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The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want
June 12, 2006
Dear Relative, Friend or Neighbor:
God has put it into my heart to write this letter as a testimony of my own salvation and in the hope that each of you are as personally acquainted with God as I am.
I was born with an obstructed aortic heart valve and since I was born at home in 1944, that should have been the end of me. However, God knows your beginning and end and everything in between. A lot of children born with birth defects die as soon as they are born, while others, like myself survive. I believe that God looked over my entire lifetime and decided that I should survive as a testimony to others of how good God really is. God knew that I would come to Him in 1967 (before my first open-heart surgery), walk away from Him in 1968 and then return to do some real work for Him in 2005.
I was painfully shy in school from grades 1-12, but when I came to God in 1967, one of the first things He did was remove the shyness and open up my mouth. I was, if fact, the choir director for a small Baptist Church in Memphis for a short time. As soon as I walked away God gave me back some (not all) of the shyness and closed my mouth up except for family, friends and business associates. Although I was still partly shy, I was able to fully function in the business world and even worked for a couple of years in outside sales.
I really never cared much for Memphis and so my return to Los Angeles, CA. was not surprising nor do I regret that decision. I do, however, regret the decision to walk away from God, but thankfully once you belong to God, HE NEVER WALKS AWAY FROM YOU.
While I was away from Him, I had 3 additional heart surgeries in California, but death was never a fear because I knew God well.
In 1967 at Jackson, Ms. they cleaned out the obstruction in the valve. In 1978 in Los Angeles they replaced the valve with a pig valve.
Let me digress here for a moment, I started work for a company named Kurt W. Rose Co. in 1968 and when the company was bought out I continued working for the new company Clothier and Rose until January of 1985. Back in November of 1984 the owner of the company brought in his girlfriend and then started threatening me with loss of job, demotion, etc. so I gave him 90 days notice.
When I left the company in January of 1985, my last day was a Friday and it was a payday. The owner had promised that he would be there and pay me off on that day, however, he managed to be out of town and called me to tell me that I would have to return the following Monday for my final check. Well I already had a doctor appointment scheduled for Monday as I had been feeling sick for several weeks and could no longer sleep in a bed, but had to use a recliner, so I told him I would come in after the appointment. When I saw the doctor, he took some x-rays, took a look at them, told me I was in congestive heart failure and ordered me to the hospital. I checked into Torrance Memorial Hospital that afternoon and the next morning as I was having my breakfast, the pig valve just came apart. If I had been anywhere other than a hospital, I would have been dead. So you see, God took care of this problem just like He really takes care of all my other problems.
I returned to God last year and have not shut up since. I currently run a nursing home and jail ministry in Pontotoc County. I am, by no means, a preacher, simply another witness for God. I attend church regularly.
I am sure God had his hand on me. Since God has already healed my arthritis and removed a growth from my neck, I assume that He is now working on my heart.
This is not to say anything against any other church or denomination, but I was taught that miracles ceased with the death of the last apostle. I have learned in the last year that this is not true, I have been partially healed and have seen other diseases, such as cancer, healed with simple prayer and the laying on of hands. God has used me on occasion to lay hands on someone and pray for their healing.
Of course, God will not heal everyone and I cannot explain this, since I do not know the mind of God. As the Bible states His thoughts are not as our thoughts and His ways are not as our ways.
I was a smoker from the age of 13 to the age of 61, however, last December (2005), God told me I was going to have to quit. Now let me be very clear here, I did not want to quit and had no intention of quitting. I had lots of open packs and 3 full cartons , but a few days after God told me I was going to have to quit, He sent me to a different church than the one I was attending and about a week later an evangelist by the name of Heath Sutherland came through and God told me to get up off my seat and go up and tell this man what my problem was and it would be taken care of. I obeyed God and have not had a cigarette nor a desire for one since that time. I had to throw all of mine away, since I could not encourage someone else to take up or continue a habit that God wanted me to give up.
Now I don't consider smoking a sin, because Jesus said it is not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him, but that which comes out of his mouth.
However, I can understand that some people would look with suspicion on someone who was testifying for Christ while smoking a cigarette.
I always tell people that no matter what the circumstances in your life, look on the plus side. I have met guys in jail, who in my humble opinion got railroaded, however, I believe that God has a purpose for this too. He may put you in circumstances you do not like, so that you may be a witness for Him to others.
I hope to see all or most of you again , but if we never meet again on this plane, I want to be certain that I have witnessed to you the awesome power of God through the blood and stripes of Jesus to forgive your sins and heal your illnesses. If you can accept this in Faith, then you will be with Christ through eternity, and believe me, we’re gonna be having a heck of a party, with plenty of music and dancing.
If I don’t see you again here, I honestly hope to meet you again in the presence of our Lord and Savior, JESUS CHRIST!!!!!!!!!
Yours in Christ
Larry Dye
Director
The Shepherd’s Outreach Ministries
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