A burdened heart…  by Carol Gettys

In December 1997 Bobby went back to teching for WKA. Beginning the year 1998 I was very concerned because I knew this would cause us to miss attending our church. Bobby was Sunday School Director and I was a Sunday School teacher, teaching young adults. As we were discussing the time we would be away from our church, Bobby made this comment to me, “Carol, I go to church every Sunday, and I'm not sure I make a difference, but I believe I can make a difference at the races. I believe God would have us to do this at this time in our lives. I believe this is our Samaria.” I could not argue this. I knew God had called me to be a volunteer missionary, and had been obedient for the past eight years. Bobby had never questioned or complained about me going to different parts of the world. He had always supported me. So our journey began.

1998 was not so bad. I would always read and study my Bible at the races. I was also doing a study on experiencing God, and this gave me some time to study. But there were times that year I felt so guilty being away from church. I missed my Sunday School class. Some of our church family made remarks about us being gone so much. That hurt me and made me feel even worse. But praise God, in the year 1999 He began building a relationship between Tony Barton and me. It seems God just drew us together. We began to share our faith, and talk about God. Our relationship grew into a beautiful friendship. I was always comfortable talking with Tony. I shared with him the need I felt for something at our races, maybe a chaplain or a time of devotion on Sundays. Tony was always considerate of what I had to say, and I respected his thoughts and comments.

Tony began asking me to do the invocation at the races, so I thought, “Well, this is why I'm here,” but I had a burden for something more. I began praying for God to show Tony that everything in the WKA organization as well as the races could go so much better if God was allowed to be a part of our racing on Sundays. I'm telling you, it's a wonder Tony didn't run from me, because I continued to bring this up. I began to struggle again, and I was not even sure I was in God's will being at the races. I asked some of my Christian friends to pray for me. But what was so wonderful, God was already working in His own way. He already had a plan and a purpose, and He would bring it about in His own time, which I know is always best. And He did!

It was the year 2000 and time for racing to begin. I shared with Bobby what was on my heart, and asked him if I could stay home when the races were only a few hours away. I would still go with him on the long trips. So that's what I did. As he came in the door after the second race, he said to me, “Guess what? We had devotion at the race today, and you won't believe who was sitting on the first row, Harrill Wiggins. He was saved in January.” It just so happened the next race was in Jasper, and I had promised to go with Bobby. We had a wonderful worship service on Sunday. God truly blessed us with His presence that day. I could not do anything but cry because of the joy of the Lord, but still I did not know how He was going to work everything out, but praise the Lord, He did!

Orange County was our next race, and we were running behind schedule. Because of this, we only had a few minutes for worship that day. I saw a young Christian very disappointed, as well as myself. God just seemed to draw Harrill, Bobby, and myself together and united our hearts and spirits as believers in Him that day. We talked and shared our feelings and thoughts with Tony and he was most agreeable with us concerning a time schedule. Our love began to grow for each other and I say this to tell you that God is Love!

We had our first meeting to discuss, pray, and seek God's will in this. We had asked some devout Christians to meet with us. We wanted Jesus to be glorified in this ministry because we knew He had orchestrated this from the very beginning. Just when I was about to give up, God brought His plan together. God is always on time.

All right Harrill, it’s your turn… Accepting His Will