 1969, she encountered a few members of David's "Teens for Christ"
visiting from California. They told her about their work with the hippies, and she
returned to Huntington Beach with them. The daughter of a minister, Maria's background,
humble nature, and Christian college secretarial training made her an ideal addition to
David's personal staff and household. Though many years younger than David, they had
everything important in common. Maria remained David's constant companion for 25 years,
from the spring of 1969 until his passing in 1994. David constantly testified how much Maria helped him in the overwhelming job of leading and supervising the new movement: "Outside of my mother, I think [Maria has] been the greatest influence on my life! I wouldn't even be here today if it wasn't for her! Her faith in me and the Lord was what pulled me through when I was actually most discouraged and down and seemed to be defeated!" [34] "God had to send me somebody who had faith in me, who trusted me and really loved me no matter what I was -- and even helped me to believe both in God and His will for me, and that He could do something with me. She restored my faith in myself that God could still use me and that God wasn't finished with me." [35] "Thank God I've got that kind of a wife, and that's one of the reasons for my success for the Lord. She is the most sacrificial woman I know of, and is willing to pay any price for the Lord's service, and to see me succeed in it. … This work would never have been possible without her." [36] "I often tell Maria she's of my generation. She was brought up in a community and by parents and in a church which are a generation behind other churches, much less us! So she's just about as oldfashioned as I am and raised like I was, knows the same songs and the same customs and the same everything, just like I do. She stepped right out of the past so that she could understand me, and yet she is of this younger generation and able to take it and be a new bottle that could receive it in spite of having a background just like mine." [37] "Besides Jesus, she has always been the power behind the throne! She's the one that got me started, she's the one that got me rolling, she's the one that had the faith in me to get going in the first place!" [38] |
