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Beth Clark
with Message of Life
Country Info
USA
Background
Art and Teaching
Ministry Description
Maribeth came to minister at
Message of Life during a difficult physical trial in her life. It was evident
that God called her to work for Him in spite of her physical limitations or
maybe because of them.
Six months after moving from
Los Angeles to
Oakhurst in 1989 Maribeth began experiencing problems controlling her eyelids,
a disorder with a name – Benign Essential Blepharospasm. She and her husband,
Bob, were in the middle of building a very large home in anticipation of
providing hospitality to three grown children, family, friends and even
strangers in the beautiful mountains just 20 minutes south of Yosemite National Park.
Although she was a teacher who planned to continue teaching in one of the area
schools, she was substitute teaching the first year and Bob was still living
and working in Los Angeles.
The eye disorder left her functionally blind. Unable to drive, her son, who was
a senior at Yosemite High drove her to her various sub jobs each day. The
disorder caused a super sensitivity to light and an inability to look people in
the eye. She found teaching to be very challenging, especially in a substitute
position with a new environment and new children every day. By May, she finally
quit her job and concentrated on finding another way to bring in an income. She
was able to do close-up work, like sewing, needlework, crafts and drawing. Her
art background helped her make and sell hand decorated shirts in various gift
shops in the mountain area, including the Ahwahnee Hotel in the Yosemite Valley. But these opportunities did not bring in
enough income to pay the mortgage on their beautiful home. They needed a God
sized miracle if they were to keep their home. An application for Social
Security Disability was successful, but the benefits were small. By the end of 1990 their house was finished
and Bob landed a good job with Gottschalks, but it wouldn’t be enough to pay
the mortgage. Maribeth needed to bring in more income, too.
It was then that Beth read
about a call for help in the EV Free Church Sunday bulletin. An organization in
the mountains needed a person who could do color separations by hand. She
thought this job would be the answer to prayer because she knew she could
perform this task, a skill she had learned during her college art major days.
But, it turned out to be a volunteer position with a missions group that
produced VBS and Sunday School curriculum in the Spanish language. It was
Message of Life in Ahwahnee. The director suggested she send out letters to her
family and friends to see if they would support her as a missionary. Everyone
she knew was aware of her desperate need for income, but after sending out an
informative newsletter only a handful of people decided to make regular
contributions. Maribeth decided to continue with Message of Life working in her
home, praying that God would bless the work and provide whatever she and Bob
needed.
God was faithful and even
though they eventually lost their dream home, Maribeth stayed with Message of
Life. She was healed three years later and was able to drive again. She started
working full time at Message of Life, donations increased and she was able to
get off disability.
She says, “God works in
wonderful and mysterious ways and His leading me to work for Him at Message of
Life was all part of the plan when I lost control of my eyes. He never leaves
us or forsakes us in our hour of need.”
Besides working as the
in-house graphics and computer artist and illustrator, she does assembly work,
shipping and some office tasks.
Serving With
Message of Life
58607 Road 601
Ahwahnee, CA 93601
http://www.mensajedevida.com
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