Desiring to Know My Grand Creator
As told by Anna E. Zimmerman
I AM grateful for the sixty-three years since dedication of my life to my Grand Creator. More than fifty-eight of those years have been spent in his full-time service. What a privilege it has been! Yet, I keep reminding myself of the right attitude recommended by Christ Jesus and expressed in the words, “We are good-for-nothing slaves. What we have done is what we ought to have done.”—Luke 17:10.
Would you like to know what led me to adopt the life of a full-time minister of the “good news of the kingdom”? Well, I was born in the village of Blue Ball in eastern Pennsylvania in 1895 and grew up in the nearby town, New Holland. It was here in my early childhood, as I often admired the beauty of the starry heavens, that my desire to know more about my Grand Creator began to grow. Like David of old I would marvel at how ‘the heavens declared the glory of God.’ But how could I get to know him better? My parents had no knowledge about God’s purpose. They did not even know if he had a name.—Ps. 19:1.
SEARCHING TO KNOW
Soon I realized that my father was also in search of the truth about God and his purposes. I would often overhear his remark to mother: “I know we don’t have the truth on the Bible, but I know someone somewhere has it, and I will search until I find it.” He would attend a different church each Sunday, remaining after services to ask questions of the ministers on “hell,” “immortality of the soul,” and “trinity.” On his return mother and I always popped the question, “Did you find the truth?” His reply was always, “No.”
I recall chasing after a lady and her husband who were heading for the railroad station. You see, they had left a tract at our door, and as I handed it to father, he remarked: “They might have the truth.” That was enough for me. Off I went after them, and when I caught up with them I took the lady’s hand and invited them to come back because “Father says you might have the truth on the Bible.” Can you imagine how surprised they were?
I even offered them a free night’s lodging, supper and breakfast. The lady asked my age. I replied: “I am nine years old.” They could hardly be blamed for excusing themselves.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
Early the following spring, 1905, a Bible Student applied at father’s office for a job. He received the job and we received the truth. Father brought him home for lunch that day and introduced him to us. How thrilled I was when I heard father say: “At last we have found the truth!” It seems they had been discussing the Bible since seven o’clock that morning. The rest of the day and far into the night I had the joy of sitting in on the discussion. At last we learned that God’s name is Jehovah and that he does have a congregation on the earth.
Soon after, we heard that Charles T. Russell, first president of the Watch Tower Society, was going to tour Canada and the United States, speaking on the striking title “To Hell and Back.” Arrangements were made to include our city of Lancaster in his itinerary. The lecture was widely advertised, even by signs on the front of each streetcar, featuring the unusual title, to the amusement of many. But the Opera House was packed, and so much interest was manifest that soon afterward a congregation was organized.
Relatives, friends and many others were soon interested and dedicating their lives to Jehovah. It was in 1907 that I was baptized in symbol of my dedication. This was at Norfolk, Virginia, where the baptismal talk was given by Pastor Russell.
My next goal was to enter the full-time ministry as a “pioneer” publisher of the “good news.” However, there were still some school years. I redeemed the time by engaging regularly in Bible study. I particularly enjoyed reading The Watch Tower as each issue appeared. Often I would read these aloud to my mother as she prepared fruit and vegetables for canning or did other household chores. What a daily feast we had!
About this time we moved into the city of Lancaster. Here I enjoyed a share in tract distribution. We would rise early Sunday mornings, leave a tract under every door, and get back home in time for lunch and preparation to attend our Bible Study meeting. We often used to pass out tracts when traveling on the trains too. This brought many interesting experiences. The last two of my school vacations I spent calling at the homes of the people with Bible-study aids entitled “Studies in the Scriptures,” clothbound publications that were left at cost with those interested.
FULL-TIME MINISTRY
In January 1912 I entered the full-time ministry as a colporteur, as “pioneer” publishers were then called. It was wonderful to be “always having plenty to do in the work of the Lord”! (1 Cor. 15:58) And this use of one’s life always kept the mind ready for more and more research into the characteristics, the principles and the purposes of the Creator. It seemed that one was really walking and communing with Jehovah. And what a joy to be ‘telling forth the good news of salvation from day to day’!—Ps. 96:2.
My first assigned territory took in York, Pennsylvania, and a number of other towns. At one place a real problem arose—nobody home at house after house over a large area. Almost everyone worked at the cigar factories. The solution to the problem lay in approaching the factory managers, and then obtaining permission to speak briefly with each employee. Orders for the three volumes of Studies in the Scriptures were taken. Then the suspense. Would those ordering make good when payday arrived? Happily, most of them did.
