I believe in you
By Ann Floyd
Dave Campbell’s life spiraled down soon after graduation
from Pleasant Hope, Mo., High School in 1981. He sold drugs and met some
“big-time drug users,” he says. Eventually, methamphetamines* became part of
his lifestyle.
“Most never get off meth,” he says.
Dave met Susie at a party and they lived together for 13
years. They had two children together, Sabrina and Andrew. Susie’s son, John,
makes up the family of five.
“I knew Dave loved me,” Susie says, “but after our daughter
was born, I didn’t trust him with her. Still, my hunger for a relationship with
my own dad made me stay with Dave. I didn’t want to take my daughter’s dad from
her.”
How did Dave convince Susie of his love? She quickly points
out: “He always took up for me. He always took care of me.”
Susie began attending Highway Assembly of God in Brighton,
Mo., where the congregation welcomed her and began to pray for her and Dave. In
1998 on April 10, Good Friday, Pastor Jim Johnson married Dave and Susie. After
a one-day honeymoon they returned so Susie could be part of the Easter
production.
“I wanted Dave in church, because I knew Jesus could change
a life,” Susie says.
But the process took months longer for Dave. “I saw the
change in Susie,” he says. “It made me think about her faith. I knew she was
praying for me. I heard her pray the Word. The Word got in my head.”
Dave realized Susie believed in him — more
importantly, in what he could become if he let God intervene in his life.
“No matter how violent I was, she would give me a hug,” he
says. “She showed me the love of God. She was sowing seed to see a soul saved
— mine.”
Suffering from a herniated disc, Dave endured numerous
hospital stays. During one time of recovery, he turned to the wall in his room
and began to pray, “If You are true and real, show me.”
In his own way, Dave says, he began “applying the Word” he
had heard Susie pray and listen to on Christian television. He attended church
at times, often after drinking, and felt the love of the people. Many visited
him in the hospital. He knew they believed he, like Susie, would come to
Christ.
At a healing service eight years ago an evangelist prayed
for Dave. “Nothing happened,” Dave says, “but as I walked on my crutches
through the doors, the Healer touched me and I’ve never needed my crutches
since that day.”
Today the Campbells are members of Highway Assembly of God.
As a team, they clean the church daily. Dave is Royal Rangers senior commander
over some 80 boys. His joy is to see them come to Christ and be spared the
years of heartache he endured.
* “Use of methamphetamines, known as meth or crystal meth,
has skyrocketed in the U.S., particularly in the Midwest. ... Dr. Terry Horton
of Christiana Care warns, ‘It’s misleading to think you can control a dangerous
drug and stop whenever you want. That’s the trap.’ ... Effects of meth in the
body can last up to six months after just one use.”
– Guideposts, February 2008
ANN FLOYD is a freelance writer in Springfield, Mo., and
served as associate editor of Today’s Pentecostal Evangel.
E-mail your comments to tpe@ag.org.
