Michigan — God stepped into my life when I (Milton Partee) was about to step out of it.

After the delivery of our fourth child, I sat by my wife’s bedside. Something was drastically wrong. I called the nurse and insisted she call the doctor. Upon he examining my wife, the doctor's face paled and he stated, "I’m afraid your wife’s uterus has ruptured." A team of specialists arrived soon to help.

Although I had not prayed before, I knelt for nineteen hours pleading with God, "Please don't let her die."

The doctors did all they could, but she hemorrhaged to death. I said to myself, "This can’t be happening. She’s only twenty-three, and too young to die." I was devastated!

As I drove home, I took my anger out on God. "You don’t care. I prayed and You didn’t answer. From now on I want nothing to do with you," I accused.

The next few days were a blur. At the funeral Al, an old friend, came to express his sympathy. As we stood by the coffin, he slipped a note in my pocket with his phone number on it and told me to call at any time "because everyone needs a friend at times like this."

After the funeral my children and I moved in with my parents. I went to work again only to learn the company had been sold, and the new owners wanted their own employees. I'd lost my wife, and now my job. Life was empty.

I was about to leap in front of a passing car when a voice asked, "Why don’t you call Al?" I spun around in surprise, then used a pay phone to call him. I began, "Al, I’m not doing very well. Can you help me?" We agreed to meet that night.

After small talk, Al asked if I’d ever read the Bible. I hadn't, so he began to share some passages. He read Matthew 11:28, which included Jesus' invitation — "Come to me, all you who are burdened, and I will give you rest." That’s what I needed — rest. I asked how I might find rest. Al said it was mine for the asking, but there was another matter I should care for first.

He took me down the Romans road: "All have sinned" (Romans 3:23); "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23); "If you confess that Jesus is Lord, and believe God raised Him from the death, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9); and, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13).

The gospel light was shining on me. I bowed, acknowledged my sinfulness, and confessed Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Immediately, I felt Christ come to fill my empty void, and I wanted to shout for joy. God had stepped into my life at just the right time. He gave me a whole new life — an abundant life now, and a future life in Heaven.

I was baptized on February 7, 2004, and became a member of the Clare Church.

Milton Partee, as told to Bruce Babienco, Lake Union Herald volunteer correspondent