In one assignment I unknowingly secured a room in a haunted house. Returning home one evening earlier than expected, and finding that the other occupants were still gone on vacation, I proceeded to my room on the third floor. As I closed my door behind me I heard an unearthly sound—something like the heavy steps of huge animals coming up the two flights of stairs toward my room. Then I saw the doorknob move. At that instant how glad I was to recall reading the Watch Tower Society booklet on “Spiritism” many years before!
Without delay my prayer went to Jehovah for protection. I took up a Bible and, facing the doorway and stamping my foot for emphasis, I said in a clear positive tone: “In the name of Jehovah I demand that you leave and never return!” Immediately I could hear uncertain movements in the hallway, then a window opened and there was the sound of a strong, stiff breeze, and the window slammed shut. How thankful I was to Jehovah for the counsel and aid he had provided through his congregation! I determined never to neglect any information that he so lovingly makes available.
In the late fall of 1933 I had the joy of having my parents join me in the full-time service. Indeed, they stuck with it faithfully until finishing their course in death. Their frequent remarks indicated that pioneering proved to be the happiest years of all.
SPECIAL-PIONEER JOYS
In 1942 I was invited to do special-pioneer service, which means spending 150 hours each month in preaching God’s Word and organizing as many home Bible studies as possible. I am still enjoying that privilege—sometimes planting seed and at other times watering seed already planted. Always it is thrilling to realize that it is “God who makes it grow.” (1 Cor. 3:7, 9) Why? Because that makes us actually fellow workers with God! How grand to know him that well!
At Williamsburg, Virginia, it was my privilege to have a small share in forming a new congregation of Jehovah’s worshipers. Here I conducted two Bible studies in households where the husbands were just getting out of the army, and now both families were moving to the Far West. However, both looked up Jehovah’s witnesses and continued to study in their new homes in the West. And where do you think I met them again? Yes, at one of our large assemblies in New York. Now both couples are baptized, and one husband and wife are in the pioneer ministry.
GUARDIAN ANGELS
The more I have come to know my Creator, the more confidence I have gained in the protective care he throws around those who serve him from the heart. One must have faith in order to meet successfully many of the experiences encountered in the work of preaching the Kingdom. But Jehovah’s assurance to such is: “The angel of Jehovah is camping all around those fearing him, and he rescues them.”—Ps. 34:7.
I vividly recall one experience in which I truly needed faith in this promise. It was in Culpeper County, Virginia. While sitting in my car finishing my lunch and absorbed in reading a copy of The Watchtower, I was suddenly aware of two long arms that reached into the car, one hand near my throat, the other behind my neck, fingers bent ready to clutch at me. Immediately I petitioned Jehovah for his help. The tall man stood motionless.
While maneuvering my neck out of range I kept his mind occupied by telling him that I usually read The Watchtower while eating lunch, that I really enjoyed the article I just read telling about the blessings that Christ’s kingdom would soon bring, conditions in which nothing shall hurt or make afraid. My neck now free, but his arms still inside my car, I turned on the ignition, saying: “I must be going now. Enjoyed talking with you.” With that he pulled back, his arms dropped to his sides, and the last that I saw of him in my rearview mirror he still stood there like a stone statue.
I long remembered this experience, but it had the effect of giving me the feeling of closer relationship to the Creator. I knew that God would protect his servants and give them strength to bear up under every evil.
As I look back on my years spent in getting acquainted with Jehovah, I have many joyous privileges to recount. I pioneered in eleven different states as well as in the District of Columbia. I have seen the family of Jehovah’s worshipers grow bigger and bigger so that today there are hundreds of thousands who entertain the hope that they may be spared through this wicked world’s Armageddon and live forever in this beautiful earthly home.
Still, I can see that there is yet much to learn about the loving Creator. At heart I am still that little girl looking up at the starry sky and wondering about the Great One who made all things so well, so beautiful, so delightful for the eyes of his earthly sons and daughters. I never want to give up the precious treasure of serving my Creator. My heart’s desire has been so aptly expressed by the psalmist: “One thing I have asked from Jehovah—it is what I shall look for, that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the pleasantness of Jehovah and to look with appreciation upon his temple.”—Ps. 27:4.