My name is Marta Deac and I was born on June 8, 1974 in Bistrita, Romania. I grew up in a large Christian family of seventeen children. There are fourteen children still alive today – nine boys and five girls. I grew up in church and this helped me to realize that I should not live according to the desires of the flesh. I was converted when I was nine years old, but of course, this did not keep me from all the adventures and “foolishness” of childhood.
My father is an evangelist and I saw how hard it was for my mother to always be by herself. I knew how hard it was to educate so many children, but I never heard my mother complain in our presence. Despite all the trials through which I saw my mother pass, I always wanted to be a wife and a mother like her.
After four boys, I was the very first girl in my family. My parents wanted very much to have a girl. They prayed to the Lord and promised Him that they would give the girl back to Him as His servant. I heard about this promise when I was fifteen years old. When I was a little girl, I believed that God was speaking to me, but no one would believe me. I was consoled in knowing that God wanted me for Him and for His work.
After reading many different books about missionaries, I told my parents that I wanted to be a missionary. They tried to convince me otherwise. They said that I was only full of emotion because of the books and sometimes they forbade me to read them. I worked in a grocery store and on Saturday and Sunday I taught the children in church. As time passed, God continued to strengthen my convictions about His calling.
In the summer of 1993, I was baptized. Immediately afterwards, someone came up to me with some information about the Romanian Bible Institute in Bucharest. I decided to go. My mother was very happy, but for some strange reason, my father did not even want to hear about it. He said that I did not need Bible school because I was a girl and I could not become a pastor. I went back to my room and began to pray. I asked God to help me fulfill the promise my parents had made to Him before I was born. I wrote down all the reasons why the Lord would want me to study in the Bible Institute. I showed them to my father, but he would not change his attitude. Finally, I told both my parents that it was my decision to obey the Lord and go to school. I left without their recommendation, even though such a recommendation was needed to enter the institute. I desired to have the blessing of my father, but he refused. I was hurt, but I realized that I had to go to the Lord with all my problems.
I began school, but the tuition was too high for me to pay. After two months, the principal of the school told all of us who were too poor to pay that we had to return home. I did not know what to do. I was ashamed to stand in front of my father. I knew that he would tell me that my ideas were crazy and that I was out of God’s will. As I evaluated my life, I realized that God had been faithful and that He had never failed me. I decided to fast for three days and ask the Lord to answer me. During those three days, the Lord searched my heart and showed me the way He would help. In my dream I went to the airport to wait for some Americans. One of them came to me and gave me all the money that I needed for all the years I would need to stay in school. He even said that if I needed more he would give it to me. I suddenly woke up and I said to myself that it was just a nice dream.
One day a brother came to me and told me that I needed to go with him to the airport. My eyes were closed to what God was doing, but when I arrived at the airport I saw the man from my dream. He came to me and said that he would pay my tuition for me. I did not know what to say and the only thing I could do was to thank the Lord for taking care of me. I did not know if I should tell my father, because I did not want to shame him by showing him how God had help me. Before I could make a decision about what to do, I discovered that someone else had already told my parents.
The man who sponsored me was touched by my experience and wanted to meet my family. This was not easy for me. I was afraid of how my father might react. When we arrived in Bistrita, we went straight to the church. My father was very excited to see us, and he prayed for me. He dedicated me to the Lord according to the custom of the Jews (my father is a Messianic Jew). I was very happy because of God’s goodness to me.
While I was in the Bible Institute, I worked in different orphanages and with many children ministries, but God had another plan for me. In July of 1997, I was engaged to Sandu and we began to seek the Lord’s will together. Our parents could not help us financially, so we asked the Lord to show His power again. We prayed over Sandu’s salary ($60 a month), and we asked God to multiply it so that we would even have a little extra to eat a meal in a restaurant. The Lord was faithful to answer in every detail. All these things happened so that I would understand that I needed to be in the Master’s will and to look for His heart every day.
After I was married to Sandu, we began to work with teenagers, but our heart was always looking towards the mission field. Now God, by His grace, has answered our prayers so that everyone might see the glory of His name. We are missionaries in the Ukraine. I serve the church by working with the children, helping the youth, counseling young ladies, and I teaching English to the village children. We are depending upon God and seeking to do all things according to His will.
When I look back on my life, I thank God for the love that He has shown me every day. I thank you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ because you have taken time to read these little drops from my life.