HANDICAPS 1 & 2 and OLD AGE: Call Back Volume 3

Lillian Harvey 1911-2008. Lillian's parents were devoted Christians of German origin and gave Lillian and her six siblings a solid Christian upbringing. When she enrolled as a student in the Metropolitan Church Association (MCA), Lillian was struck by the zeal of one of her teachers, Edwin F. Harvey, nephew of the co-founder of the Bible School. He and his friends possessed a fire which burned in their bones. When on a trip, Lillian was challenged in a prayer-meeting not to leave without receiving an infilling of the Holy Spirit, so she telegraphed back to HQ that she was not leaving till the fire fell. With her bridges burned behind her, she fully surrendered to God and received what she felt was the same gift as the apostles had received at Pentecost.Sent to oversee the MCA's work in Scotland, Edwin soon realized his need of a helpmeet and, while home on furlough, shocked Lillian by writing and asking if they could meet to discuss the possibility of marriage. As Lillian had died to any thought of marriage, her first response had not been positive. Edwin responded that the Holy Spirit had guided him to write that letter and that he would wait ten years for her if necessary. Within twelve months, they were married!Back in Scotland, Lillian was grateful to "Aunt Gerty", widow of the founder of the MCA, who saw to it that she and Edwin had the privacy they needed. During WWII they opened a home for displaced boys and girls. After six years of marriage and following a very risky pregnancy, Lillian gave birth to a tiny baby daughter whom they named Gertrude (Trudy) after Aunt Gerty (Gertrude Ford Harvey).A decade later, they founded, Message of Victory Evangelism (M.O.V.E.). Eventually, however, their emphasis shifted to promoting holiness of life through publishing a bi-monthly magazine, devotional compilations, and biographies of saints who "Knew Their God."Meanwhile, Lillian was struggling over her experience of "sanctification" which resulted in six weeks of seclusion in the French Alps when she discovered that, when plagued by condemnation over besetting sins, the solution was simply to reckon on her position as having been crucified in Christ. When Edwin returned to bring Lillian home, he encountered a new wife! God had renewed her spirit and enlarged her vision of ministering to the Body of Christ through literature.Two years after moving back to the States in 1981, Edwin died at age seventy-five. He and Lillian had already written and compiled twelve books together, and now, as Lillian viewed their many unfinished manuscripts, she remembered their joint charge to "Walk about Zion," and knew what she must do. She would finish the work she and Edwin had begun together! Often, while working on manuscripts which dealt with subjects such as loneliness and frustration, her heart still breaking from her recent loss, tears would frequently roll down her cheeks. If it had not been for her family, several faithful helpers and the inner sense of divine commission, she could never have completed the twenty-five books which went to the press in the years which followed Edwin's death.As the years passed, however, it became clear, that with Edwin no longer present to act as balance and brake, Lillian's interpretation of both doctrine and practice tended to run to extremes As a friend aptly put it: "The enemy used the frailty of old age." At age ninety-one, she was diagnosed with progressive vascular dementia.At times, during those difficult years, it may have seemed as if God was often standing in the shadows, but it was always clear that He had not vanished from the scene. In spite of her failing powers, Lillian mellowed and ripened for Heaven during those final years of her long life. In August of 2008 and at ninety-seven years of age, she joined her husband in the throng above who worship the Lamb day and night.

Trudy Harvey Tait was born in Glasgow, Scotland of American parents who held a dual position as directors of a missionary training school and editors of a magazine, The Message of Victory. Trudy married Robert Barry Tait and has one son and two grandchildren.At nineteen years of age she helped the Selfridges in Malawi, Africa, for two years and then spent many years working with her parents in the UK. Later in the USA, they formed Harvey Christian Publishing. Most of the books published were compiled by the Harveys a result of decades of research while editing The Message of Victory. Many have been translated into several languages. In the early nineties, Trudy became involved in the publication of the Harvey books in Eastern Europe. For fifteen years, she spent a portion of each year in Romania or Russia where she formed many lasting friendships. Her experiences in Eastern Europe inspired her to write The Velvet Curtain series: The Velvet Curtain, Behind the Velvet Curtain and Escaping the Velvet Curtain. She has also written Love Me and Let Me Go, Three in Love, Unlabeled and a poetry book entitled Reflections and has co-authored several books with her mother.Trudy and Barry now reside in Richmond, Kentucky where they continue the publishing work their parents began.