A Story of God's Faithfulness
A testimony by Leon Joplin

God is faithful.

I was born in the West Texas town of Lubbock. Dad was a postman. Mom was a homemaker. I had two older brothers and a younger sister. It was a Christian home. At the age of nine, I gave my heart to Jesus. My mother had always made sure that we were in church as often as the doors were open. That's where I learned to sing. The old hymns still mean a lot to me. My Christian heritage was further influenced by my grandfather. I encountered many inspirational times while staying with my grandparents. Every evening we would have a family devotional and a time of prayer. Everything was going well -or so it seemed.

Things started to change at our house. My dad, who had always seemed to be so loving and caring, became abusive and hateful. Gradually, his whole personality changed. He would often beat my older brother. He accused my mother of things she had not done. We didn't know it, but he was showing signs of mental illness. One night, my father went into an uncontrollable rage. He tried to kill my mother and threatened to kill all of us children. By some bidding of the Lord, my grandmother had a sudden urgent feeling to go to our house. She and other relatives intervened and got us out of the house and away from danger. It was not too long after this that my father was institutionalized for paranoid schizophrenia. He spent much of the rest of his life in a debilitated state and was in and out of mental institutions.

Nothing was the same. My parents were divorced. My father was hopelessly ill. My mother went to work, but it wasn't enough money to pay the bills. However, God was faithful. Family and friends pitched in to help us. My mom sacrificed a lot during those hard times. She didn't let up. Her strong faith got us through the tough times. She even worked a little harder in order to send me and my sister for piano lessons. I'm so glad she did. As you will see, it all paid off. Things gradually got better. We were poor, but happy.

My most memorable Christmas happened just after our family crisis. We boarded a bus going from Lubbock to San Antonio to go to stay with my aunt and uncle in San Antonio for Christmas. I was only about 10 years old at the time. I remember thinking that it was going to be a miserable Christmas - no father, no money, ... I anticipated no gifts. On the way to San Antonio, I sat by a resident in orthopedic medicine from the University of Texas at San Antonio. All the way to San Antonio, he talked about medicine. I was so intrigued by his excitement that I decided that I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up. I would tell my mother this. It seemed to cheer her up. She would always introduce me as the son who would be a doctor. (Actually, I had four dreams growing up. They were to play professional football, to be a missionary, to be a professional musician, and to be a doctor.) Christmas in San Antonio ended up as one of the best we ever had. Sometimes, love is all you really need. Then again, I guess that is what Christmas is all about.

Gradually, things did get better. The difficulties we faced were always made less, because of our faith in a loving and caring God. He was always there. A few years later, my mom remarried and we moved to Amarillo, Texas. We attended a wonderful church there; they accepted us with open arms. I grew a lot in my Christian faith and began to perform musical specials in church. After high school, I planned for a pre-med major in college.

My parents couldn't afford to send me to college. So, I began to work full-time as an orderly at an Amarillo hospital and to attend college full-time. Despite the difficulty of doing both, my grades remained fairly good. However, as many college-age people do; I began to stray from my Christian beliefs and to commit sin. I didn't attend church. I drifted completely away from God. My grades suffered and at one point, I dropped out of school. I had one broken and sinful relationship after another. I married, but this did not go well. Soon after this, my son, Randy was born. I went back to college and was able to obtain an Associate Degree in Nursing. The marriage was destroyed as I began to fall deeper and deeper into sin. Despite all my problems, I had not learned that nothing goes well without the Lord in your life. I decided to go back to college as a pre-med major at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. This to did not go well, because I was too busy living out my sinful existence to be a success at anything.

One night, I had a horrible dream. It was so vivid, I can remember almost every detail. I dreamed that I had died and I was at the judgment. I had accomplished nothing with my life. I was about to be condemned for what I had done when I awoke. I knew that God was trying to reach me through the dream. I knelt at my bedside and prayed for His forgiveness. Gradually, although not all at once, my life began to change. I started to attend church and tried to develop right relationships. At times, sin crept back in, but overall; I knew I was going the right way.

I married Pam and we had a daughter, Courtney. My wife almost died giving birth to Courtney. Pam developed pre-ecclampsia, an illness in pregnancy that causes the blood pressure to rise to very high levels. The only cure is to deliver the baby. This meant induction of labor and the pregnancy was only into the seventh month. Although at the time, I was quite concerned for their lives, I somehow knew God would see us through this crisis. He was faithful. They both lived and are very healthy, vibrant Christians.

