HOP Family Testimonies

Several years ago, Bill Royse was diagnosed with cancer. This led to surgery, which removed his tongue, lower jaw, and larynx. Bill wrote this post several months ago as a reminder that God can use us even in ways that seem small.

Bill went home to be with his Lord recently. May his words be an encouragement to you today.

Please continue to pray for Marlene and the family during this time.

About two years ago, I was totally confused and knew my options for doing anything productive were limited. Here I am, with limited ability to communicate with anybody. What good could I do?

However, I began hearing messages and little things that kept popping up from devotionals and Bible readings and a lot of little things that kept telling me, “God has something for you. Don’t get so down.” So, I got the message and knew that God, in His own time, would let me know.

I can look back now and see how the Holy Spirit has guided me throughout my life—through my education, a great job, and participating with the many churches we have served as we moved from one place to another; in other words, every aspect of my life.

So, there I was trying to figure out what God had in store for me. I had given myself to Him a long time ago and I still have to remind myself all the time…God’s Will will be done.

However, my limited ability to communicate had really put a heavy burden on me and given me a great challenge. I just could not figure out what God had in store for me.

Then this past July something happened! I receive a text from the wife of a good friend in our model railroad club. My friend and I had spent time working together and going to shows and hobby shops. From 2020 through 2021, my friend developed dementia and had been getting worse.

When asked how his layout was coming along, he would say ok. But come to find out later, he didn’t understand the instructions. To help him, I knew I needed to make it as simple to operate as I could so he would be able to run his trains. He forgets very quickly now.

His wife commented that I was an answer to prayers but I knew this was also an answer to my prayer!

I went to their home almost every Thursday. They could not thank me enough and we especially thanked God for sending me to them. We talked about that and we knew it was a God-thing and that made it very special.

This has been a wonderful experience for me, knowing that the Spirit has helped me to help them as a family. Not much verbal communication was done, but a lot of Spirit made up for that.

You might wonder, why would God get involved with something so trivial? God is involved in every aspect of our lives, no matter how small!