War Cry - July 7, 2012 Page 15

The War Cry | July 7, 2012

S E C O N D T I M O T H Y 3 : 1 5 S A Y S ,

"You have been

taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and they
have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation
that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus." I am blessed
to have been born into a loving Christian family. My
family has always gone to church but not always to
The Salvation Army. In fact, we had no clue that The
Salvation Army was a church.

My mama had worked as an office manager and

bookkeeper for a company for 16 years. She loved her
job and enjoyed success with the company. However,
she had always wanted to be able to stay at home
with her children. The time seemed right in the mid-
nineties. Although leaving her job was a hard deci-
sion to make, she felt like God was leading her to do
it. In April of the next year, my daddy became ill, and
the doctors discovered he had a faulty heart valve.
This, of course, changed our lives. After having open
heart surgery, more health issues arose, and my
daddy was no longer able to work. So now both my
mama and daddy were without a job.

A former co-worker of my mama, a friend of both

my parents, had done some work with the Salvation
Army officer in Spartanburg, SC, and knew that the
Army was looking for a book-keeper. He told the offi-
cer, Major Rob Melton, that he knew a great book-
keeper who needed to go back to work, and then he
told my mama about the position. So in 1997 she be-

Loren Wallace was commissioned as a Lieutenant

in The Salvation Army in June.

CADET LOREN WALLACE

How A New Officer Met the Army

......H......

came the bookkeeper in Spartanburg and has been
there ever since. During a conversation one day Major
Melton realized that mama and daddy were Chris-
tians, and asked if they would be interested in coming
to the Army as Sunday school teachers. As soon as we
walked into the corps my mama realized that The
Salvation Army was where God had led her and
her family.

Not only did my parents become Sunday school

teachers, but I became one, too. In the summer of 2005,
while preparing to teach a Sunday school class, God
spoke to me. He led me to a passage of scripture that
says, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for
the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give
them warning from me" (Ezekiel 33:7). At that moment
I knew God was calling me to become an officer in The
Salvation Army.

That October I found myself on a plane heading

to Mexico City on a young adult mission trip. It was
here that my calling was confirmed. In Mexico I
learned that if I follow God, I will have peace. I also
met my wife, Tabitha, on that trip. We applied and
were accepted to the Training School along with the
Ambassadors of Holiness session in 2009. But in April
2010, my wife and I experienced a tragedy in our lives,
and we felt like we needed to leave the school.

We left thinking that we would find peace, and

during this time God reconfirmed my calling. After
leaving the training college, I quickly found a job as
a law enforcement officer at the county jail. God used
this job to remind me of the serious evil and deprav-
ity in this world, and He showed me the world's des-
perate need for Christ. Although I enjoyed what I
was doing, things just didn't seem right. Tabitha and
I didn't find the peace that we were looking for.

In October, 2010 we got a phone call from some

officers that we knew from our time as corps assis-
tants. And just like Major Melton did for my mama,
these officers reopened the door to ministry for us.
God used them to remind us of the calling that we
have on our lives.

After some serious conversation, and a lot of

prayer, we knew exactly what God was telling us.
The peace we were looking for wouldn't be found
until we were doing what God had called us to do.
Which brings me to where I stand today and I can
proudly proclaim that I have found that peace in fol-
lowing the call that God has placed on my life.

Finding

PEACE

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