Count It All Joy

By Dr. Oretha Whittington-Helire

You can see in Count it All Joy that my plans were thwarted, but it all ended for my good. I expressed my trials and tribulations in my book. However, those experiences strengthened my bond with the Lord, and he used me as an example for others. I concluded that when we turn it all over to Jesus, he will use us to work it out. Having had experiences interacting with members in the church, we can see what the apostle John wrote about in Revelation, the second and third chapters, that there is no perfect church. (Philadelphia was classified as an obedient church.) But when Jesus appears, we shall be like him (1 John 3:2). Be encouraged to press on until that day. Hallelujah!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449760939

Dr. Oretha Whittington-Helire

Dr. Oretha Whittington-Helire has been an evangelist, speaker, and teacher for the past thirty-eight years. She attended Christian Bible College in Kenner, Louisiana, where she received a Doctorate of Theology. Dr. Helire has been an ordained associate minister of the Word of Faith Ministry for the past sixteen years, where her husband is pastor. Dr. Helire and her husband are the happy parents of seven biological children (five girls and two boys) and one adopted son. They all love the Lord.

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Copyright © 2012 Dr. Oretha Whittington-Helire.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4775-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4774-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6093-9 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012906592

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

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Scripture taken from The King James Study Bible.

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/11/2012

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1      My Roots

Chapter 2      Life in New Orleans

Chapter 3      My Christian Life

Chapter 4      My Calling

Chapter 5      Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Chapter 6      On Prosperity

Chapter 7      The Blessing of God upon Us

Chapter 8      Family Ties

Chapter 9      On Relationships

Chapter 10      The Church

Chapter 11      The Whittington Family Reunion

Chapter 12      Bonded in Love

Chapter 13      Faithfulness of the Believer

Chapter 14      Jesus Is the Light

Chapter 15      Nothing Can Stop Us From Reaching Our Destiny

Chapter 16      On Worship and Praise

Chapter 17      The Enemy

Chapter 18      We Must Always Pray

Chapter 19      The Holy Spirit

Chapter 20      The Church and Unity

Chapter 21      Reaching Out in Concern for Women of God

Chapter 22      This Light of Mine, the Jesus in Us

Chapter 23      The Word and Wisdom

Chapter 24      Giving Works

Chapter 25      To Our Friends Who Are Seeking Jesus and the New Birth

Chapter 26      Resurrection Power

Chapter 27      Our Labor of Love for Sinners

Chapter 28      Sin

Chapter 29      Depression

Chapter 30      Forgiveness

Chapter 31      We Will Meet Again

Chapter 32      The New Jerusalem, Our New Home

Conclusion

About the Author

Dedication

I am dedicating this book to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This book reflects the care and concern that God has for his people.

I am pleased that he used me, but I am also very humble.

God called me to get this message through to his people, to let them know that he is a stronghold in times of need and trouble.

The Trinity reassures us that we are not alone.

My plea is for you to try God, if you don’t know him. He will hear you. If you know him, operate in the gift of faith. The victory is yours.

Acknowledgments

I have to thank a lot of friends and relatives who have given me encouragement while writing this book. I know it was the Lord using them.

I have never written a book before. Therefore, I was open to suggestions. They gave me constructive criticism.

I thank my husband and children for standing by me, especially during those long hours of writing.

I thank my nephew and niece, Charles and Linda, for their guidance any time of day or night when they received my call for help.

Charles communicated back and forth to the publisher on my behalf, which was great.

I am grateful for my typist, Gwen.

I am also thankful for my daughter, Joy Jones, as well as Jana Jones, Jane Hamilton, Jennifer Baker, Clariece McCall, Sydney Cecile Armant, Florence Smith, Dora Smith, Gail Jones, and Barbara Jones for their concern.

Last, but not least, I am thankful for Sylvia Winchester, PhD.

Introduction

It was a spring morning on April 12, 1992. The birds in a tree nearby were singing at my bedroom window. I love to hear them sing in the morning. It seems as though they have a message for us. That was a day that I would come before the Lord in prayer, fasting, and reading of the Scriptures until noon. That particular day, my burden was really heavy. After I began to meditate, I felt relieved. Then there was this audible voice that said, Write a book. I said, Write a book? This voice said again, Write a book, so that your life can be an example to people who are having trials in their lives also.

I knew then that that voice was the voice of the Lord. He said this book would help many people.

Sometimes God deals with us through tribulation so that we will become stronger and steadfast in spite of them. That made a lot of sense to me. Then I began to write. The Holy Spirit guided my thoughts while I did the writing.

James 1:2-3 says, My brethren count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. If we pray for patience, trials will come. Perseverance must finish its work so that we may be mature to grow to perfection.

I am writing this book with permission from God, through his son Jesus, and the complete guidance of the Holy Spirit.

If it wasn’t for the Lord, I would have given up, but he kept me going on.

My advice to anyone is that if you know the Lord, love him with all your heart and soul. If you don’t know him, get to know him.

Chapter 1

My Roots

I am the eleventh child of sixteen children. My parents were the late Florence and Felix Whittington. My parents did not have a formal education. As a matter of fact, my father went as far as the third grade. My mother could not read nor write. In spite of this, their desire was for all of us to at least finish high school although only two of us did: a younger sister named Yolanda and I. I was the first to finish high school. My older sisters and brothers finished grade school. They were all very blessed. They all made it through life making a decent living. They were all married, and they educated some of their children. God richly blessed us.

The dream of my father (whom we called Papa) and my mother (whom we called Mama) was for me to go to college. I wanted that too. But first I had to finish high school.