We began attending church at Lakeridge United Methodist in Lubbock. It was at Lakeridge that we became very much involved in missions. One Sunday, a physician challenged us to go on a medical mission trip to Haiti. My wife, Pam, was also a nurse. We felt that we might be of help on this medical mission trip and signed up to go. It ended up being a life changing experience. I saw the great need for Christian involvement in the third world. We later, went on a second mission trip to Haiti. God was allowing me to fulfill one of my life's goals - to be involved in missions.

It was on this these mission trips, that God seemed to be calling me to go into medicine. I agonized with thoughts of going back to college. Besides that, I was already 33 years old. After failing so many times in the past; I felt it would be an almost impossible task. With the Lord as my counselor, everything went well. I not only succeeded; I excelled - nothing but straight A's. I obtained a bachelors degree in nursing from Texas Tech. I later completed the requirements to apply for medical school.

I applied to three schools of medicine. The one I anticipated that would accept me was Oral Roberts University School of Medicine. Right after my interview, God seemed to tell me that I would not be going there. I was very upset. I had been so sure that this was to be. It would have fulfilled two of my life goals -missions and medicine (all Oral Roberts medical school graduates seemed to be going into mission work). I was accepted at another school. One year later, Oral Roberts School of Medicine closed. I learned another valuable lesson. That is - one of the ways God is faithful is to see into our future and to help us make right decisions. I probably would have had difficulty switching to another school. After all, I was in my mid-thirties.

I attended medical school in Ft. Worth, Texas at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. I have never worked harder in my life - well maybe with the exception of my first year of internship in residency. With the Lord's help, I was successful. After the first two years of basic sciences, we took the first part of our national boards. My overall score was in the top 7 percent in the nation. After the second two years, we took the medical portion of the medical boards. With God's help, I scored in the top 3 percent in the nation. Without him, I failed; with Him, I excelled.

You would have thought that I would have learned my lesson. That is - have faith - with God nothing is impossible. However, I was a little skeptical about being accepted into a highly ranked residency program. After all, I was 39 years old coming out of medical school. I anticipated that my age would be prevent me from being accepted into a highly ranked residency program. I decided to apply to the top three M.D. family practice residency programs in the state. To my surprise, I was accepted into the number one ranked program in the state at Waco, Texas. It was affiliated with Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. Residency went quite well. There was a strong group of Christians in the program. We had weekly Bible studies and prayed for each other. My wife Pam worked as a nurse to help support our efforts and Courtney was very supportive.

Near the end of my residency, I tried but was unsuccessful at getting into missions with my church. My background of divorce hindered my appointment into the mission field. I did not get discouraged. It seemed that God had something else in mind. I looked for medical practices in the rural areas. I felt God's call to go to an undeserved area of Texas. I was not disappointed. I contracted with a rural health clinic in Dimmitt, Texas. They were in great need of physicians. Many of the people had been praying for physicians to come to Dimmitt. Apparently, God had already known that the people of Dimmit would be praying for a physician long before I had even had an urge to become one. In fact, I think it began way back on a cold December day in Texas as a young boy was traveling to San Antonio on a bus with his family for Christmas.

It seems as if God is allowing me to fulfill all my dreams. I had four dreams as a child - to be a missionary, to be a professional football player, to be a doctor, and to be a professional singer. I was privileged to do short term missions upon several occasions and rural medicine can be a mission field - It seems as if God has allowed me to fulfill these dreams. I would have never been a football player - I was too small. My high school football coach took pity on me and asked me to leave football in my senior year of high school. I think he probably realized that I would be killed if he allowed my 1351b frame to continue to show up at football practice. God has certainly allowed me to fulfill the dream of being a doctor. However, there was one last goal - to be a professional singer. Lately, God has been allowing me to complete this dream as well. I will explain how this happened.

About two years ago, I began to renew my interest in music. I began playing guitar and piano. Occasionally I would sing with a couple of friends at wedding receptions and at gatherings. I joined the choir at church. One day, I sat down at my key board and just began playing melodies as God gave them to me. Before I knew it, God had given me a song. In my excitement, I ran into the room where my wife was reading her Bible. I told her that God had given me a hit song. You can imagine her skepticism.

