Ms. Valean Welch has lived almost 80 years on the same property on Mount Zion Road.
Born to Clifton Gardner and Irene Baylor Gardner in 1938, she has been married to Roger Lee Welch, from Union, since 1956. They have four grown children, who have all made them proud. Every one of them — Reginald, Reynold, Shelia, and Kendall — graduated from ECCC and USM. Reginald even went through high school and college without missing a single day! From these four, they have five grandchildren and two great-gr
andchildren.
Ms. Valean was one of the first ones to integrate the shirt factory, and she worked there a few months before she had her daughter, Shelia. She said there had been things said against her and one incident with a young lady when she first started working there, but that same young lady helped give her a baby shower before she left the factory to have her baby! She later worked as an assistant teacher at Newton County Elementary School for a year, but the next year she moved to a position in the office, working there for 38 years before retirement.
Midway Baptist Church is the only church she has attended her entire life. Ms. Valean said, “I joined the church when I was about nine years old, but through the years I really came to know what Christianity was all about.”
She was taught at home and in church, and she lamented with me that families now seem to have lost the “value of religion.” She raised her children in church as well, but she says today electronic things have taken the place of God.
She exclaimed, “All they seeis violence! If you’re not grounding them in God, the world will take them away from you.”
Two of her experiences with health problems caused me to get an idea of what Ms. Valean Welch’s real Christian testimony was all about. When she was pregnant with her daughter, she had stomach ulcers, back when they couldn’t do as much for that as now. She lost a lot of weight and couldn’t even keep water down. She said that she prays all the time, but that one night she prayed in a more sincere way. “Whatever His will, I’m ready to do it. If You want to take me, I’m ready to go. But if not, I’m asking You to heal me.” From that time, she began to gradually get better! Believing the Lord had left her here for a reason, she asked Him to direct her and, while caring for her own family, she cared for her daddy’s sister and her mother-in-law until they passed away.
I saw that same attitude of faith, submission to God and service to others when she told me about her problems with asthma that had arisen about two years ago. After having had multiple inhalers and problems, she again prayed and now only keeps an emergency inhaler that she has not had to use.
Also, her doctor saw a “mass” in her intestines. Tests showed that and she had symptoms. She went from 170 to 140 pounds.
However, she recalled, “I never got upset or worried. I said, Lord, I’m no better than anyone else. If you want me to have this, I accept it. If not, I believe You will heal me.” They ran another test and found there was no mass!
Psalm 121 is her favorite passage from the Bible, which gives assurance of the protective, loving care of the Lord. She told me that her mama had lived to be 105 and a half, but she said, “It’s not how long you live, but what you do while you’re here.” She also told me that her philosophy is, “If I can help somebody along the way, then my living will not be in vain.”
She and I talked about the fact that we both believe our Lord Jesus Christ is going to fulfill prophecy of the Bible by coming back soon.
It was a blessing to me to be able to visit with her and talk about the things of God and be able to agree, as one black lady and one white lady, on such wonderful truths. I asked her pastor, the Rev. Larry Reed, to write a few words concerning this important subject. See below.
Keep looking up, Jesus is coming soon. The stage is being set, the stars aligned, and many believers in biblical prophecy are excited.
Many believe the fulfillment of Revelation 12:1-2 is taking place on Sept. 23. Whether you believe or not, just the goings on in this world, as spoken of by our Lord in Matthew chapter 24, are clear before our eyes.
And He admonishes us against date setting, for only the Father knows when He will return. But we are to continue to worship Him, watch for Him, wait on Him, and continue His work until we hear Him say well done.
And yes, wonder and be amazed at His love for us and just the awesome thought of seeing the one who died for us that we might be saved and then living with Him forever.