We were a big, happy family. We lived in a little Louisiana town called Jamestown, which was in St. James Parish. My father was an overseer on a farm. Today he would be called a supervisor or foreman. He was a good, hardworking man. He knew all about growing rice, sugarcane, corn, and potatoes. My dad fed and clothed his family to the best of his ability. He never wanted my mother to work. The boys and the older girls would work and go to school. When the younger ones were out of school for the summer, we used to take them (my father and the boys) breakfast at work in the morning. We would love that. Mama made these delicious golden-brown shortcakes and Papa would give all of the men he worked with some. I can visualize him now sharing his breakfast with them. I can’t hold back the tears as I write. Those times were very touching.

Papa worked hard in the field to make a decent living, and together my parents worked hard to make our house a home. They stressed to us daily that a house without love is not a home. We did not possess a lot of luxuries or all the material things that one might desire. But what we had we valued. We had a lot of love for each other.

By the time I was twelve or thirteen, ten of my older brothers and sisters were married and on their own. That left me to be the next to oldest in the house. By then, Papa had retired from working. My other two sisters and I worked part time and went to school, which wasn’t very hard. We did not work in the field as the others did. We worked for Dr. Jones who lived nearby.

That day finally came when I graduated from high school in May of 1957. I didn’t know if I should feel happy or sad. I wanted to further my education, but I didn’t want to leave my younger sisters and brothers. I cried again all that day. Everybody was so proud of me. My oldest brother, Joseph, who is deceased now, was extremely happy. The first one of the Whittington family to finish high school, he said.

Mama was feeling the same thing I felt. She was happy because I was graduating but sad that I was going to have to leave home. I picked a university in Baton Rouge, which was not far from home. But my mama and I decided for me to go to New Orleans and work for a while and save some money to help.

Mama and Papa really did cooperate with me. Mama was one of the best. I started thinking about her providing for me all through school. She used to say to me, Rita (that’s what she called me even though my name is Oretha), tell me what you need now. I don’t want you to be the least of all down there (at school). She would do without to buy for us all the time. Mama became ill. Papa too. That’s another reason why I didn’t want to leave home. Mama had sugar diabetes and Papa had heart failure. Both of them were doing fairly well and still on their feet.

So the time came for me to leave. I graduated on Sunday, May 5, 1957, and on Tuesday, May 7, I boarded the Greyhound bus for New Orleans. I cried all the way there. I thought about how I would miss home. Those who were married, their spouses, and their children would come home every Sunday evening. Mama would cook all kinds of delicious foods. They would talk and eat all evening after church. My parents were committed Christians. Papa was a minister. I thought about when we were younger at night under the moonlight. We would play church. My five-year-old baby brother did the preaching, and we—older ones—did the singing and shouting. I remembered how we went to Sunday school before church. Country living was a happy life. All the neighbors got along and shared certain things.

As I rode closer and closer to New Orleans, I thought about more of my life in the country. I could no longer walk to the sweet shop on a Sunday evening to buy goodies. There were some bad days that I wouldn’t want to call back, such as washing on the washboard in a big tub, hauling water from the pond, walking about four miles to a grocery store, and sharing a bed with two others. But the good things overshadowed the unpleasant ones.

I thought about the fights we would have for wearing each other’s clothes without asking. I also thought about my nanan and paran (my godmother and godfather). They were so good to me. They lived next door. They gave me everything I wanted. They were like my second parents. I thought about my friends and all the fun I had with them. I was a good student with an A or B average. I worked hard, very hard, at school. I remembered my eighth grade teacher would get me to watch the class while she took care of business. (Back then, I would be called the teacher’s pet.) So I took a girl’s name one day—told the teacher she was being unruly. That’s what I was supposed to do. After school, that girl picked a fight with me. I did not lift a hand to her. On my way to New Orleans, I thought about that too. I always was a humble child who was slow to anger and slow to speak.

So, I arrived to my home away from home, which was hard for me.

Chapter 2

Life in New Orleans

I got settled at my sister’s apartment. I lived with her, her husband, and their two sons. The apartment wasn’t very large, but it became home for me. I appreciated them for letting me live with them. My sister, Ora, was glad to have me because she hadn’t been in New Orleans very long herself. She was a good housewife and mother. She gave her children and husband special attention.

I got to know some of her neighbors and friends. They were fairly decent people. I was there two weeks and found a job. I took care of a couple’s five children while they worked. Five girls. I was happy that I found work. They paid me a fairly good salary. I was able to live off a few dollars and save the rest for school. My mom and dad were very happy that I was saving my money to go to college.

Met and Married John

Back home, there was never a particular boy in my life. There was one that I really liked, but nothing serious. I felt that, if I was going to get an education, boys had to be secondary to me.

I met this girl who later became my sister-in-law. She and her brother became my first friends in New Orleans. She introduced me to her boyfriend’s brother, John. John was a unique guy. Unlike all of the other boys I had ever met, he lived with his brother and my girlfriend’s brother upstairs where I was living. They would come in at night and make a lot of noise over my head. I complained to them. They laughed at it. I didn’t think it was funny. Later they moved next door. I complained about the noise. I think that house next door was larger for them.

Every evening after work, I would get comfortable and sit outside the apartment on a bench. That’s my recreation sometimes. My sister and I would go downtown to the Canal Street Shopping Center. This girlfriend, Millie, would come by. Sometimes she would ask me to go to a movie or such with her and her boyfriend. I refused to go each time she asked until one day my sister said to me, "Why don’t you go out with them? They are nice people. They’re from the country so you can trust