Not to long after this, I found a medical educational event in Nashville, Tennessee. I decided I would go. I had always wanted to go there and I thought I might take a tour of some of the music studios. I told my choir director, Wayland Hazel, about the idea. Wayland told me I ought to take advantage of the opportunity and actually record some of my songs while I was there. Wayland had recorded there with his family several years ago and had some idea of how to do a project". He came up with three different studios that might help me. I called them all, but only one, Kokopelli Music, seemed to be interested. The owner of Kokopelli studio is Adam Hampton. Adam told me that he would only need the cord structure, words, and a recording of me singing the songs in order to prepare for the recording session. I did as he said, but I also decided to write the music in musical score. With Wayland's help we wrote out the three songs.

As soon as I arrived in Nashville and had checked into the Opryland Hotel, I got out the yellow pages and tried to find a listing for Kokopelli Music. I found listings for hundreds of studios, but no listing for Kokopelli Studio. I then bought a map of Nashville in order to find the street where the studio was located. I couldn't find the street that I had written down as the address for Kokopelli Studio. I was becoming concerned. I called up the producer, Adam Hampton. He explained that the studio was in a small suburb just outside Nashville in Joelton, Tennessee. After getting lost several times, I found the studio. It was a beautiful home in a wooded area outside of Nashville. The studio was in the basement. I gave my songs to Adam. He explained that he didn't need the musical score - just the things he had told me to bring. I was again a little concerned that a musician would not need musical score, but God had brought me this far - I was sure He had something in mind. Upon completion of my medical education classes, I was to return to the studio for the recording session.

I returned to the studio three days later. I found several people at the studio. They seemed to know what they were doing. I was asked to sing a "scratch take" of my first song. This is the time that the band learns the melody of the song and the cord arrangements. I quickly realized that these guys didn't need musical score. They knew very well what they were doing. After going over the first song, the band began to "work out any kinks". I was allowed to rest. A picture on the wall caught my eye. In the center of this picture were several people standing in front of a touring bus. In the very middle of all these people I recognized the face of Ronnie Milsap. I suddenly rea1ized that these were several of the same musicians present with me and working on my songs. I was overwhelmed with the fact that not only had God sent me here, but that He had also had arranged to have some of the best musicians in Nashville work on the songs. The "project" took on new meaning and I realized God had a bigger plan than I had even imagined.

We completed the project of three songs and I returned to Dimmitt. We formed a band, His Messengers, and began writing more songs. God has now given us over 50 original songs in only two years. Almost every member of our band has been involved in song writing. God also sent our way a man named Bobby Thomas. Bobby has been writing lyrics to songs for most of his life. He had not published any of his works. In fact, Bobby tells me that he had been writing lyrics for about thirty years. According to Bobby, most of his songs were just collecting dust in a shoe box in his closet.

Unfortunately, the band, His Messengers has disbanded. However, God has continued to bless the music. I have continued to perform. The hospital board was kind enough to allow me to go part-time. I practice medicine during a short workweek and perform for the Lord's service on long weekends. I have been working very closely with Daywind records and they have helped me with two projects. The fourth project is to be released in July or August of 2002. God just keeps opening the doors. For example: On the fourth project, Reggie Smith, Lori Hall, and LeAnn Steinhower sang background vocals. They were awesome. Reggie sings regularly at Gaither Homecomings. I am always getting surprises at the studio. What is more special is to watch God orchestrate our lives. It's like a symphony when He is in charge. Everyone is in tune and playing of one accord.

I now realize that God has only good in mind for us and that our dreams are not too different than His dreams for us. However, His plans are bigger and better than ours. Our task is to listen for His call. Since I have met Jesus, He has always been faithful. Even when I strayed, He never quit loving me. He has made my life into something of beauty. I would have failed on my own. By His power, I am more than a conqueror. I am a son of the living God and an heir to a kingdom without end. I will continue to serve Him. Who knows - maybe someday in heaven - with a new and stronger body - I might even make it on the heavenly football squad - that is if they play football in Heaven. He has been faithful. Life would be meaningless without Him. I will always praise Him and I will serve Him as long as I have breath.